Let's talk about cutting down a stock windshield
Road Master
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,049
Likes: 264
From: Fresno Ca
Lexan shields resist cracks. Never try to cut an acrylic shield at home. The perfect blade for a saw produces dust larger than a grain of salt. If it's melting the blade is too fine. If its vibrating a lot the blade is too coarse. Try about 18 teeth per inch.
Thread Starter
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Grand HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 4,618
Likes: 290
From: Johnstown, PA
I got the shield cut down and sanded. There is a spot on the one rounded edged that did not sand to a shine (1200 grit final sand) hoping that acetone will do the trick, but waiting on replies.
Anyway here is the finished product. I used a pneumatic die grinder with a cut off disc. Not to bad for a winter shield, and best of all the shield was a freebie.
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Grand HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 4,618
Likes: 290
From: Johnstown, PA
I didn't wait for a response on the acetone, and just did it, and it was a mistake. It work nicely on the top flat part where it was already sanded very smooth, but the areas on the corners that I was trying to address got pretty messed up. It put tiny little cracks, only about 1/16" long, along these edges. I ended up having to sand all of it out. This time I broke out my jitterbug sander. It's all good now, but caused me some extra work.
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 4,416
Likes: 88
From: San Quirino, Italy
I didn't wait for a response on the acetone, and just did it, and it was a mistake. It work nicely on the top flat part where it was already sanded very smooth, but the areas on the corners that I was trying to address got pretty messed up. It put tiny little cracks, only about 1/16" long, along these edges. I ended up having to sand all of it out. This time I broke out my jitterbug sander. It's all good now, but caused me some extra work.
Road Master
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,178
Likes: 5
From: Central Calif
Lots of good advice --
my steps are
1) find the height you need and mark it
2) I put down blue painters tape on both sides and then put duct tape over that
3) I use a very fine metal cutting blade in a jig saw
4) this step can be done one of 2 ways. A. if the windshield is off, I use a disk sander to smooth out the edge. B if it is still on the bike, I use sandpaper wrapped around a block to sand out the irregularities -- used up to 220 or 320 grit
5) I take a ligher and just slightly melt the edge for a finished look.
my steps are
1) find the height you need and mark it
2) I put down blue painters tape on both sides and then put duct tape over that
3) I use a very fine metal cutting blade in a jig saw
4) this step can be done one of 2 ways. A. if the windshield is off, I use a disk sander to smooth out the edge. B if it is still on the bike, I use sandpaper wrapped around a block to sand out the irregularities -- used up to 220 or 320 grit
5) I take a ligher and just slightly melt the edge for a finished look.
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