Gixxus Christ! Posted April 4, 2015 Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 Polymorph, or plastimake or the other dozens of names it's sold under is a thermoplastic that melts to the consistency of silly putty around 190°f and cools at room temperature to about the same hardness as solid vinyl. it's easily purchased on the net and comes in a granular form. I split a kilo with a fellow bike builder and tinkerer a while back, played around with it and set it aside until a project begging for a plastic solution presented itself.That time has come. I stripped the stock clocks off my cb750 build to make room for this custom gauge I got off ebay. Round body, analog tach with a digital insert showing speed, fuel level, odometer etc with dummy lights inset in the gauge face. There is no mounting bracket that exists for this gauge.. Tonight I spent half an hour with some postr board, a set of calipers, a pen and my pocket knife and made a rough template of the mounting bracket I need. I then heated up a big wad of this polymorph and rolled it out to a somewhat uniform thickness between sheets of wax paper. If tomorrow goes well I will have transferred the template onto the plastic and roughed out the basic shape And drilled bolt holes. I'll update this thread as I go with pics. Hopefully my end result will be an attractive custom gauge braket with an integrated red LED oil light since the gauge does not have one of its own.Stay tuned.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casper Posted April 4, 2015 Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 Post pics when you have something. Sounds awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gixxus Christ! Posted April 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 My rough template sitting on the sheet I rolled out. Thickness is around 3/16 to 1/4 inch. Template looks like a screaming dick. Still need to transfer hole locations for the ball sack from an earlier template. Hoping to have this worked out, bent, painted and mounted this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gixxus Christ! Posted April 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 (edited) Completed! It's not pretty but it's functional. This stuff is not easy to work with once it sets. It doesn't mind being drilled but hates hack saws and most dremel bits. I was able to slop this together tho, and it's a functional part. In retrospect kydex would have been a better material but I don't have any kydex. The polymorph really shows stuff like fingerprints and uneven surfaces. It likes to just glob out into organic shapes if you don't cool it immediately after you have your desired shape. Pretty much any high-speed cutting tool in your garage will cause it to melt in the area you're cutting and you have to use the direction of your tool rotation to put the resulting path of raised melted plastic on the part your cutting away instead of the one you're keeping. It's fairly easy to wittle with a sharp pocket knife and I did a bit of detail work with my kershaw leek. Enough babble. Here's the image dump.The bend was tricky. Had to boil a steel rod to make an indentation where I wanted the bend, then microwaved the part for a few seconds to soften it up, bend it and hold the bend while cooling under running water. Edited April 4, 2015 by CrazySkullCrusher 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mango_sv Posted April 4, 2015 Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 Looks like a Pac Man ghost. But I'm digging that gauge. Nice work man. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gixxus Christ! Posted April 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Butters Posted April 4, 2015 Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 Nice work. Are you able to sand it or anything and make it a smooth surface rather than being so dimpled? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gixxus Christ! Posted April 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 No sanding actually makes it rougher, it doesn't react well to abrasion. I thought of using maybe an iron and wax paper to smooth it out. Another option would be to make a mold and pour the stuff into it but that's another project for someone else, preferably someone with a milling machine in their garage. I'm happy with my lumpy, lop sided ugly bracket covered with my fingerprints and theres a dog hair in there somewhere too....it's a ratty old bike that has it where it counts (motor, electrics, soon the suspension and brakes) but not so much cosmeticly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Butters Posted April 5, 2015 Report Share Posted April 5, 2015 Fuck it man, it works and looks better than if I had tried Haha nice work... I like seeing people fab shit up for bikes since I've never done it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gixxus Christ! Posted April 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2015 Thanks. It's nice to see things coming together after looking at a pile of parts all winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claine650 Posted April 5, 2015 Report Share Posted April 5, 2015 This year's summer record high temp will be 195°f and your gauge will droop to the ground....It could happen.... it's ohio [emoji16] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gixxus Christ! Posted April 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2015 This year's summer record high temp will be 195°f and your gauge will droop to the ground....It could happen.... it's ohio [emoji16]Lol if it's that hot Ill be dead and a droopy speedo will be the least of my problems lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magley64 Posted April 5, 2015 Report Share Posted April 5, 2015 Aluminum plate and a vice wouldn't give you a better result? Looks functional though 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gixxus Christ! Posted April 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2015 Aluminum plate and a vice wouldn't give you a better result? Looks functional thoughDon't have any aluminum thin enough to work and don't have any way to cut it quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motocat12 Posted April 19, 2015 Report Share Posted April 19, 2015 Looks like the cops would have an easy time pulling your prints if they ever need them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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