[CARTER]

I used to work at a boat shop in Mobile, AL back in college. I watched a lot of fiberglass repair and fiberglass boats being made from molds. It's not rocket science. If someone had time they could make a mold out of a good side cover and make a bunch up. It seems like there would be enough demand to pay for the time being there's international market now. If I had the time and "know-how" I would do it even if I broke even just helping alot of cx guys out.



I've given up looking for side covers on my cx650 and altered a side cover off of a different bike (doesn't really match up good). If somone has even a broken one I'll do plasic repair. Or even a side cover that is a close match I'll alter it.





Has anyone heard of someone making a side cover from a mold? -carter

 

[dhoenisch]

I've also thought of the same idea for the rear seat cowl for the GLs. Seems like it would be rather simple for someone with the know-how and equipment. Of course, I could be dead wrong.



Dan

 

[Shep]

I too have looked into this.It shouldn't be too hard to do.You need to take a mould off a good set and then some gel coat and fibre glass+ the resin.If you wanted to be ultra modern,



http://www.carbonmods.co.uk/



Good video,



http://www.carbonmods.co.uk/Products/Carbon-Fibre-Laminating-Starter-Kit__CMCFLK300.aspx

 

[roundman72]

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Your-Own-Prototypes-:-How-to-make-your/



just a thought

 

[DakotaMK]

also something I pondered when starting to fix the fairing, since I have ABS plastic pellets pretty available to me (not in huge quantities @ one time...) football season has started though, so I have a lot of irons in the fire right now...

 

[marshallf3]

Supposedly not very hard to exactly duplicate the shape once you cme up with the mold made from the proper material. The real work comes in when you're trying to finish it all out.



BTW: What do the side covers that have the fancy CX_V_500 as a thick badge come off of? I've got a set in great shape but they sure don't look right on my Custom that came with nothing more than decals.



Speaking of that, before I paint I think I'm going to strenthen the tabs on mine. I broke down and bought several different choices of solvet-based adhesives from this website, If you get the right one it's like night and day compared to glue as it actually fuses the plastic together.



http://www.ipscorp.com/assembly



http://www.eplastics.com/Plastic/Adhesives?gclid=CODJ6L33rqMCFQLyDAod_jR04w

 

[PhoenixBlaze]

I've considered making up some molds and pouring some side covers from resin. It'd take a good mold & pump set up so there'd have to be a good market to justify the expense. Just the mold could cost thousands really. I figure I can do a back yard version for 3 or 4 hundred plus materials, resins and molding machine, all told it's at least $1000 investment.



I could/ would do it if I knew it would at least pay for itself. The resin would be better and closer to OEM than fiberglass.

 

[TonyG]

I used to work at a boat shop in Mobile, AL back in college. I watched a lot of fiberglass repair and fiberglass boats being made from molds. It's not rocket science. If someone had time they could make a mold out of a good side cover and make a bunch up. It seems like there would be enough demand to pay for the time being there's international market now. If I had the time and "know-how" I would do it even if I broke even just helping alot of cx guys out.



I've given up looking for side covers on my cx650 and altered a side cover off of a different bike (doesn't really match up good). If somone has even a broken one I'll do plasic repair. Or even a side cover that is a close match I'll alter it.





Has anyone heard of someone making a side cover from a mold? -carter

Talked with a guy in a related business about making ABS panels for the turbo's. He looked over the ones on the "E" and stated that without the nobs on the back, it would be a several hundred to a couple thousand dollar mold. WITH the nobs on the back, it turns into a several "TENS of THOUSANDS" dollar mold.

 

[Abes_CW]

I've considered making up some molds and pouring some side covers from resin. It'd take a good mold & pump set up so there'd have to be a good market to justify the expense. Just the mold could cost thousands really. I figure I can do a back yard version for 3 or 4 hundred plus materials, resins and molding machine, all told it's at least $1000 investment.



I could/ would do it if I knew it would at least pay for itself. The resin would be better and closer to OEM than fiberglass.

Yeah, I investigated with a plastic fabrication shop last year, he said the molds would cost thousands, made from cast aluminum.

 

[wmw]

Hope you aren't bidding on the set on eBay right now for the cx650c- both of them are missing a tab (snap) on the back, seller is passing them off as all snaps in place, but I can see from the photos that 1 of the 3 is missing on both. Someone is going to learn an expensive lesson....

 

[DavidfromWisconsin]

Hope you aren't bidding on the set on eBay right now for the cx650c- both of them are missing a tab (snap) on the back, seller is passing them off as all snaps in place, but I can see from the photos that 1 of the 3 is missing on both. Someone is going to learn an expensive lesson....

Those are easy to repair with Plastifix.

 

[Stubby]

There's gotta be a way to successfully produce them without investing a small fortune. We need to think outside the box and look for alternative methods. Maybe something from model building or sculpting.

 

[Reg in Bristol]

Fortunately with my old thing I dont suffer from good looks

and ZAB side covers are still pretty easy to get hold of here anyway.



As said

An Injection or professional mould would cost many arms and legs

I worked in a boat yard many moons ago and some of the results they got

on the hulls with gel coat and matting was quite impressive

On one side.

Thats the snag.

You could probably knock up fibreglass panels that look good on

one side without breaking the bank

but replicating the originals would be prohibitive with dubious return on investment



There is another option I know you're all thinking about so I'll say it

We find someone who runs an injection moulding business

and take his family hostage............



Look, all I'm saying is, its an option OK?

 

[thelastbaron]

how about 3D printing ? if they can mould a human head, how hard could a side panel be ?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NvCMlLCDPQ&NR=1

 

[Interstater]

Check out Alumilite.com, if you can mold tail light lenses and steering wheels using their stuff then a side cover should be doable.



http://www.alumilite.com/Applications/AutoRestoration.cfm

 

[Doward]

Anyone have a pic of this elusive CX650 side cover?

 

[PhoenixBlaze]

The 3-d printer makes what is known as a "grown" part. It's not very strong. The technology is good but not up to motorcycle part quality yet.



The actual cheapest way to do this is to make a CAD drawing, send it to my guy in China, and they make molds and pump them out. Not saying it's the best way, just the cheapest. In every sense of the word.

 

[TonyG]

Check out Alumilite.com, if you can mold tail light lenses and steering wheels using their stuff then a side cover should be doable.



http://www.alumilite.com/Applications/AutoRestoration.cfm

Looks like a possible solution to turn signal lenses for the turbo. I think that making the molds for the sidecovers with the tabs would still be challenging; plus I think the mold would wear out much quicker than other types.

 

[CXSarnia]

Hope you aren't bidding on the set on eBay right now for the cx650c- both of them are missing a tab (snap) on the back, seller is passing them off as all snaps in place, but I can see from the photos that 1 of the 3 is missing on both. Someone is going to learn an expensive lesson....

He updated his discription to "each side cover has 2 of 3 tabs intact" and they still sold for $175 for the set - suggesting that there might be quite a profit if you can start making these things! Wow.

 

[thelastbaron]

some people are mad. you can buy a complete bike for not much more than that.