OzVMX Forum
Clubroom => Tech Talk => Topic started by: mainline on April 06, 2008, 06:23:39 pm
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I just spent a few hours working on my tank after reading over the VMX article a couple of times, plus going over what's been said on here before and just wanted to add a bit.
The VMX article was excellent and the section on removing deep scratches using a stanley blade was spot-on. As a chippie I took for granted what LWC3077 meant about scraping out the scratches with a blade, and ended up giving the whole tank a light going over with the blade which really sped up the initial stages of the process ie. removing powdery plastic, paint, or in my case the initials of the f...wit who owned the bike in the past.
As I was doing it I had a vision of someone trying to use the blade like a knife to carve and flatten the deeper scratches out. So I thought I'd better clarify the blade part of the deal. Basically you have to use the blade like a cabinet scraper, hold it with both hands, and with the blunt (top edge) tilted slightly back towards you, drag it backwards (towards you) across the surface. If you're doing it right you should have a ultra-fine shaving coming off the tank.
My apologies to-
1. the author for my attempt to add to an excellent article
2. anyone who knew how to do it
3. everyone who is sick of hearing about plastic restoration
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thats alright. one hand, 2 hands what ever, just use whats comfortable for you. i hold the blade in one hand and scrape towards myself. end result is a big pile of plastic shavings that is a pain to clean up!
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cool, yeah the blades small enough for one hand. As for the cleanup, think of the reduced laptimes as a result of the lightweight works-style tank :)
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This is the scraper I use.
(http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f65/djracingyz/ideas002.jpg)
(http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f65/djracingyz/ideas001.jpg)
(http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f65/djracingyz/ideas.jpg)
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who the little girls hand in the picture ?
hehe he ... not one nick or blister.
hehehe
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only fools and idiots get blisters and cuts freaky ;)
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And flower farmers ::) ::)
Hey DJ - just finish off scraping that tank mate and I'll come over and get it ;D ;D ;D
Just back to the topic, the tank for the 250 is crazed - is that a sign of imminent death or is it still retrieveable ?? Does the crazing go all the way through.
Mainline - no need to apologise mate - all information is good information - even if it seems obvious. Sometimes it isn't obvious to everyone ::)
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And can anyone add or go over the bleaching process, my kato tank is a dirty brown colour, I know there were posts on this using bleach??
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Me again, I've got my tank soaking at the moment, so I'll let you know how it turns out.
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Like foreman material I'll bet!! and it's mild on your hands for people like DJ..Madge :P ;D
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Why have a dog and bark yourself Doc? ;) ;D and Madge told me, four fingers and I would be soaking in it. But it was Mrs Marsh that said "see, it does get in"...
Did you get the colgate add with Mrs Marsh??
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yes we had Colgate's Mrs Marsh but I had the hots for the McClean's girl..White is in style ;D
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i would really have to see the tank to make an acurate diagnosis of the crazing. is it just white and crusty on on top? is that where the cracking is in?, just that top layer? if so it can probably scraped/sanded out, but sometimes it goes right the way through. You can still do up one of these tanks and they will still look ok and not leak though
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Thanks LWC - that has given me the information I was after. I didn't want to spend a whole heap of time scraping and sanding only for the crazing to grow all the way through >:(. My time would be better spent on Ebay finding another one. XYZ do a new version, but I don't think it is the right shape for the H. I think they fit it to 465 and 250 so prolly a bit of a compromise.
Based on your advice I will persist with the tank I've got and pray that the crazing doesn't go all the way through.
Thanks again ;)
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I'm about to order some Blue Lightning tank sealer from the states as both my tanks have a small amount of crazing/cracking that I'm not to happy with, plus I want the stickers to last more than 5 minutes.
I'll let you know how it goes.
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im starting to tackle one of my PE tanks and i can tell you that original stickers on this T model tank were still intact on the tank and bloody damn hard to remove so the PE stickers must of been good. they had a couple bubbles but certainly they have never just fallen off like some stickers do. since the stickers have been on all these years there is the original yellow underneath and staining around the outside. the thing is with this PE tank its is so thin and i cant scrape heaps off so im gonna still have the satining. i plan to put the same T model stickers back on in the same position so then you dont see the differenence in colours. This was the tank that had a dent in the top that i got out. This is not a fun job and its tiring restoring a plastic tank but i have about 8 tanks to get to some time. oh what joy not!
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I have often wondered if the original stickers on a tank arent more like transfers than stickers?? a bit like tranfers on plastic models that have to be soaked in water and then put on the tank. That could be why the original stickers last the longest, the glue used on them could be more water based than solvent.
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I have recently tried a product they call "PLASTIC RENEW" I purchased it from http://www.atcheaven.com/index.htm
I have been using it on my son's XR that he bought, by first scraping off all the old dried plastic, then sanding all the way down to 1200 grit wet and dry and then applying this product the plastics come up looking great.
Very happy with the results.
I should have taken some before and afters but didn't.