- Joined
- Oct 11, 2013
- Messages
- 90
Hello To All;
I've been meaning to post this little job for a while and finally got around to it. When I got my 8520, it had a broken front belt guard (due to some P.O.'s carelessness):
Either something got caught in the rotating belt, or someone stabbed it with a forklift:
Anyway, I got tired of looking for a replacement part and decided to repair it with fiberglass. The badge came off and the old paint was removed:
Then I devised a method to form the fiberglass, with a piece of cardboard covered with wax paper:
With this form in place, I started laying in the 'glass & resin...
No leaks from the back:
Kept laying in layers (12 in all) to match the overall thickness...
Removed the cardboard form and layed in a sandwiching layer on the back:
Layed in an overlap layer on the front, and sanded smooth (black marks are from felt tip marking pen):
Added a little body filler for the matching contours...
Then primed and painted the whole piece:
I had to do a little work on the machine badge. After looking at it closely, I determined that most of the damage was on the black background, so I masked up the part:
Spray painted it, and touched up the little details with an artist's brush :
Then gave it some clear coat, and was done...not perfect, but good enough:
I used West System Fiberglass (can be obtained at boating stores); but there are other products equally as effective:
I think this repair will last the life of the machine...and looks just like the original. Fiberglass is relatively easy to work with, but you need to use gloves, or be resigned to itching for a while. Hope you enjoyed the pics...let the commentary begin!
I've been meaning to post this little job for a while and finally got around to it. When I got my 8520, it had a broken front belt guard (due to some P.O.'s carelessness):
Either something got caught in the rotating belt, or someone stabbed it with a forklift:
Anyway, I got tired of looking for a replacement part and decided to repair it with fiberglass. The badge came off and the old paint was removed:
Then I devised a method to form the fiberglass, with a piece of cardboard covered with wax paper:
With this form in place, I started laying in the 'glass & resin...
No leaks from the back:
Kept laying in layers (12 in all) to match the overall thickness...
Removed the cardboard form and layed in a sandwiching layer on the back:
Layed in an overlap layer on the front, and sanded smooth (black marks are from felt tip marking pen):
Added a little body filler for the matching contours...
Then primed and painted the whole piece:
I had to do a little work on the machine badge. After looking at it closely, I determined that most of the damage was on the black background, so I masked up the part:
Spray painted it, and touched up the little details with an artist's brush :
Then gave it some clear coat, and was done...not perfect, but good enough:
I used West System Fiberglass (can be obtained at boating stores); but there are other products equally as effective:
I think this repair will last the life of the machine...and looks just like the original. Fiberglass is relatively easy to work with, but you need to use gloves, or be resigned to itching for a while. Hope you enjoyed the pics...let the commentary begin!
