any body thought of reproduceing xs sidecovers?

[1fasttrucker]

I was wondering if any creative genious out there has ever made a mold and reproduced xs1100 side covers ?? I am wanting to give it a go and try some for mine ,any ideas thoughts ?

[mrdigitech]

I've been wanting to make a mold. I was planning to use fiberglass. But I don't have any to make a mold from :-). I was thinking it would be easier to make a mold from ones where the pins are missing and just rebuild the pins after the fact.

Either that or I'm going to sew some leather covers (which I may do anyways cuz I think it would look cool).

Cheers!

[fredintoon]

I've been wanting to make a mold. I was planning to use fiberglass. But I don't have any to make a mold from :-).

Hi Digi,
no covers to make molds off of puts you into a 2-part process.
1) Make false covers out of plywood and plaster (advantage, you can choose your own fancy shape if you want.)
2) Wax them up good and lift fiberglass molds off them.
Been there, done that, lotsa work, satisfaction only as you'll never make money at it.

[crazy steve]

It's come up before, but nobody has made the leap yet...

There's three different basic cover shapes; the '78-79 standards, the '79 Specials/'80-81 standards, and the '80-81 specials. The '79 Specials and '80-81 standards share the same shape, but the mounts on the left side cover are different (the right side will interchange), so that could be made with no holes/slots, then cut to fit.

The hangup is the latch and pin; very difficult to form with adequate strength.

[GARTHXS]

Bob Jones used to sell em but he asked 100 bucks a pop and they were fiberglass. Maybe someone could talk to Karla and get the molds

[cywelchjr]

Fiberglass is so labor intensive. We need to figure out a material that has good strength that can be pressed into a mold and cured. Some sort of a plastic of some sort. Then a mold system. Some way that we could make a mold from an existing side cover that could be used at least several dozen times to mold new covers from. So two things, one, a material that can be used, without injection molding equipment, and some way to make molds that can be re-used but can be done inexpensively but accurately.

[latexeses]

Never having seen the inside of any other left side cover but the F & SF, I am wondering how much different are they from one another?

A mold could be made of just the cover if they are all similar enough to each other. A separate mold could be made for the latch for each variation. The latch for your year could then be solvent welded to the side cover.

Moulds are pretty pricy if you are going to a plastics molding company though.

There are still a couple of outfits in town that do injections. Both of them are hurting so maybe it would be a good time to pay them a visit and get some information.

[GARTHXS]

We need somebody with a cnc machine to cut a die out and we could just stamp em out and either weld or rivet mounting tabs

[Ken Talbot]

I looked into this years ago with a company down the road that does vacuum formed plastic parts. If I would have prepared a form with say 4 or 8 "shapes", they could have vacuum formed the basic covers for pretty cheap, around a few bucks per unit IIRC. A person would then have to set up a mold system to fabricate the needed lock tab for the left covers, and the round bottom tab for the rights. Glue them together, punch out the slots or round holes for the top as appropriate for the year and model, and you're in business.

[CaptonZap]

Here is some rain for your parade.
How many could you sell, and how much could you sell them for?
CZ

[b.walker5]

Many have tried, many have failed to complete, including me...

Check this vid out for an option. ABS plastic is easy to get and the rest is homemade..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50-sR...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5CGf...eature=related

[James England]

Is there actually a shortage of side panels? On XS1100's which I've broken for parts (all beyond redemption, I hasten to add), I found that side panels weren't easy to sell. I've seen loads on eBay UK and USA......

[somesuch]

There is a guy making all sorts of "reproduction" covers of very good quality over on www.sohc4.net the thread is is in "parts for sale" section and had a many many pages. I could post something up, he will need sample covers to make molds from.

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?PH...&topic=74022.0

--Nick

[b.walker5]

Is there actually a shortage of side panels? On XS1100's which I've broken for parts (all beyond redemption, I hasten to add), I found that side panels weren't easy to sell. I've seen loads on eBay UK and USA......

I think, in many cases it's a result of the whole poverty and DIY thing, but you're right, I dont think theres a real shortage, but there definately is a problem with sourcing 'intact' covers, complete with locking tab. If some clever clogs devised a way of moulding that into a cover then how good would that be

[CaptonZap]

If some clever clogs devised a way of moulding that into a cover then how good would that be

The other day, while working on my bike, I thought about that, and took a look at the latch mechanism on the cover.
Someone that was capable of doing lost wax casting could make the latch post as a casting, with a flange that could be used to pop rivet the casting onto the cover. The rivets would not be noticable, being on the bottom of the cover, or they could be countersunk and painted over. JAT CZ