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**CMA1** · 03-16-2004, 06:58 AM

Congrats on the throttle cable and 'test run' !!!! I am expecting about 6 in. of snow in the next coupl'a days.... will it never go away?????

As for refinishing the emblems Ken has some good stuff on his site with regards to refinishing them...
http://www.rctvonline.net/xs11/

Good luck!

**Snow** · 03-16-2004, 09:59 AM

Those new silver emblems you see on ebay are most likely Yamaha golf cart emblems, available around $5 or $10 at Yamaha golf cart dealers I believe.

**T1ny** · 03-16-2004, 03:48 PM

I pulled mine and had the Yamaha and XS11 air brushed on. I'm borrowing a camera and will post a couple pics soon.

(I kept the originals and my better half arranged them around some pictures in a glass frame kinda thing which hangs above my desk at work)

**eltoroloco** · 03-16-2004, 08:13 PM

those silver yamaha badges from the dealer that are meant to go on a golf carts are very brittle plasitc. They are flat, stock ones have a definite curve. I snapped one in half just by puting it on the tank. It wasnt that i tightened the screws to hard, it just popped right down the middle. Maybe other people have had better luck but i would not go down that route agian.

Yea i know their only like 5 bucks, but no matter the price it wasnt specifically designed for the bike.

**nashville_bill** · 03-17-2004, 08:48 PM

The same thing happened to me with a new gold XS650 emblem from the Yamaha motorcycle dealer a few years ago. I think the metal plate that the emblem attaches to needed to be bent out a little on my XS650. I bent it out and didn't have any more problems with broken emblems.

**TopCatGr58** · 03-17-2004, 10:22 PM

I thought I'd use this thread since it was already here. I'm planning on making some custom name plates to put on my tank, but they won't say YAMAHA, but instead I want them to say GODZILLA. I remember seeing Ken Talbot's post about creating copies of the OEM's, but I'm not much into plastics or resins.

Any suggestions with regards to what to make them from, and how, like some thin sheet metal, and using tinsnips, or dremmel cutting tool?? I don't know if I need/want to make them very 3-D, vs. just the lettering, I'll be able to paint them a contrasting color to have them show up against the tank. I don't want to fill in the tank where the badges fit, just want to make some that I can screw into place!?

Thanks in advance! T.C.

**ratbyk** · 03-18-2004, 01:47 AM

Emblems

TC, the effort and final product may not be worth it. Cutting out with tin snips has to be unbelievably labour intensive for the finished product.
Check out the sign shops around Portsmouth. Should be able to find one that can make vinyl or transfer type stick ons. You could design it yourself on your own computer, put it on CD and have the sign shop produce a very effective stick on name plate for you at a reasonable price. A lot of shops now days do computer work.
Ken/Sooke
78E Ratbyk
82 FT500 "lilRat"

**Mark_E** · 05-13-2004, 07:44 PM

My own steel emblems

This past winter I built my own emblems out of steel after trying to re-paint my current ones. You can see them at my site at http://www.geocities.com/farmer_mark_elias/Chrome.html.

Comments are welcomed.

Mark
E

Keep up the good discussion guys!

**randy** · 05-13-2004, 08:17 PM

I paint them and clear coat them. looks good, but they will never be the same as the gold foil on the originals. Pics here.

my xs

Randy

**Underdog** · 05-14-2004, 05:54 AM

There's guys that go around to the car dealers & gold plate emblems. A freind of mine has a Escalade that had all the emblems done. I have no idea of the process but wonder why it wouldn't work on these? I fixed it for him last summer (his girlfriend damn near totaled it) Anyway, I had to replace one of the emblems on the doors and I think the guy charged 15 bucks to plate the replacement. Maybe check with some of the new car dealers.

UD

**randy** · 05-14-2004, 06:36 AM

Before painting mine, I looked into this. the process for plating onto plastic is a bit more involved than plating metal emblems, but it can be done at home.

Caswell has all of the materials you would need to do this on a small scale. The whole shootin' match would cost around $113. and it would be enough material for a couple of bikes at least.

They have a spray-on metal base called Silva Spray that goes down first. Then this is plated with copper. Last you can plate with Brass. Polishing will give you an almost exact match of the plastic gold look of the originals. You can then spray paint the background black and wipe off the excess from the top of the letters.

Look at the caswell site. You will need:

Silva Spray $50

Copper Brush plating kit $28

Brass Brush plating kit $35

Because of the cost, I have not done this to date, I've only done the research. caswell

HTH

Randy

**Ken Talbot** · 05-14-2004, 06:37 AM

I believe that is a portable electroplating process that will only work if the surface of the letters or plate is still intact. A better source for us with rubbed-off letters might be these guys who specialize in chrome plating onto plastic

**randy** · 05-14-2004, 06:43 AM

Right, Ken. I contacted these guys, too, but the cost was around $90 for one bike. The caswell process would be more economical if a couple or three can share it. But, like anything attempted for the first time, I'm sure some experimentation will be required to get good results.

Randy