OP
OP
saganaga
Well-known member
My day was a mixed bag.
The ABS glue made from ABS plastic and MEK was a success. Mixed 12 grams of ABS with 50 ml of MEK in a jar I rescued from the recycling bin. Took about a day to dissolve fully. While I didn't plan it, the jar was tall enough to fit the flux brush I was using, which allowed me to store the brush in the jar so it wouldn't dry out.
To fix the smaller cracks, I'd put electrical tape on the outside of the pannier to prevent seepage, then flex the container to open the crack very slightly and "paint" it with the ABS glue from the inside. The next day, while it was windy, I'd peel off the electrical tape on the outside and wipe the crack with pure MEK - the MEK on the paint evaporated quickly without doing too much damage, but it did penetrate the outside of the crack. There were a few cracks by the mounts, so after the repair, I reinforced that with ABS strips glued crosswise across the crack inside the pannier.
For the cracks by the latches, I couldn't use scrap ABS to reinforce them, because the thickness would interfere with closing the lid. I cut some screen material about 6" long, and painted it with glue on the inside as reinforcement - similar to taping drywall edges.
ABS Glue (which has 10 calories per two tablespoons):
I filled in this missing section by cutting a square out of an empty oil container, putting the square on the outside of the lid, putting a scrap of wood on the outside of the square to stiffen it, and clamping that in place. That gave me a flat form for the outside surface that the ABS wouldn't stick to. Then I built up the crack via two or three applications.
Inside of the same repair:
Reinforcement:
I tested the repaired panniers, and figured they were strong enough. Moved onto the next step: I dug out the mounting hardware. Never had it on the bike before - it came as a pile of extras. Took a few minutes to figure out how it would mount.
I got the mounts on the bike and ran into a problem. When I first got this bike, the rear turn signal assembly was horribly hacked apart. They looked like this, and would shake horribly while riding:
Taken apart, it looked like this:
I ended up replacing the assembly completely.
Today, I got to discover why the mounts were hacked apart:
:sensored: :sensored: :sensored: :sensored: :sensored: :sensored:
I need to think about how to handle this. I still have the old taillight assembly. I could buy two yellow lights and attach one to each pannier. Then when I wanted to run with panniers, I would have to replace the assembly with the old one, sans turn signal mounts. Which seems like a lot of work to convert back and forth, but otherwise should work.
I could try relocating the panniers. But that locates them either two far forward or too far up. And I'd have to do a lot of work on the mounts.
I could just use a dry bag and strap it to the passenger seat when I wanted to go on longer trips.
The ABS glue made from ABS plastic and MEK was a success. Mixed 12 grams of ABS with 50 ml of MEK in a jar I rescued from the recycling bin. Took about a day to dissolve fully. While I didn't plan it, the jar was tall enough to fit the flux brush I was using, which allowed me to store the brush in the jar so it wouldn't dry out.
To fix the smaller cracks, I'd put electrical tape on the outside of the pannier to prevent seepage, then flex the container to open the crack very slightly and "paint" it with the ABS glue from the inside. The next day, while it was windy, I'd peel off the electrical tape on the outside and wipe the crack with pure MEK - the MEK on the paint evaporated quickly without doing too much damage, but it did penetrate the outside of the crack. There were a few cracks by the mounts, so after the repair, I reinforced that with ABS strips glued crosswise across the crack inside the pannier.
For the cracks by the latches, I couldn't use scrap ABS to reinforce them, because the thickness would interfere with closing the lid. I cut some screen material about 6" long, and painted it with glue on the inside as reinforcement - similar to taping drywall edges.
ABS Glue (which has 10 calories per two tablespoons):
I filled in this missing section by cutting a square out of an empty oil container, putting the square on the outside of the lid, putting a scrap of wood on the outside of the square to stiffen it, and clamping that in place. That gave me a flat form for the outside surface that the ABS wouldn't stick to. Then I built up the crack via two or three applications.
Inside of the same repair:
Reinforcement:
I tested the repaired panniers, and figured they were strong enough. Moved onto the next step: I dug out the mounting hardware. Never had it on the bike before - it came as a pile of extras. Took a few minutes to figure out how it would mount.
I got the mounts on the bike and ran into a problem. When I first got this bike, the rear turn signal assembly was horribly hacked apart. They looked like this, and would shake horribly while riding:
Taken apart, it looked like this:
I ended up replacing the assembly completely.
Today, I got to discover why the mounts were hacked apart:
:sensored: :sensored: :sensored: :sensored: :sensored: :sensored:
I need to think about how to handle this. I still have the old taillight assembly. I could buy two yellow lights and attach one to each pannier. Then when I wanted to run with panniers, I would have to replace the assembly with the old one, sans turn signal mounts. Which seems like a lot of work to convert back and forth, but otherwise should work.
I could try relocating the panniers. But that locates them either two far forward or too far up. And I'd have to do a lot of work on the mounts.
I could just use a dry bag and strap it to the passenger seat when I wanted to go on longer trips.
