Similar damage can be caused by using the wrong bolts to secure the seat locking plate or by pressing down hard in that area. What you would\could be then looking at is a paint stress crack and not a fault in the plastic base. it can be rubbed out but may require spot priming and then preparing and repainting. Largely good news, but it would be down to someone accomplishing a decent repair. Again I would suggest painting both sides of the numberboards and then if necessary a lacquer finish. Some times repair takes longer than a full rub down\flat out and repaint. You might want to seek professional advice before you do it yourself. Just to add, I notice there is no sticker which states the firing stroke order and the helmet loop lock instructions as per an original plastic mono seat. Clearly this seat has been painted before at the very least and you also have the wrong seat lock plate strengthener for an original mono seat especially if it was a 748R\SPS original. It may not even be a genuine original mono seat, which was manufactured by Metalplast in Italy at the time. To me it looks like an Aviofibre or other replica seat, although it's hard to tell from the photos.
Please clarify... Are you saaying that "poly-plastic" is not a generic term that is used ion the marine industry? Or that it's not the correct term for that type of plastics? Also, you seem to be saying that my statement that injection moulded plastics are not generally reinforced is also incorrect. Please enlighten me further...
I am talking in the plastics conversion industry and automotive industry, they are Thermoplastics - in 30 years in the plastics and automotive industry I have never heard the term - a quick Google shows it has been used for derivatives of company names mainly though (but not injection moulders). So, in the plastics and automotive industries certainly not a generic term used no. Injection Moulded Plastics are widely reinforced with many different fillers, from talc, mineral, glass as well as a multitude of others but these are the main ones. A large % of the materials we convert for the automotive industry are filled (certainly greater than 50%)
Just to throw a spanner into the works....... ......If the seat is Polypropylene, then sod all will stick to it..... ...unfortunately sod all is not available in bottles or cans...... There is some possiblity of effecting a weld with a soldering iron and pieces of identical plastic, but in my experience it is rarely successful. The only way I have found to deal with damage such as the OP shows, regardless of the base material; is to groove the cracks, drill 2mm holes right through at say 6mm centres. Make sure each final end of the crack has a hole drilled to stop the cracks from going further, Then countersink the holes slightly either side with a 5mm drill. Stick sellotape over the outside of the cracks, then knock up some Araldite (the fast setting one will do), and load some into a narrow nozzle plastic syringe.........Squeeze the syringe so that each hole is filled from the inside (look at the outside to see if the countersinks have filled --- some should get into the grooved crack as well. Level off the countersinks on the inside, then as soon as the Aradlite has hardened, whip the tape off and complete the filling of the crack. While the Araldite is still 'plastic', excess can be trimmed with a razor blade........Finish off pinholes etc with normal body filler. The repair is not actually properly stuck to the crack, but held in place by the countersinks. If the damage is more structural, the same method can be used, but it is better to reinforce the inside repair with ally mesh allowing the Araldite to fill the countersinks and oozing through the mesh, where it can be smoothed off.
Lucky it is available in tubs then we use PP Adhesion Promoters on OEM automotive exterior trim, it is however extremely unlikely to be PP. PP can be bonded just as good as any other polymer with the use of promoters,
I bought my Seeley hot air gun to use as a plastic welder to repair cracks in a Polypropolene bumper using PP rods. It's still repaired after 18 months
No, PET, PC/PET, PA6, PA66, TF-PP, GF-PA, MF-PA, PP+EPDM, TF-PP, GF-PP, PMMA, SAN, POM, PC/ABS & of course ABS too as well as many more. ABS is well down the list in volume usage - but you didn't wish to know that I'm sure, but you did ask :Finger:
i I read somewhere that most motorcycle applications were ABS Car applications are quite varied. I found a U.S. website that listed thousands of cars and what there plastics were made of. Used it to buy the correct filler rods. When plastic welding you don't stand a chance of it sticking if you use different plastics but this company produces a plastic rod which is supposed to stick to all plastics although it's a lot dearer than type specific rods
Most OEM motorcycle body work is indeed ABS some plastics are compatible with each other but it is a mine field. There are two basic types, amorphous and semi crystalline - ABS is in layman's terms a try polymer consisting of Acrylic (Plexi-Glass), Butadiene (Rubber) and Styrene (Polystyrene)
Exige - I consider myself suitably educated. Injection moulded plastic has the reinforcing element mixed in as a constituent part, not layed up seperately as it is with GRP. However - I take your point, and accept that sometimes seafarers have odd terms for things...
I think it's just a surface crack in the paint. If it really bothers you just make sure you do it right, which shouldn't include sanding the whole lot. If it's only annoying cos it's visible, get some race numbers to cover it up.
If it's a genuine seat, and I don't think it is, although it's hard to tell, it will be the same plastic as the side panels. If you take a side panel off you will find that the type of plastic is stamped somewhere on the panel. At the moment I cannot remember what the type is but it's not ABS on the later panels that used white plastic. Very early panels were red and they are quite hard to repair and they become brittle with age. It's been a while since I had the need to repair a panel but I used an old Gilera scooter panel and a Dremel with a cutting tool to cut pieces out to let in to various panels I repaired, as the plastic was the same type. They may possibly have even been made by the same company originally that supplied both manufacturers at the time.
