Jump to content
WonderMonkey

Cutting A Bit Of Plastic - What To Use?

Recommended Posts

I started to install a winch on my ATV today.  The directions said I may need to cut some of my plastics and I was hoping I wouldn't, but alas ....  It's not going to be much, would you use a dremel for this?

 

In the below photo, the plastic isn't back where it is supposed to be as the winch is in the way.  A notch will put it in place.  The post will be exposed but I'll but some dielectric grease on it and tape it up real well.

 

media.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 

I use a dremel with a roto zip bit in it. With that you have to be careful because it can get away from you fast. That plastic usually cuts pretty easy with just a razor blade though, so about anything will work. A good pair of tin snips would make short work out of it.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
10 minutes ago, toodeep said:

I use a dremel with a roto zip bit in it. With that you have to be careful because it can get away from you fast. That plastic usually cuts pretty easy with just a razor blade though, so about anything will work. A good pair of tin snips would make short work out of it.

 

@toodeep if I used tin snips how could I justify going out and buying a Dremel?  THINK, MAN!

 

Just kidding, I'm going to borrow my brother-in-law's.  Makes him useful.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
2 minutes ago, WonderMonkey said:

 

@toodeep if I used tin snips how could I justify going out and buying a Dremel?  THINK, MAN!

 

Just kidding, I'm going to borrow my brother-in-law's.  Makes him useful.

 

You need to "justify" buying tools? lol  I have so many tools I have only used once and some I haven't yet. I see something I think I might need and then it's justified.

  • Like 6
  • Haha 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
1 minute ago, toodeep said:

 

You need to "justify" buying tools? lol  I have so many tools I have only used once and some I haven't yet. I see something I think I might need and then it's justified.

 

Well actually no, I generally just go get it.  I was playing a bit.

 

Still, I'm going to borrow this one as it's the first time I can recall ever needing one.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 

Cutting plastic can be a bit of a challenge to get the speed of the cut right to avoid melting the plastic.  Generally the more agressive cut the less of a problem melting will be but the difficulty in controlling the tool increases.

Tools I've used include a sabre saw if room permits, carbide bits in a die grinder, small sanding drums on a dremel and drilling multiple small holes side by side then cutting between them with a razor knife.   The last method works well for removing large sections but the sanding drums at a low speed is required to clean up the cut.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
 

A spiral cut bit on a Dremel will rip plastic easy.  I find it cuts really smooth and controllable with the bit working one way.  Making a cut with  the bit turning the opposite way is a little harder to control and wants to jump.  

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
2 hours ago, _Wilson_™ said:

as mentioned..... in chat, might check and make sure adding this yourself doest mess with the warranty on the bike. 

 

I will certainly check.  However, even if it does, I'm not going as far away from people as I will without it.  But I'll check.  Good idea.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
2 hours ago, Fishfiles said:

A spiral cut bit on a Dremel will rip plastic easy.  I find it cuts really smooth and controllable with the bit working one way.  Making a cut with  the bit turning the opposite way is a little harder to control and wants to jump.  

 

Noted, thanks.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 

I used a Dremel on mine.  A Dremel I've had for 30 or 40 years and hadn't used in many years.  Just use low speed so as not to melt the plastic as someone else posted.

 

I have all kinds of tools that I have never used.  But it sure works nice when I need one, and, lo and behold, I have it right there in one of the boxes.

dc

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
37 minutes ago, David13 said:

I used a Dremel on mine.  A Dremel I've had for 30 or 40 years and hadn't used in many years.  Just use low speed so as not to melt the plastic as someone else posted.

 

I have all kinds of tools that I have never used.  But it sure works nice when I need one, and, lo and behold, I have it right there in one of the boxes.

dc

 

I have a cabinet above my fridge in the garage.  On top of the fridge I have things stacked, paper towels, etc.  Three weeks ago I was clearing some things out and looked in the cabinet.  In there was a circular saw, jigsaw and a router that I've been missing for several years.  So .... it appears as if I can't trust myself to find things I own, but don't use regularly.

 

But I may buy a dremel.

  • Haha 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 

My dremel is one of my favorite tools.

 

I don't use a spiral bit to cut plastic with though as it will get away from you.  I use a cutoff wheel and just keep running it over my line.  Ill add a couple of pics  showing the cuts I made in the golf cart I got for my wife when installing a light kit recently.  My dremel is on the floor in the second or third pic with a diamond impregnated metal cut off wheel.   But I often use the regular aluminum oxide type cut off wheel for that sort of thing too.  A sanding drum bit is really good for cleaning up cuts if they are to be seen - in fact for the little you need to remove, a sanding drum would shape it quickly.  Harbor freight has cheap dremels.

 

 For some reason the pics are out of order. . .

 

 

 

 

F84DCD25-B1A2-47B7-9EFE-98E37F0FF388.jpeg

6831FBC7-E9A7-4DF0-8FF3-C4C44B185B35.jpeg

767A003E-1FA8-4761-9270-D7E3B382F249.jpeg

Edited by slowindown
  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
14 minutes ago, slowindown said:

My dremel is one of my favorite tools.

 

I don't use a spiral bit to cut plastic with though as it will get away from you.  I use a cutoff wheel and just keep running it over my line.  Ill add a couple of pics  showing the cuts I made in the golf cart I got for my wife when installing a light kit recently.  My dremel is on the floor in the second or third pic with a diamond impregnated metal cut off wheel.   But I often use the regular aluminum oxide type cut off wheel for that sort of thing too.  A sanding drum bit is really good for cleaning up cuts if they are to be seen - in fact for the little you need to remove, a sanding drum would shape it quickly.  Harbor freight has cheap dremels.

 

 For some reason the pics are out of order. . .

 

 

 

Hmm, maybe I'll go get one.  Once I have it, I may find other uses for it suddenly.  Thanks for the input and the photos.  That certainly is an odd looking atv you have there!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 

I purchased a Dremel type device and just a bit ago I removed the part of the plastics that was preventing me from reattaching my plastic.  I also left a bit of room for the wiring to come through.

 

As you can see in the below photo, some of the cutting was clean, and some wasn't.  As others have mentioned, if you use the wrong speed you can get a bit melty, and that's what happened at the bottom.  Since this was my first time and nobody (other than this forum, as I was told!) was going to see it, I played around with the speed.  You can see the part that I got wrong.

 

If this was a visible piece, I would not have experimented and would have even taped off the area to prevent some of those random marks where the roto-drill had a mind of its own.

 

Tomorrow, I'll use the grind wheel and drum sander and clean the edges up.  Even though it looks like !, it worked well and got the job done.

 

Thanks to all those that helped out in this thread.

 

media (1).png

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 

Wonder' , I got to say the truth , that looks like crap , I can't believe you done that to your  brand new atv ---  you had the right tool , but used the wrong accessory , the Dremel with a spiral bit would have done a very clean job , you just need to be very careful , cause it will jump when the rotation is working the wrong way , if that makes any sense , for instance , if you where cutting a circle in plastic with a spiral bit , one side of the circle will cut smooth as silk and the tool is easily controlled , but the other side of that circle will take a firm grip as it will want to jump ---should have practiced first ----if your Dreemel is not a variable speed model and is electric , you can get a speed controller that plugs in between the tool and the power supply , slowing  the tool down some makes it more controllable 

 

I think I would recut it to get rid of that bad edge , go a little over size and maybe take some rubber hose , slice it length wise and stick it over the edge to dress it up , glue the hose on with some weather stripping if needed 

  • Like 3
  • Haha 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
3 hours ago, Fishfiles said:

Wonder' , I got to say the truth , that looks like crap , I can't believe you done that to your  brand new atv ---  you had the right tool , but used the wrong accessory , the Dremel with a spiral bit would have done a very clean job , you just need to be very careful , cause it will jump when the rotation is working the wrong way , if that makes any sense , for instance , if you where cutting a circle in plastic with a spiral bit , one side of the circle will cut smooth as silk and the tool is easily controlled , but the other side of that circle will take a firm grip as it will want to jump ---should have practiced first ----if your Dreemel is not a variable speed model and is electric , you can get a speed controller that plugs in between the tool and the power supply , slowing  the tool down some makes it more controllable 

 

I think I would recut it to get rid of that bad edge , go a little over size and maybe take some rubber hose , slice it length wise and stick it over the edge to dress it up , glue the hose on with some weather stripping if needed 

 

Well gee, thanks.  I did use the spiral bit, and others, first.  Since this is under my machine, it really doesn't matter, and as I've said, I will go back and clean it up.  The photo makes it look worse than it is and when I finish it will look much better.

 

But thanks for the kind words.  That's what get for putting something up here to demonstrate how something didn't go quite right.  I shall not do that again.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 

@WonderMonkey don’t take his words wrong. They all tried to explain what tool to use & bit too attach. If you have never used one before & didn't understand all good! It’s ok. I was waiting to see how it looks after u clean it up myself...

 

In the end it’s your quad.. do what u want. Most people wouldn’t do what I do, but I value all their feed back....

Edited by Wheeler
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 

It will clean up fine with the sanding drum - you can just gently whittle away at it with the drum.  It will be fine.  I DO NOT recommend the spiral bits as mentioned in my post above until you have some practice and it can result in some jumpy cuts, which is why I recommend a cut off wheel for most situations.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 

hey, he was just being honest .... you have to understand something..., here you get the honest truth, when you ask for advise, expect it, don't expect lies or ! footing around, he even told you how to dress it up with a lenght of sliced rubber hose, which is what i would do. they told you a drimmel can get away from from the user. 

 

ive used a cutting wheel, and those will also pinch / jump .... if you don't have away of pulling the cut material spread, and cut with a certain depth. 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
5 hours ago, Fishfiles said:

Wonder' , I got to say the truth , that looks like crap , I can't believe you done that to your  brand new atv ---  you had the right tool , but used the wrong accessory , the Dremel with a spiral bit would have done a very clean job , you just need to be very careful , cause it will jump when the rotation is working the wrong way , if that makes any sense , for instance , if you where cutting a circle in plastic with a spiral bit , one side of the circle will cut smooth as silk and the tool is easily controlled , but the other side of that circle will take a firm grip as it will want to jump ---should have practiced first ----if your Dreemel is not a variable speed model and is electric , you can get a speed controller that plugs in between the tool and the power supply , slowing  the tool down some makes it more controllable 

 

I think I would recut it to get rid of that bad edge , go a little over size and maybe take some rubber hose , slice it length wise and stick it over the edge to dress it up , glue the hose on with some weather stripping if needed 

Why don't you tell us how you really feel Fish!

 

I've messed up more stuff with a dremel than I've fixed with a dremel.  They look all small and you think you can get that job done quickly with one, then you grind/cut and screw up what you're working on.

 

The bright side is, I'll bet that plastic part you're grinding on is cheap @WonderMonkey.  My approach now is to make it functional, buy an extra part in case I ever want to make it pretty again, and then not worry about how my mods look.

 

Over time I've realized that my ATV's stay covered in mud most of the time anyway, so who cares if it looks perfect?  That used to drive me nuts, so I started hoarding parts, so know I know that I have replacements in the shop if/when I want to make it look pretty again.  That tamps that OCD down real nice.

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 

Here is the progression of my first attempt at cutting some plastics.  Remember, it's under my atv so I wasn't worried about messing up as I could clean it, as I did.

 

Far Left: On the left is showing the plastic hitting the wiring post.  Even if I just notched for the wiring post the winch would be hit.

Middle: Raw and not dusted off.  You can see where some of went "ok", and others got away from me a bit.  I did take the advice from several people (thanks!) but I clearly messed up here and there.  I didn't clean it up (at that time).  A fellow member, @_Wilson_™, suggested I put it here to show people what happens if you go the wrong speed, use the wrong bit, etc.  I thought that was a good idea and put it.  I used several different bits (cutter, grinder, sander, spiral) to see what they would do.  Some of my experimentation had nasty results, but again, it was underneath so I was ok with it.

Far Right: I cleaned it up as far as I'm going to.  I COULD have removed more plastic to get the lines to be better, but that would just to be for the sake of aesthetics, and I decided to not do that.  No sharp corners or burrs exist, and in the end it turned out "ok".

 

Summary: I'm not necessarily proud of how it turned out, but I did overcome my apprehension of cutting on my brand new atv, and got it done.  It's functional.

 

Plastics 01.jpg

Edited by WonderMonkey
  • Like 5

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
1 hour ago, jeepwm69 said:

I've messed up more stuff with a dremel than I've fixed with a dremel.  They look all small and you think you can get that job done quickly with one, then you grind/cut and screw up what you're working on.

 

The bright side is, I'll bet that plastic part you're grinding on is cheap @WonderMonkey.  My approach now is to make it functional, buy an extra part in case I ever want to make it pretty again, and then not worry about how my mods look.

 

Over time I've realized that my ATV's stay covered in mud most of the time anyway, so who cares if it looks perfect?  That used to drive me nuts, so I started hoarding parts, so know I know that I have replacements in the shop if/when I want to make it look pretty again.  That tamps that OCD down real nice.

 

Thanks.  I would say that if this was an easily visible fender, I would not have had that been my "first go" as this was.  I would not have experimented, etc.  I plan on messing many more things up.  I'm not a mechanic, nor so I work on my house, etc.  I'm new at this.  I have TREMENDOUS apprehension doing things like this as my aversion to failure is high on things I'm new at.  Installing this winch hurts my head, but I ALSO have a high desire to do as much as I can to take care of and mod my atv.  This site is TREMENDOUS for that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
 
4 hours ago, WonderMonkey said:

 

Well gee, thanks.  I did use the spiral bit, and others, first.  Since this is under my machine, it really doesn't matter, and as I've said, I will go back and clean it up.  The photo makes it look worse than it is and when I finish it will look much better.

 

But thanks for the kind words.  That's what get for putting something up here to demonstrate how something didn't go quite right.  I shall not do that again.

I was a little hard on you  'Monkey , sorry if I fluffed your fur  >>> 

 

  Shoot  , "  it'll buff out "  >>>  

 

I think I suffer from  Geometrical OCD , everything needs to be in it's proper place , when I looked at that cut it sent shock waves  thru my entire  body  , I am going to have bad dreams tonight of a band of flying monkey with a Dremel cut on my atv plastics  , LOL 

 

 

 

  • Haha 5

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...