Chinese Scooter Club

Noam22 · Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:57 am Build your own windshield

How to build your own windshield:

Why do it ?
a) You have more time then money.
b) No ready made windshield can be bought for your Hautian scooter for love nor money.

Start by getting a grip on things -

You need a strong handlebar mounting point, counting only on the mirrors supports is not a good idea for a full size windshield – and yes, I have seen commercial units built that way but we are the bullet proof mechanics, right ?
Conrad.nl sells steel clamps for 22mm pipes ( P/N 827931, 12 Euro for 10 pieces), when used with an M10 20mm long screw and nut on one side and M10 galvanized steel threaded bar (around 3 Euro for 1meter threaded bar from Gamma) makes one super strong handlebar
mounting points:

You will need to move the brake pipe a little bit, but there is plenty of space for that.

Your mounting points are almost ready, you will need to file little openings in the indicator cover
panel for the threaded bar to pass through; the panel is made of plastic, and easy cut with a soldering iron and file to shape.

You might have noticed that the threaded bar pop out at a strange angle – we will work around it as the
10mm threaded bar is far to strong to bend, unless your nick name is “Terminator”.

The windshield brackets are made from galvanized steel shelving supports (Gamma) cut and drilled.
Take out the removable center beam (it’s not welded) but keep it – we will use it later.

Once mounted, bend the bracket upright. It’s easy as the threaded bar provides bullet proof support.

Next, is the mirror supports – cut the metal spacer from the bottom of each mirror, but keep the bit you
cut, you will need it very soon as a spacer.

Now take that bracket center support ( you did keep it, didn’t you ? ) and bend it to the angle between
the mirror mounting hole and the windshield bracket. Drill 8mm holes and cut to size. Important – bend
the support first, once cut it is VERY difficult to shape…)

At last we can shape the windshield itself – a Plexiglas sheet big enough for 2 windshields costs around
10 Euro from Gamma, allowing you trial and error (and there will be errors, trust me...),
Straight lines can be cut by scratching and bending to break, curves are best cut with a soldering iron.

Use a file and sandpaper to smooth the Plexiglas edge.
Holes must be drilled with a support (a piece of wood) under the Plexiglas or it will crack.

I added some blue fuel pipe cut along the side for decoration and scratch protection.

px166bajaj · Sun Mar 30, 2008 9:03 am

Well done. Got a pic?

Noam22 · Sun Mar 30, 2008 9:07 am

got pics of every stage, but no easy way to add them to the post...

px166bajaj · Sun Mar 30, 2008 9:25 am

Set yourself up with a Photobucket account
http://chinesescoots.forumwise.com/chinesescoots-thread3529.html
It's free. :wink:

Noam22 · Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:27 am

Thanks , that's 2 tips in one topic...

TheDarkCutlass · Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:33 pm

man thas a great idea, kinda weird looking but gets the job done

a Suggestion? Bend the selving brackets backwords a little bit, the plexiglass will bend with it, kinda giving it a 'curved' look and help protect it from braking (ever noticed how hard it is to brake a window on a car from the outside? curvature). But in order to do that you have to bend the bracket first then drill the mounting holes (or just ''wallow'' them out) as it would shift the mounting poits.

Downside with plexiglass is that it will pit easily from road debri. Another thing you might want to invest in is clear plastic sheets. I can't think of the exact name of them right now, but you can put them over the plexiglass as sacrificial, when it get pitted/scrtatched up, you just peel it off and apply a new one. But it might be easier/cheaper just to buy a new piece of plexiglass maybe, as over time it will yellow

Noam22 · Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:51 pm

I fully agree twice - it works really really well, and it does look strange :icon_icon_scooter-:
I plan to make a smaller more curved screen - 3mm Plexiglas
might be able to hold itself curved , I hope I can shape it with a heat gun.

Scootin · Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:56 pm

:icon_thumbs_up:

joe_T · Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:21 pm

maybe if you made the top curved it will look more aerodynamic. well done on working out a secure way of fitting it. k +

Scootin · Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:53 pm

Curved would look better, but :icon_thumbs_up: on the mount design

Have a K for innovation! 8)

TheDarkCutlass · Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:40 am

Scootin wrote: Curved [you]would[/you] look better, but :icon_thumbs_up: on the mount design

Have a K for innovation! 8)

exactly, the out of the box thinking worked great in this application

gstraitman · Sun Jun 15, 2008 1:23 pm

poly carbonate is what is used for windshields and is not much more expensive than what you used. At first you flat windshield looked wierd to me, but really it has a nice high quality look to it. I like it. Also you could dress it up with decals which would look interesting.

Nice Job

Cardinal · Tue Jul 29, 2008 5:57 pm

Most of the clear material can be bent if you heat them slowly in an oven on a pan with a clean piece of cardboard underneath them. BEFORE heating it, find somethng that is curved to lay it against once it is hot. DON'T pull on it to form the curve, if it's heated to the right temperature, it will form arund the curved object on it's own with a little help.