How to cut down a windshield
by Professor Bugs
(The Prof finds this to be as good a time as any in the syllabus to begin this block of instruction. He closes the prepared notes for the scheduled lecture "Nematodes as Snackfood.")
Ziggy: You can doo dis your own self, very easily, I have cut three or four down, not hard if you have a bit of patience.
Somebody may wanna make this a FAQ, I don't know how to do dat.
Cutting lexan is easy if you have patience and a Sabre saw. You will also need:
Duck tape--no animal cruelty involved
A fine tooth blade for the Sabre saw
Big sheet of brown paper
Fine tipped marker
Various files
Various grades of emery cloth
Water
First, decide how much lower you want the windshield (hereafter "ws"). Cover the ws with the big piece of brown paper, and mark carefully where the lower "belly" of the ws is--there should be some attaching pints, or something that goes all the way across the ws at about handle bar height. Tape or get a fren to hold the paper while you trace the outline of the ws, paying close attention to the top curvature. Spread this paper on a level surface, and cut out the pattern you now have of your full size ws.
If you need the ws lowerd 1", take it off the bottom of your pattern!! Very important--you are not cutting the ws as the bottom, but rather you are "lowering" the ws so that now your pattern will show the curvature 1" lower.
Take the ws off the bike, lay it down carefully on a blanket or sumpin nonscratchy and put your new shorter pattern on the ws. Eyeball where the new top will be, and put a layer of duck tape in the rough area of wher you will be cutting. Now tape the pattern down correctly, and trace your new top curve onto the duck tape.
I put the ws on my lap, main curve upward. This does two things--makes me go slow or I'll be singing soprano, and it gives me a variably adjustable surface to work on. Start your Sabre saw on one edge, and SLOWLY, work up the line you've traced onto the duck tape. In a jiffy, you'll have the excess 1" (or whatever) on the floor.
Now with a mill bastard file--sorry that's the correct name--smooth out the cut you just made. Use your artistic sense to get this part done. Take off the duck tape, and using the MB, start "rounding" or beveling the edge.
BE CAREFUL!! The file slips, you get a scratch, it's there forever. When you get it roughled in, use a block with emery cloth around it to do the fine work. Finish off with fine emery paeper, wet, and walla, you will have a factory edge. Total time s about 2-4 hours, depends mainly how hissy-pissy you are about making the edges just so.
I have done this twice on Shadows and once on my Star, and posted it on the Star bbs, and several have followed these instructions with perfectly fine results.
Prof. Bugs, Revolutionary & Successionist