Making a windscreen

I just recently bought a yamaha xt600.

A few days after buying it I did a 400 mile round trip on the highway, and came to the conclusion that I needed to address the wind blasting me in the chest.

So today I stopped at the local hardware store and picked up a small sheet of acrylic and got to work on making a screen. I thought I would share the process here, in hopes that it may help someone else.

I started by making a cardboard cutout of how I imagined I wanted the screen



I then traced it onto the sheet of acrylic



Then it was time to fix my bandsaw. It threw the blade weeks ago and I never got around to fixing it. Feel free to omit this step



With the saw fixed I cut out the rough shape of the screen

I then fired up the kitchen oven to 200F and placed the screen on a cookie sheet. It may be necessary to ask your wife's permission before doing so. You have been warned

Below is a test piece



After about 4 minutes in the oven the smell of acrylic was strong in the air, my cue to take the screen out of the oven.

Without letting the screen cool I rushed over to the bike and molded the screen to the front fairing how I wanted it, and held it in place until it began to keep shape.

To speed up the process I moved it to the freezer for a few minutes


Voila, we have a formed wind screen

I mocked up the screen on the bike and marked where I wanted my mounting holes. A piece of tape with marks on it worked excellent for mirroring the holes to the other side.



I used some fuel hose and stainless bolts I had laying around to make the screen mounts





I took the headlight fairing off the bike to do the final mounting of the screen. Before mounting, I smoothed out the edges using sandpaper, and used a heat gun to add a lip at the top of the screen



And here is the final product







I'm very pleased with it so far. The screen helps a great deal on the highway, and only cost 10$

Very nice.

I made one for a Concours I had a while back. It was a much larger piece of Lexan, and I heated it with a heat gun. My results were satisfactory, but not as good as yours.

Well done!

Looks real good! I should make one for my drz.

That's pretty slick.

I used to do thermoforming of plastics for an orthotics & prosthetics company. We did that sort of thing all day, every day. If you don't mind, in the future I might advise you to get a cheap POS oven from somewhere to heat your plastic with, as the outgassing of chemicals when the plastic is heated also hang out in your oven's lining and can possibly make it unsafe to cook food in. Don't do it in your wife's oven cause chemicals taste bad.

Depending on the type of plastic that acrylic is, it may have to return to its original shape over time (or it may not!), as plastics that are 'quenched' haven't realigned their chemical structure in the same way as they would if you let come to temp in ambient air. When we used to pull a mold, we left it on the cast for 24 hours.

<a href="https://www.pelsupply.com/products/product/1893">Deburring tools</a> are great for cleaning up rough edges. You can also use a cloth wheel set on a low speed on a bench grinder to smooth the edges. We had to make the edges of our splints smooth all the time, as half our patients were diabetics with sensitive skin. The cloth wheel at a low speed melts the plastic just a little, and helps it smooth.

I wondered if the acrylic in the oven was wise/safe, but I'm willing to take the risk. I'm actually baking a cake in the oven as I type this, so I will let you know if I notice any odd flavors

Like you've never cooked a pizza in the IR before.

Acrylic? Not anything I'd sit behind.:eek1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsls5ZPCUnE

National Cycle..... Darn I have lots of miles back then behind one of their product. Or three....I managed to break two of them.

We'll that escalated quickly. D:

Motorcycles have been using acrylic windscreens for years. In the event of a crash, I'm certain the fairing the screen is attached to would pop off before the screen would break.

My middle child an XT350, good idea, you didn't make two by chance?

Very nice work!

Wow I am inspired I gotta make one now.

I notice the material is opaque in the first picture, did it clear up when you put it in the oven??

For the people who fear the acrylic breaking, I don't believe it is any more dangerous than running without a windshield, iffin' you wear a fullface helmet or goggles.

The acrylic came with a protective plastic film on both sides. That is the opacity you see in the picture. I left it on as long as practical to prevent scratches to the screen.

Thanks a lot man! I either need a street helmet or a windshield, sometimes I think my head is going to get yanked off from wind catching the visor.

With about four hours of work, he could make an exact copy with plaster of paris, use that to make a vacuum mold, and bust 'em out in droves for $40/pop.

Looks nice but.....Wondering how long before you bang you chin on that thing? Don't ask how I know .

And riding through the bushes won't scratch it at all!

Another way to make a windscreen is to cut up a plastic trash can. There's a thread on that method somewhere around here.

edit: Didn't mean to come across as a smartass. I like DIY solutions.

You can usually find Lexan sheets right next to the acrylic in most home centers.

Been using it for years. It wont shatter into dangerous pieces, much safer. It does require about 350 degrees and a little more time in the oven to make it workable.

Here's my trash can screen I made to sheild and somewhat protect my GPS. Works we'll on the DRZ style headlight bezel not sure about others.