Hot plastic staples | GTAMotorcycle.com

Hot plastic staples

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NuggyBuggy

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Just got one and trying to repair some plastics. It works great but how do people deal with the removing the protruding ends after?

I was hoping to use a nipper to get close but none of the ones I could find can really get flush.

I’ve tried a grinding stone on a drill which takes a long time to go through a lot of staples and stone seemed to wear pretty fast which surprised me for something meant to be attached to an angle grinder. Same problem with a Dremel except that those fittings cost 5 times more.

I finally did it all but it was more time consuming than I expected.

Suggestions for next go round?
 
NuggyBuggy said:
Just got one and trying to repair some plastics. It works great but how do people deal with the removing the protruding ends after?

I was hoping to use a nipper to get close but none of the ones I could find can really get flush.

I’ve tried a grinding stone on a drill which takes a long time to go through a lot of staples and stone seemed to wear pretty fast which surprised me for something meant to be attached to an angle grinder. Same problem with a Dremel except that those fittings cost 5 times more.

I finally did it all but it was more time consuming than I expected.

Suggestions for next go round?
Click to expand...
I use a small grinding stone thingy on a dremel. No manual snips seem to cut close enough, you have to grind it down some how or live with the sharp ends sticking out. Great way to pick up and dispose of the cut of metal pieces is to pick them up with a piece of tape then fold over and dispose. Don't want those in tires or dog paws. I still use epoxy after because I found that the repair will still crack but not come apart so you have to epoxy or use the welding abs rods but have to choose the correct material. I find epoxy easier. I have used my welder/ stapler to fix all kinds of things around the house that were otherwise garbage. Great tool!
 
NuggyBuggy said:
Just got one and trying to repair some plastics. It works great but how do people deal with the removing the protruding ends after?

I was hoping to use a nipper to get close but none of the ones I could find can really get flush.

I’ve tried a grinding stone on a drill which takes a long time to go through a lot of staples and stone seemed to wear pretty fast which surprised me for something meant to be attached to an angle grinder. Same problem with a Dremel except that those fittings cost 5 times more.

I finally did it all but it was more time consuming than I expected.

Suggestions for next go round?
Click to expand...
Staples used for repairing plastics have a small breakaway crimp that sits below the surface of the plastic - twist the leg and it snaps off below the surface, you don’t clip them.

A light pass with 120 knocks down the edge that got raised by the heat.
 
Mad Mike said:
Staples used for repairing plastics have a small breakaway crimp that sits below the surface of the plastic - twist the leg and it snaps off below the surface, you don’t clip them.

A light pass with 120 knocks down the edge that got raised by the heat.
Click to expand...
Interesting! The videos I saw all had guys trying to grind them off with rotary tools.I'm going to take a closer look at the staples and more importantly, try twisting them. Now off to look something I can sink some staples into.
 
GreyGhost said:
If Staples are on the inside of the fairing, the slight points left are less annoying.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately what I was working on repairing this go-round were the hand guards on my Multistrada. Don't want those things catching my hands or gloves by accident. When I get better, I'll take a look at a crack in the fairing.
 
Fuzzbuster said:
I use a small grinding stone thingy on a dremel. No manual snips seem to cut close enough, you have to grind it down some how or live with the sharp ends sticking out. Great way to pick up and dispose of the cut of metal pieces is to pick them up with a piece of tape then fold over and dispose. Don't want those in tires or dog paws. I still use epoxy after because I found that the repair will still crack but not come apart so you have to epoxy or use the welding abs rods but have to choose the correct material. I find epoxy easier. I have used my welder/ stapler to fix all kinds of things around the house that were otherwise garbage. Great tool!
Click to expand...
I tried some epoxy at first, and let it sit for a couple of weeks as I was out of town. Came back and everything pretty much fell apart after a little pressure. This time I used Permatex plastic welder instead of epoxy. Then when it felt like it was starting to cure, I got to work with the stapler to really hold things together.. The end result is pretty darn solid. I would have tried ABS cement instead of the Permatex stuff but the guys at my hardware store didn't know what it was.

You're right - it is a great tool and fun to use. I repaired a cheap plastic Muskoka-style chair I tried to use as a step-stool, and now have a way to mend some snowmobile plastics from when my kids crashed into each other.

Mine was a cheap cordless one from Princess Auto which is good for maybe a dozen staples before it starts running low on battery; considering buying a corded one because I don't like the idea of anything from PA sitting around in my house charging.
 
RC-31 said:
Electrician's flush cutters.

They cut right up to the edge.
Click to expand...
Do you have a recommendation for one that can handle hot staples?

The descriptions for all the flush cutters I could find online point to cutting small gauge wires. The only tool "flush cutter" I could find near my cottage was the Canadian Tire Maximum Flush cutters. It claims to cut flush but I definitely couldn't get any closer to flush than I could with the diagonal cutting pliers I had on hand.

Also, the staples seemed to be too much for that tool as there is now one notch in the cutting edges for each staple it saw.
 
NuggyBuggy said:
Do you have a recommendation for one that can handle hot staples?

The descriptions for all the flush cutters I could find online point to cutting small gauge wires. The only tool "flush cutter" I could find near my cottage was the Canadian Tire Maximum Flush cutters. It claims to cut flush but I definitely couldn't get any closer to flush than I could with the diagonal cutting pliers I had on hand.

Also, the staples seemed to be too much for that tool as there is now one notch in the cutting edges for each staple it saw.
Click to expand...
secure.sayal.com

CUTTER FLUSH 5IN ANGLED

CUTTER FLUSH 5IN ANGLED - PROSKIT
secure.sayal.com

Note that they were designed for trimming resister leads on circuit boards and they are soft copper.
 
nobbie48 said:
secure.sayal.com

CUTTER FLUSH 5IN ANGLED

CUTTER FLUSH 5IN ANGLED - PROSKIT
secure.sayal.com

Note that they were designed for trimming resister leads on circuit boards and they are soft copper.
Click to expand...
Those were the ones that worked the best for me. However I did damage the snips because I don't think they are meant to handle that. Still had to grind them down. As for the staples being break away, sometimes they do but they still left a small stub that had to be grinded. The epoxy that I used was the jb weld for plastic.
 
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