An Original NewMar NewAire
RV Projects: Repairing a One-Of-A-Kind Mirror -- 7/12/19
If you read my previous blog posts, you know our driver's mirror was damaged in our former storage yard by an unidentified culprit. (Culprit because whoever hit the mirror tried to cover their tracks, pushing the mirror back in place and pocketing the broken pieces, but they missed a small one.) Here's the damage I found:
Because a matching replacement mirror is not available, the choice came down to replacing both mirrors with a newer model for $1500 or repairing the original. (How woeful is that?)
The decision was a no-brainer: I would attempt a repair.
First step was to find suitable ABS plastic for the repair. I purchased a 12 Inch Square ABS Sheet on Amazon.
Next, I used a piece of thin poster board to make a template of the mirror's missing corner. If you look closely, you can just make out my sharp pencil lines:
The template enabled me to cut out a replacement ABS piece, which I then formed over the edge of my workbench bench using a heat gun. It only took three tries to get it just right.
After doing some research on gluing ABS, I chose to use Original J-B Weld to cement the replacement piece in place:
I like J-B Weld for this fix because I knew it would do an excellent job holding the patch in place and it allowed my to do both filling and shaping.
So I shaped, filled, sanded, and primed the patch along with the other dings and gouges the unknown culprit had left on the mirror case:
Finally, I employed rattle can touchup paint ordered online to put color on the repairs. Turns out my color was from a 1998 Mazda automobile. If you have your original RV manufacturer's color code, the touchup paint vendor can match your color precisely; see the link at the end of this post.
After applying professional grade 2K Clear Coat Finisher (CAUTION: respirator required) and then doing a light polish, the repairs turned out well enough to satisfy the DW, and that's who really counts.
Crisis mitigated: we suffer from storage woes no more (we also moved indoors), and both of our original mirrors look as good as ever.
TomAndPeg
If you read my previous blog posts, you know our driver's mirror was damaged in our former storage yard by an unidentified culprit. (Culprit because whoever hit the mirror tried to cover their tracks, pushing the mirror back in place and pocketing the broken pieces, but they missed a small one.) Here's the damage I found:
Because a matching replacement mirror is not available, the choice came down to replacing both mirrors with a newer model for $1500 or repairing the original. (How woeful is that?)
The decision was a no-brainer: I would attempt a repair.
First step was to find suitable ABS plastic for the repair. I purchased a 12 Inch Square ABS Sheet on Amazon.
Next, I used a piece of thin poster board to make a template of the mirror's missing corner. If you look closely, you can just make out my sharp pencil lines:
The template enabled me to cut out a replacement ABS piece, which I then formed over the edge of my workbench bench using a heat gun. It only took three tries to get it just right.
After doing some research on gluing ABS, I chose to use Original J-B Weld to cement the replacement piece in place:
I like J-B Weld for this fix because I knew it would do an excellent job holding the patch in place and it allowed my to do both filling and shaping.
So I shaped, filled, sanded, and primed the patch along with the other dings and gouges the unknown culprit had left on the mirror case:
Finally, I employed rattle can touchup paint ordered online to put color on the repairs. Turns out my color was from a 1998 Mazda automobile. If you have your original RV manufacturer's color code, the touchup paint vendor can match your color precisely; see the link at the end of this post.
After applying professional grade 2K Clear Coat Finisher (CAUTION: respirator required) and then doing a light polish, the repairs turned out well enough to satisfy the DW, and that's who really counts.
Crisis mitigated: we suffer from storage woes no more (we also moved indoors), and both of our original mirrors look as good as ever.
TomAndPeg
Total Comments 2
Comments
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good info .... thanksPosted 08-05-2019 at 12:46 PM by larrybrown1 
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You're certainly welcome.Posted 12-25-2019 at 01:23 PM by TomAndPeg
