Topic: Rebuilding Start button - CB550F

[Krankyoptimist]

Ok so I did something stupid. I should have read previous forum posts about taking apart the components of the right handlebar starter/kill switch shell. Don't do it unless absolutely necessary!  As was stated in said posts, there's a pretty good chance that the parts of your starter button have deteriorated but still work as long as you don't try to remove them from the outer aluminum shell.  Doh!

Well long story short I don't want to shell out for an NOS replacement.  And although there were some significant chunks of the original plastic remaining it was too rotten to try to repair.  So I gathered up all of the little springs, balls, doohickeys, and assorted doodads and some impromptu fabrication was in order....

[bjbuchanan]

Take my money NOW

[dave500]

brilliant,great finesse,you make it look easy?

[Krankyoptimist]

Ha. It's flip down 3.0 magnifiers and a 12hr caffeine hiatus.    

[goldarrow]

Yeah. I was about to ask how much time you spent on doing that

[dave500]

coffee?,beer mate,we wouldn't get anything done otherwise!

[Krankyoptimist]

Enh.  I had a couple of hours to kill today while all the out of town relatives napped off the feast.  It's made from fiberglass resin poured in a sheet and CA glue.  Thought that might hold up to some heat better than plastic?  Seems surprisingly strong. Hopefully it will hold up. It's a nice snug fit in its home. And of course this guy will NOT be taking it apart again.

Thought it might make a nice post for others in my predicament who wondered if it could actually be done.

[dave500]

you might post it in the "tips and tricks"section?you turned a no longer available part into a new just made one.

[faux fiddy]

I'm not sure what I'm seeing there, but lots of times people will ditch their horn and use the switch for a starter button.

I've been in those a few times and  they're a pain in the butt, and the whole time it was open I thought I fooked it.  It's always a relief when the screws go back in and it works.

I know the springs off a click type ball point pen work if you cut off a half cm. piece.

[SohRon]

Very nicely done and kudos for not losing all of your parts when the thing exploded! Patterns of the individual pieces would be nice to share on the Tips n Tricks page.

Good job! See... I knew it could be done! 

[Krankyoptimist]

I free handed mine pretty much but as Sohron suggests a template might be nice for those who want to attempt. And who's going to refuse the switch master right?  So here's a "blueprint" for you guys. A little rough but dimensionally correct. Just like putting together a gingerbread house. I used fiberglass resin as my gingerbread, from some packaging prototypes I had laying around, sanded to 1.5mm thick. But there should be other options for base material than that.  Phenolic board probably best?  Then a very small pair of clamps, a metric caliper, and a dremel are only tools needed.

The binder is CA glue. I found the medium thickness to be very easy to work with because it didn't run everywhere and sort of made fillets. Also the tiny slots in the side can fairly well be butchered and it really doesn't matter too terribly much as the CA will fill the gaps. Also on that note I glued the doodoo out of the pieces. If it ever comes apart I'm confident I can preserve all my original Honda bits by grinding away my newer materials.

Not sure how to post this to tips and tricks as suggested so if someone thinks that's where this needs to be let me know how?  Hope someone gets some use from the info as I have certainly benefitted my fair share from the info of all you others!  Good luck!

[shawn57nomad]

Great repair!  Finished mine as I had ordered the wrong switch for my 76 550F1.  Only about 5 hours and plenty of caffeine!  So much in fact I went ahead and wired it to the bike at 1A.M.  Fun to hear it fire!  Now to get some fuel in it as it hasn't ran since 94.

[Krankyoptimist]

Great!  Glad you got some use from the post. I've got 1,000 miles on my switch now and knock on wood no issues.

[shawn57nomad]

Thanks for the write-up!  This fixed my switch and did mine in about 4 hours at the kitchen table amidst family activities.  Fun fun and the SOHC Family here is great!

[andyvh1959]

Just had a thought. I wonder if someone with a 3D printer may be able to reproduce these parts at home.

[RevDoc]

Just had a thought. I wonder if someone with a 3D printer may be able to reproduce these parts at home.

WOW, great idea! Heck, if people are building everything from surgical parts to military hardware( read:guns)with 3-D printers, than someone should be able to build these. How about it, all you computor wizards!?