Ok, how about a post that's NOT welding?

You asked, I listened.
I get thousands of emails every day asking for more motorcycle-progress pics.
I can see how the welding stuff may be a little boring for some of you...

One of my first "real" welding projects was to build an "engine cradle." -That's what I call it anyway...

I built this so I could position the engine exactly where it needs to be in relation to the frame. The sprockets are perfectly lined up, the engine is level, and centered. The 3 bolts are to make fine adjustments. I think it may have to move toward the front wheel slightly, but from side to side, it's right on.
All you sharp-eyed viewers will notice 2 things... One, that's a HUGE counter-shaft sprocket on that thing! Yes, and it's custom. PBI made it, and it's really 18 tooth. There is a matching 42 tooth on the rear that a company called "Rebel Gears" made me. I had to go custom on the sprockets because of the rear hub/wheel combo. I'm using dirt bike wheel parts, and dirt bikes use very large rear sprockets. Plus, the fact that the rear wheel is 21 inch (!!) that plays a part also. SO, in order for me to get back in the ball park with the final drive ratio, I had to come up with a front/rear sprocket combo that would do that. The SMALLEST rear sprocket I can get is a 42 tooth. (without machining away some of the bolt shoulders in the hub... and I didn't want to do that) So in order to be somewhat close to the stock gearing, I needed an 18 tooth front. -Rebel gears again. They hooked up the PBI.

The second thing to notice in the photo is the nice, shiny silver patch on the case below the sprocket. This is what raw aluminum looks like. I'm glad to know that the brown, "gas stained" clear coat will come off with a little paint stripper and elbow grease.

So, now we're looking like this:

The drawing on the wall behind the bike is new as well... It keeps morphing into more detail, but I think I'm set on the final design/measurements. I have the "plates" that will bolt the engine to the frame tubes drawn out and those will be made out of aluminum... .375" for the rear plates and .25" for the front/top. I may have a lead on a guy here in town with a laser cutting machine, but if he doesn't work out, there's a water-jet company in Cali with no minimum charge on cutting. Hopefully I can keep it all as local as I can.

So what's next? Probably ordering my frame tube steel, and I think ol' Santy may come a little early this year... One of the little elves mentioned something about a drill press with a cross-slide vise. That would be about as close to a milling machine as I'd ever get, and a VERY nice Christmas present.
As usual, if you can hang on, I'll have more...
I promise.

Dang...

It's been almost 3 months since I last posted anything. Sorry to the faithful few who sometimes check this blog.
Much has happened though... I was able to meet with "Jim" the technical counselor from the EAA and it went really well. We pretty much just talked for the first hour. He lives on an airport like some folks live on a golf course. He can literally roll an airplane out his hangar and it's about a 50 yard trip to the runway. I couldn't believe that he actually prepared for my visit by setting up some flat 4130 sheet for me to run a horizontal bead on, and some mitered (super-thin) tubing to tack and join too. I had never worked with .020 tubing before. That was hard. But by the end of my visit, I was told that I was doing just fine... I just needed some "seat-time." -Practice... that is.
Airplane guys are just cool.

Here are some of my awesome sculptures:

This thing was pretty crazy. It started off as a couple pieces, but then I couldn't think of anything creative to do with it so I just kept adding new strips. There wasn't too much thought into this thing, it's just taken a life of it's own. I'm sure all beginning welders have this kind of stuff littering their workbenches...

This was my first attempt at brazing. I was at AutoZone and I found some $4 brazing rod. I'm sure it's junk, and all they tell you is that it's "phosphor bronze" rod. Yes, I know I over-heated it, Yes, I know it boiled, Yes, it's ugly, but see those bends? I COULD NOT break this thing. I went back and forth in the vise with a hammer, and it's still holding. I can assure you that I have gotten a little better at my brazing and heat control since this little experiment...

I bought a box of 4130 cut-offs from a company called "Aircraft Spruce." They sell a welder's kit for about $27. It came with a bunch of different diameters/wall thickness/shapes of tubing. Some of it was just cool. I LOVE aero tubing.

So, I started in on this stuff. There was a 1 inch diameter .090 wall thickness tube that I drilled .5 inch holes in. Then I inserted small lengths of .5 inch .083 wall tubes thru the big tube and welded them in... like this:

This is one of the better examples:

And for the last one, I did a little "fillet braze" joint. Bicycle builders beware...

I've probably tried every welding tip and gas pressure combination I can think of and for most of the good welds (in my .060 tubing) I've decided that my #0 tip at 5psi works the best. With the 1 or 2 tip I'm not flowing enough gas and I get torch pop. With the #0, It's kinda hissy with the gas turned up to melt the .060 steel, but I seem to have much better results. Perhaps that will change with more experience, but for now I think I may be ready to start tackling some of my actual frame.
The plan is to start with the main frame tube that goes from the back of the engine up towards the seat. Then the top tube connecting to the head, then the down tube from the head to the front of the engine.
-But, I'm not rushing this. These are the important tubes!

Thanks for looking! More to come...