Success... and disappointment

Seems like lots of time has passed by since my last post...

The past few weeks have been good, but also not so good.
First, some good:

I ordered my first shipment of raw materials

Believe it or not, that's about $150 worth of metal... The 2 large squares are 6061-T6 aluminum. One is .375" thick and the other is .25" This will be turned into engine mounting plates. The rest is 1020 steel tubing in varying diameters and wall thicknesses.

I started with the frame tube that will go from behind the engine up toward the seat. It will angle backwards at a 15 degree angle, and "piercing tubes" -my description- will be inserted through it. The mounting bolts will pass through these piercing tubes.

Once the piercing tubes are fit, and the engine mount plates are in place, I'll start tacking everything together. Keeping everything square and straight will be my challenge...

Another tiny little detail about old machines I've noticed are that the bolt heads are usually bare, or turned. If I were to go to the Hardware store to buy bolts, they're all stamped or have the grade on the bolt head. This is fine, but I kind of prefer a "turned" appearance. I know they're all grade 8 bolts, but I don't need to advertise it. Kinda like that car dealer sticker on the back of your car... So, I've been turning all the bolt heads, and making the nuts sit flush with the end of the bolt.
Call me insane...

And now for the disappointment...

I found a local guy with a CNC plasma cutter who agreed to cut out the engine mount plates. I met with him and saw some of his work. It wasn't perfect, but it would be good. When I picked up the pieces, he wasn't happy with his work so he just gave them to me without charging me. A nice gesture, but according to him, he wasn't used to aluminum of this quality and it gave his machine a hard time. So, long story short... I can't use the pieces. The edge isn't square, and for me to make it square would remove too much material. Every cut edge is tapered, and the taper goes in all directions.

So, although plasma cutting aluminum is possible, and can sometimes be a great way to achieve desired results... this guy, on this day, with this machine, with this aluminum didn't happen.

The best method would've been water-jet cutting... which is where my new metal is now. Hydrocut Waterjet in Hunnington Beach CA.
I kind of knew I was taking a chance on the plasma, and it bit me. So, note to self...
go with your gut and don't waste money. I HATE wasting money.

Live and learn.... and I gotta say... there's a lot of learnin' goin on!


So, STILL nothing real to look at... I promise it's happening, it's just going a lot slower than I thought.

Thanks for looking!