Just a little randomness...

This post is going to be all over the place.
I finally got the front triangle of the frame done!! It's been mocked-up, tacked, and all fitted together for what seems like years, but I finished it a couple weeks ago. There's a combination of bent, cut, rolled, mitered, and capped steel, that has all been joined by traditional oxy-acetylene welding and brazed joints. The following are some pics of the final stages:

This is me welding upside-down to uphill. My wife Deb was taking pics... it took me a little while to realize what the "flashing" was coming from...

Once that joint was welded, I covered it in bronze because I love the look of a nice, smooth fillet between tubes. This next shot is what the joint looked like after the bronze was laid down. The white/clear/glass-like stuff all around the joint is the flux. Once it cools, it literally forms into a glass-like substance. You can chip it off, but that takes too much time. I prefer to soak the joint in warm water, or for this instance where the joint is in the middle of a tube, I soaked some rags and wrapped them around the joint. Like magic, in about 20 minutes it's clean.

From there the bronze gets shaped with files and sand paper until the joint flows from one tube to the other.

Ready for the official unveiling????

hello frame,

I intentionally cut my head off this pic due to the goofy expression I had on my face...

So this is where I change directions...
I worked so long on the front part of the frame, and somewhat neglected the final details of the rear triangle/axle plates, etc. So, it was back to the drawing board for me.
I had everything in it's place drawing-wise, I just wasn't sure about the final details such as making each piece aesthetically pleasing, finalizing up the thicknesses and type of metal for each part, and making sure my drawing will work in the real, 3-dimensional world.

This is what I'm thinking for the rear axle plates/axle blocks, fine adjusters, and bike stand lifters:

It may look a little confusing because it's the "wire-frame" view, but for my engineering friend Dave, he'll know what I'm doing here... The axle plate itself, and the axle block guides will be water-jet cut out of .375" steel. I have the axle blocks already and they're a slick cnc machined aluminum piece that has been anodized black. The "C" shaped thing hanging off the back is the lifter that the bike stand will hook into to lift the rear wheel off the ground. This will also be water-jet cut, but out of .25" aluminum. And lastly, the long horizontal screw is the axle fine adjuster... This will be brass.

I'm 99% set on this design. I've ordered my chain and will finalize the distance between the 2 axle plates once I can get an exact measurement of the chain width. I don't want my frame tubes to be too close to a moving chain!

Until the chain comes, I've put my lathe to work and designed the top "studs" that the rear frame tubes will connect to. These are the upper studs (right under where the seat will go).

As you can see, the bolt head is recessed into the stud. It has also been turned on the lathe to get the bolt markings off. You can't see it, but on the other end of the bolt, the nut (which is also recessed) has been turned on the lathe, AND the bolt length ends at exactly the outside face of the nut. (!)
This is the kind of crap you do when you have WAY more time than money! I think I have a disease...

And lastly, the stock bike had this nifty little rotary switch sticking out of the left-side engine case that would inform you of what gear you were in. There was a whole cluster of lights on the "dash" and the one that corresponded with what gear you were in would light up. I guess that kind of thing has it's place, but not on this bike. So, rather than just leaving the switch mounted to the engine and cutting the wire off, I removed the whole thing, machined an aluminum plug complete with o-ring seal on the inside, and an aluminum bar to hold it in tight. The safety wire is functional... it prevents the screws from backing out... but more than that, I think it looks cool.
Again, drilling .0625" holes in stainless cap bolts just to run twisted wire through... Yep, lots of time on my hands.

I see there's still some greasy, old dirt in the crevices of the engine cases. Camera flashes really point everything out don't they? Hopefully the soda blasting (in the future) will get the dirt and the old stained clear coat off the cases.

Thanks for watching this blog. Hopefully next time I'll have some new rear frame parts to put together!

Ciao!

More Framework

We've been on vacation this week so I've had some garage time to work more on the bike. At the beginning of our week off we had some family visit us. That was nice. Here's a pic of me and my Dad in the garage...

We were checkin' out the bike. Back when I was a little guy, my Dad and Uncle rebuilt an old Harley -which they later sold... also, I remember him rolling around on an old Honda CB175 when I was about 5. Between Dad and my Grandfather it was probably just a matter of time before I became interested in motorcycles...

Anyway, here is what I accomplished this week:

I finished the tube behind the engine (welded a cap on the bottom of the tube)

This is the finished piece. I filed and sanded everything smooth.

Next I started brazing in the "piercing tubes" into the down-tube. Here is a pic of the brazed tubes "in the raw"... which just means that I brazed them, let the tubing cool, then soaked off the flux in warm water.

The next step is to finish the joint. This is first done with a coarse round file, then a fine round file, then my sore fingers and sandpaper. I also welded the bottom cap on this tube. I didn't even need any filler rod on these caps. Just melted the edges into a solid joint. FUSION BABY!

And below is the finished tube:

And here it is installed:

Next is making sure everything is square and in position so I can attach the head tube to this down tube. Once that's done, I can weld in the backbone and engine head mount. That will complete the front triangle of the frame! Can't wait to get to that point. I'm still trying to have a roller by the end of the summer... hopefully I can keep the momentum up and meet that goal.


Thanks again for reading!

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy May 14th everyone!
-Otherwise known as my birthday.

We celebrated over the weekend and my awesome wife Deb planned out my whole day.

One of the places we went was the "Wheels Through Time Museum" in Maggie Valley NC.
We've been there before, but I love that place!
I try to explain to people that this is probably the largest collection of vintage American motorcycles in the world... and I'm lucky enough to have it right in my backyard.

So here's the ironic part: If you know me, I've never really warmed up to Harley Davidson. To me (and this is just MY OPINION... obviously I'm in the minority...) the folks on Juneau Avenue like selling the IDEA of a motorcycle/lifestyle/heritage/history/legend more than they like selling actual "engineered" motorcycles. For a company to have been in business as long as they have, they should be the kings of the world in regards to technology, advancement, engineering, performance, etc. They are undoubtedly the best motorcycling marketers on the planet! But for me, I need more than just "The legend of Harley Davidson" and a shiny, thick catalog full of bandanas, belt buckles, jackets, t-shirts, coffee cups... etc.

All that to say, back in the day (early 1900's) Harley was DEFINITELY a major player in the performance motorcycle biz... and within this tiny little window of Harley's history, I am a BIG fan.

Ok. Enough of my soapbox.
Check out some of my favorite bikes/parts from this past Saturday... and get to Wheels Through Time if you can!

This is one of the first bikes you see when you enter the museum. It's a Reading Standard Board Track Racer. This pic specifically is the seat. I LOVE this seat. It's a Mesinger Racer, and pretty much un-obtainable. There are folks making replacements so that's what I'll go with, but I think it's really cool.

This is a "Thor" board track racer. -As found. According to Dale (the museum's owner) this is the only Thor racer he's ever heard of. The cool thing about Wheels Through Time is that if you want to hear something run, just find Dale and he'll start it for you. -yes seriously. When was the last time you heard a 19-teens board track racer running? For me, it was 2 days ago. By the way... Thor motorcycles were made in Aurora, IL -about 20 minutes from where I grew up!

Not one, but 3 vintage, perfect Harley racers. (note the seats!) Also, more than just bikes, look at all the vintage stuff that surrounds these bikes! Original factory boxes containing engine parts, oil, chains, leathers, etc. How does someone find all this stuff and keep it in one place???

Hey Uncle Bob, last time I was up in IL you were asking if the museum had any Harley 8 valve engines? Yup.

But one of the coolest bikes there is a 1930 board tracker. This bike is kind of an anomaly in that by 1930 board track racing was pretty much done with. However, Harley made 20 of these engines in 1930. Note the 4 exhaust pipes... It's not an 8 valve engine though... It's a 4 valve, but each exhaust port split into two so it would breathe a little better. Believe it or not, this engine is capable of 130 mph! It's a 750cc engine. The motor was in one state and the chassis was in another, but they got them back together and fired it up. The History channel spent 350K filming a show that featured this bike being rebuilt. It hasn't aired yet, but we watched it at the museum. Super high quality, and a "must see" for anyone who is into this old stuff.

All in all, a great time. I took lots more photos, and got TONS of ideas for my bike.

It was a great birthday indeed.

I'm Baaaaaaaack

Hey everyone,
Sorry for being such a slug and letting all this time go by without a post. You probably thought I've given up...

Well, I haven't. In fact, I've been a little busy.

I picked up where I left off with the frame and fabbed up the cylinder head mount.

This little piece of 1 inch tubing was rolled, cross-drilled, "piercing tubes" fit, and mitered. There is more work in that one piece of tubing than all the others combined! Hand-filing the miters to be as precise as I could get them... cross-boring the piercing tube holes at exactly 90 degrees... matching the radius to my already water-jet cut mounting plates... I probably went about this piece COMPLETELY in the wrong order, but hey! Alls I gots is time. I was able to go slow and make sure it fit. It does, and for this pic, it's just being held by the mounting plates. I'll weld it in soon.

Here's more of a "full frame" pic

See? It's starting to actually resemble a motorcycle!
I also worked on the "seat post." It's going to continue the arc of the cylinder head mount tube and basically "hang" off the backbone of the frame...

Like this:

That was a fun mitering job too! LOTS of filing and skin taken off my knuckles. It's such a shallow angle so it had to be done by hand. In this pic the seat tube is being supported by a wooden block on the rear rim... when it's all welded, it'll be half the length it is now, but still just "hang" off the back. I may use a small gusset underneath, but I chose a thicker-walled piece of tubing here. That should give me more surface area for making a nice, strong weld. This piece is also 1 inch in diameter and the seat will mount to this tube using a "sliding" bracket so I can position the seat fore or aft along the tube. As my drawing sits now, the ergonomics are almost identical to a 2007 Honda CBR600RR. (as far as the relationship between the footpegs, seat, and handlebars go...) I wanted to build in a little adjustability for a final fit once everything is generally in it's place.

BUT...
Probably my favorite part of the frame so far is this little "port" where I'm going to internally run the wiring. I'll have 5 wires coming out of the engine's left (magneto) side and from there, they'll enter the frame and be hidden. I cut an oval-shaped hole in the tube behind the engine and brazed in a small, curved piece of 1/2 inch thin-wall tubing. Once it was brazed, I shaped it to this nice, flowing fillet.

Other than that, I've played around with the rear axle mount plates, rear caliper mount and location, etc. I have lots more engineering to do with the whole rear end, but you can see in this pic where I'm going with the whole thing. I'm not crazy about the shape of the axle plates, but they're doing their job for now. You can see the large, cross-drilled "piercing tube" at the rear of the main frame backbone... this is where the "seat stays" will connect from the axle plated to the backbone... and from the lower section of the axle plates, tubes will connect to the lower rear engine mount... I'm sure you get the idea.

Anyway, it's really rough right now, but this is how I figure things out.


Again, sorry for all the time that has passed without an update. It's been good to get back into the garage. My goal for this summer is to have a roller! I think I can do it.



Thanks fer watchin'!

Where have I been?

January, February, and March are the months my wife and I have designated as "home improvement months". We did this because the weather is usually cold during these months, and we can't go outside and play... so I've been making all kinds of wood chunks and saw dust instead of metal chips and sparks!

However...

I've still been able to sneak off to the garage from time to time!
I had my headlight sitting in a box on top of my work bench, and I figured I'd make a mount for it. That shouldn't take too much time should it? I wanted to make something with a "curve" in it to mimic the curvature of the frame so I got some .5" tube and started rolling it.
What I ended up with is a combination of flat bar and tubing, welded and brazed.

You can see my sickness of machining the bolt-tops on the mounts... No need for an intervention, it's just my little thing... Eventually all the bolt heads will get touched. Must be consistent!

And there's the curve.

So that's all I've really done since my last blog update...

I did go and take some pics of the bike with the headlight on, and it DOES look more like an actual motorcycle now. I also simulated the chain with some masking tape... The whole 3rd dimension thing is extremely hard for me to simulate on a computer since I don't have any CAD software, so adding real elements as I go is my only way to figure out where my "next steps" are.

Anyway, I don't see any new problems, so as soon as I get my house projects done I'll get back into it. The rear triangle, axle plates, chain adjusters, etc... are next.

Here are a couple pics of where we are now.
Thanks for your patience!

 

More frame progress... and an introspective look at the end of year 2

You saw the "backbone" of the frame in my last post and now I've completed the "down tube" which extends down from the steering tube down to the front of the engine.

You may notice in the photo that you're looking at the OTHER side of the bike. Normally I have it up against the wall and you see the left (or kickstand side) of the bike... more on that later...

The down tube was my hardest fabrication project yet. I had to roll the tubing in one direction to get one curve, then flip it and gently work in the "re-curve".  It's almost impossible to do this perfectly with the roller I have.  And, it's not perfect, but at least I have the profile I wanted. On an expensive, computer controlled roller this could be done, but you don't want to know how much that costs... Anyway, I'm pretty happy with it. The next hardest part of fabbing this tube then became cross-drilling the "piercing tube" holes for the front engine mounts. Lots of fitting/re-fitting on the drill press to make sure everything was exactly perpendicular to the bends in the tubing. Again, really hard on the equipment I have, but doable.

So, overall this frame is exactly what I had designed so far. The rear triangle is still in the design stage, but probably 85% done. When this thing becomes a roller, I'll be really excited! There is WAY more to consider when figuring out the rear end, and a real challenge in trying to visualize / carry out a 2-dimensional drawing into 3 dimensional space...

Which brings me to my introspective look at the end of year 2...

I wanted to pull the bike away from the wall and into the center of the garage. I haven't done that yet, and I was excited to walk around the bike and look at it from other angles / sides. By doing that, I was able to stand far away and look at the lines. I could look at the back of the bike from a distance and sight the line of the backbone from the rear wheel up to the steering tube...

...and that's when I noticed it.

In my 2-dimensional design world, everything is absolutely perfect. I have lengths, widths, angles, and radii all precisely plotted out. Rake and trail dimensions have all been worked out by complicated sine-cosine tangent equations. (who says I'm no good at math?) This is all awesome, and necessary to create a machine that will place one wheel exactly in line with the other, and will handle better than a shopping cart.

My BIGGEST challenge is to be as accurate as I can when turning a perfect drawing into a real thing. Steel is real. Bending tubing is real. Drilling holes and machining parts is real. It's easy to use a computer for creating exact parts, but my hands and brain aren't a computer. My eye doesn't see that 3rd dimension so well. My tubing roller has some play in it. My drill press may have a slight run-out. My build platform may not be perfectly level where it sits up against the wall.

All these things have micro (and compounding) effects on each other and everything else. It's kinda like math... Say you're studying algebra and you don't quite understand something. Next week, your teacher moves on to the next section and you don't understand that either... or the section after that. You need to understand it all, and make sure it's perfect before you can move on.

I have some areas on my bike that need (or have needed) attention since day one. It's just that now I'm able to see the issues now that I have some frame tubing done. It was impossible for me to know back then that I needed to spend more time making sure things were level / perpendicular / measured more accurately before moving on.

What I need to do is not that bad, and I'm thankful I was able to see it now so I can fix it. I have pretty high standards for this kind of stuff and I can't just let it go. At first, I felt kind of defeated like this project was spinning itself out of control, but it's really not. It's just a reminder that there is a human directing this project.

There is a quote by Theodore Roosevelt Jr. that came to mind when I was kind of depressed about my inaccuracies... I've pasted it below. It kinda pulled me out of my funk yesterday. I WILL see this project to completion, and like I've said the whole time... I'm learning more about design, fabrication, and manufacturing each time I enter my "parallel universe" (garage). I'm doing it the hard way, but when I look at where I've come from to where I am now, I wouldn't have changed anything.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt

April 23, 1910 

Keep on Rollin' baby...

Dang... 2 blog posts within an hour!
I'm on a roll... GET IT?

I'm funny.

So Fred the body-man and I went in on this Harbor Freight tubing roller together. I needed it for my motorcycle frame, and he wanted it for some custom car, garage stuff that he does. I think combining the 20% off coupon, plus the holiday sale, plus our (undeniably ravishing) good looks, we spent about $50 a piece for it. It pretty much lives at his garage, but it was a necessity for me and I was glad to go in halves with him on it instead of me paying for all of it for what may be a one-project use.
I could probably use it on my next motorcycle project, but I won't bring that up to my wife just yet...

So, this roller came with 1 inch, and 1.5 inch, round tubing dies... how convenient! That happens to be EXACTLY the diameters of tubing I'm using on my bike! How'd they know?
I mounted it to my vise using a length of 2x4 and started rolling. There are lots of 4x4 guys using this roller to make custom rock crawler roll cages and bumpers, and there are lots of youtube videos showing it... but I didn't know how much effort really went into it. Those guys must be bodybuilders because it took me about an hour and a half to go from this:

to THIS:

My hands and shoulders were actually sore. That is 1.5 x .083 wall-thickness tubing. I think the 4x4 guys are using at least .120?! Anyway, I guess that says something about my upper body strength doesn't it? Actually, to give myself a little grace, there is a guy selling a "tubing roller side-plate kit" which repositions the lower rollers farther apart which in turn, reduces the amount of force needed to bend, and run the tubing through the roller. He too must be a 135 pound hulk like me...

So, when rough-cut and mitered we're actually starting to take shape:

Now here's where I have to honestly say that I'm giddy looking at this picture. I have spent so much time thinking, drawing, planning, tooling, and then re-thinking, re-drawing and re-tooling this thing, and to see it like this makes me smile. Even if you hate it, and think it's a stupid project, I get all warm and tingly seeing all that time and effort manifest itself into a tangible, 3D object.
Dang. I did that.
Makes me feel good. I have TONS more to go, and to try and plan everything out all at once is truly overwhelming to me, but maybe it's a good thing that I have such a small budget. It gives me the time and freedom to really make sure I can plan out, and continue on with that next step.

Thanks for being there to share this with me.
Until next time...