Baileigh tool review - RD pipe build

Well, I bought some new tools after quite a few weeks trying to find the best deal. I wanted American made, but of course the price is 3x more. So I just bought locally instead. Baileigh industrial is located in Manitowoc WI (and so am I) so that is what I got. I bought a 24" slip roll http://www.bii1.com/sheet-metal-equipment/bending-rolls/sliproll-2420m.php and the throatless rotary shear http://www.bii1.com/shears/mps3.php. So I thought I'd give you my thoughts...

To start off with, neither of the tools worked right out of the box. Maybe this is always the case with tools like this, China made or not. The slip roll just took some grease on the gears and it worked just fine, actually I'm very happy with it. As for the shears, I'm going to reserve judgement for a little bit. I have never used shears like this before so I'm not completely sure how the blades should be adjusted to work best. It doesn't help that there aren't any instructions and the video on the Baileigh website doesn't seem to be working. But after tearing it completely apart and adding a .016" shim washer to each of the rotating shafts I do have it working.... pretty well. It doesn't ever seem to cut at the edges of the steel though, so I snip the first and last part with tin snips before starting a cut. I've really only tried 20ga mild steel so far, so I don't know how it'll cut the 12GA it is rated at.

I bought these becuase I am going to redo the pipes on my RD250, so I made a muffler just to try them out... not sure if I'll use it on the RD or not though. But here it is..










I'll update this again after I've had a little more practice. If anyone has one of these shears and knows how the blades should be adjusted, please let me know!

Thanks,
Stout

Re: Cocktails anyone? Baileigh tool review

Well I spent most of the weekend working on new pipes for my RD. I don't know if it is the extra experience, the shears breaking in, or just that the shears are finally adjusted correctly but they worked great. So, I'd now recommend the shears, they cost me a couple hundred bucks, but I'd say they are worth it. I'll post some pics of my pipes later. - Stout

as promised, here are some pics of the pipes... 20hrs worth of fabrication so far. - Stout

those pipes are looking good. how are you connecting the header to the head? i see it slips over something, but do you have exhaust gaskets or something in there? the DGs on my RD leak like a sieve right there. did you use a program for your pipes?

Thanks. It is just a slip fit over the header flange with probably an inch of overlap. I plan on using high temp silicone to seal the joint. I've used that on snowmobiles quite a bit and it worked well.

No program, I read Bell's tuning book a couple times (well at least the exhaust and porting sections), then did all the calcs by hand and plugged them into excel so I can change the numbers easier in the future. Then I modeled it in SolidWorks in order to get all of the flat patterns. If you have any ideas for the flange/pipe joint let me know... I'm not against re-doing that area to make it better. - Stout

The pipes look great but they "look" as if they are really long for a 250. What RPMS are they designed to resonate at? I'd expect the belly section to be much shorter at say 5-6 inches max and maybe less. If you have the port dimensions (all of them) I can crunch the numbers through Bimotion and MOTA to see what they come out to.

Maybe I spend too long looking at race pipes which are way short on motors that rev really high. So it could just be a perception/expectation thing.

Hey Teazer, Max HP RPM is 7800. I wasn't exactly sure what to shoot for here, I searched the internet to find where a stock bike made it's max power and added a few hundred Rs. I'd actually like it to keep the power down kinda low, which will be better for a street bike.

Dims I used:
exhaust duration (measured with a degree wheel) is 187 deg
exhaust port diameter is 37mm
exhaust port length (including the exhaust mtg flange) is 105.4mm
I'm also using a divergent header taper of 1.5deg, and a 2 stage diffuser taper (1st stage is 4.5 deg & 2nd is 7.5 deg).
Let me know what you find out & thanks for double checking!! It'll be way easier to fiix now (especially since only one side is done).
Thanks again,
Stout

I've double and triple checked my dimensions and can't find anything wrong with them.

I also went back through and redid all of the calcs using the tapers & multipliers for an enduro instead of road race based on Bell's book. That made quite a difference in the length of the parallel section (basically 15" down to 8.5"). I also tried using single stage diffuser tapers instead of two stage, that shortened the parallel section by another 1/2".

So, even though I have one pipe almost completely done and the other 1/3 done, I think I might start over and use the enduro numbers... thoughts anyone on using the enduro vs. road race? I think if I use the enduro numbers I can get the pipes to fit better; I'll just chock the first pipe up to practice... about 30hrs worth of it.

- Stout

I finished welding the enduro pipes up over the weekend. Fired it up today and I really need to finish the mufflers.



Here is the start of the mufflers


-Stout

Awesome...so you are in Manitowoc? I am in Brillion. Just ate at Tony's pizza a couple days ago. I teach technology and engineering and have purchased quite a bit of Baileigh things. They do take a little adjustment but seem a little higher grade than some tools. We have on of their tubing benders. It is awesome.

Great build. Impressive work and dedication.

- Steve

Thanks Steve. Yeah, I live about 8 miles south of Manitowoc. I think one of my next Baileigh purchases will be a tubing bender. Which one do you have?

Are you going to Rockerbox (in Milwaukee) the first weekend of August? maybe we could meet up, it'd be nice to meet some other guys in the area that are into vintage bikes.
Have a good one, Stout