Norton / Harley Ironhead Cafe Project.. Build thread

SF said:
Can I ask you... Your frame looks to be brazed, do you prefer it over tig?

The frame isn't brazed, its 'gas bronze welded' according to Norley. I have no preference either way, so long as the welding is neat and well done, though the gold joints look cool. I'm still pondering whether to have the frame powder coated traditional black or clear.
 
I agree, put a clear coat on it and show it off, do anything but what everyone else does to keep in line with the uniqueness of the bike. I made a point of no black and no chrome on my bike.
 
I think it looks great with a clear coat. I'm trying to find some one to do the same on a springer I'm saving with radius rods
 
Wow....what a fantastic build! Definitely...DEFINITELY....clear the frame...would be a shame to cover some of its uniqueness with a standard black coat.
 
IMHO I'd say go clear; if you can bring the rest of the metal back to a silver finish as it looks black in the photo's - this would give a classy silver / gold contrast, otherwise all black.
 
Re: Re: Norton / Harley Ironhead Cafe Project.. Build thread

Bevelheadmhr said:
The frame isn't brazed, its 'gas bronze welded' according to Norley. I have no preference either way, so long as the welding is neat and well done, though the gold joints look cool. I'm still pondering whether to have the frame powder coated traditional black or clear.

I don't know what steel is used for your frame but the original manx featherbed frames used Reynolds tubing and Reynolds recommended gas bronze welding over welding because the heat from welding adversely affected the properties of the steel alloy used.

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but it is not technically "welded" anyway, it is indeed brazed
certainally doesn't take anything away from the beauty or integrity of the finished work
but welding only happens when the parent metals are heated to a molten state and fused
 
xb33bsa said:
yeah nice clean fresh beads a blastin then a clear will make it sparkle :D
that would be hawt 8)
No it won't. Once you put clear on the metallic sparkle look of the bead blasting the light reflection goes away and it just turns a dull gray color. When I bead blasted my frame and it came back from the blaster that's exactly what I said, just clear that, it is beautiful. Unfortunately it doesn't work out that way with paint or powder.
 
Re: Re: Norton / Harley Ironhead Cafe Project.. Build thread

TriBSA Chas said:
I don't know what steel is used for your frame but the original manx featherbed frames used Reynolds tubing and Reynolds recommended gas bronze welding over welding because the heat from welding adversely affected the properties of the steel alloy used.

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They were made from Reynolds 531, which is still being manufactured but to special order only. The closest modern equivalent is BS4t45, or T45 for short, which my frame is made from. Interestingly Reynolds have developed new tubing materials, 853 and 953 which are being used to build prototype GP2 frames.
 
I don't want a bling finished frame, if I did I'd get it nickel plated, that would be too much with the polished alloy tank. The frame tubes have a dull brownish finish, as a anti corrosion coating I imagine. I removed some of this with wet and dry as a test, and if I kept going it could be polished, not sure if the powder coat would adhere to a polished frame. They normally bead blast frames before powder coating, that would probably remove the brown coat and leave a matt silver finish, need to talk to the powder coat man in the new year, see what's possible.
 
you can powder over polished metal no problem, it just needs to be thoroughly cleaned of all polishing compound and grease beforehand.
 
Next week the bike will be dismantled and the frame taken to be powder coated, still lots of work to do, but most of that can be done when the bike is back together again. In the meantime, I've been doing a few small jobs, one of which is to do something about the one off brass acorn nut on the engine, which covers the hole left by not having a rev counter cable (I'll be using an electronic tacho in any case).



It didn't look right, more 70's chop than café, I wanted to replace it, maybe with a more suitable stainless cover. Having taken it off, I was surprised to find the this acorn nut was actually part of the rev counter drive, rather than a simple nut. So we machined the 'acorn' flat as possible, just need to polish now..



Machined the 'acorn' back..


Also got this alloy, to make a new smaller velocity stack, that's a job for another day ..
 
As Sonic mentioned, we coat over polished aluminum, stainless, and chrome/ nickle plating all the time with clear and candy colors.
 
o1marc said:
Was that acorn unit a cable delete part? If not, how did the cable attach to it?

The acorn dome screws into the thread that would normally be used to secure the tacho cable. No idea where it came from, looks to be a one off, based on the way its made.
 
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