Norton / Harley Ironhead Cafe Project.. Build thread

Bought a sheet of neoprene to sit the battery on, and a roll of self adhesive neoprene foam for the seat rails.. gotta look after the powder coating. Don't know how well it well last, but I have a 10m roll so plenty left in reserve..
 

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While I wait for the brake lines to arrive, and with the To-Do list getting shorter, I turned my attention to more arty stuff.. I want to engrave the points cover I made a few weeks ago. I haven't worked out just what to engrave on it, but spent an afternoon with a practice piece of alloy, playing about with a hammer and punch (far too slow) and my Dremal (much better.. but tricky to control).

The plan is to workout a simple design, that's not impossible for me to achieve, then mark it out on the points covers, before carefully grinding away the cover to leave the polished image/logo/whatever standing proud from the 'excavated' surroundings..

I did something similar awhile ago, when I took the broken pieces of an old Phosper Bronze shell bearing, melted them down in a homemade crucible using a blowtorch and then made a cast from a cuttlefish bone.. I polished and worked the result using my trusty Dremal into a pendant, which turned out pretty well..

Any ideas what to engrave on the points cover?
 

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buckeyebike said:
Cool bike- that seat and new trim piece tucked under it is begging for a small cateye that doesn't protrude . . .

I've considered using an LED strip similar to a cateye, but prefer something more retro to match the style of the bike. Also the bracket it sits on would still be required to mount the number plate.
 
Think I'll go with this for the points cover, its just scratched on roughly for now on the back side of the cover, using engineers ink. I can try a practice run, and if it looks rubbish, no one will see it,
 

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I'm sure I could find somewhere to engrave / CNC the cover perfectly. But I'd rather have a go myself, if its cr*p, I can always make another cover or skim this one back smooth. Besides perfection is boring..

Anyway, made the logo a touch bigger, and used my Dremel to carve out the letters. It's not easy as the bit wants to wander about where you don't want it to go. I'll do more tomorrow, make it more 3D and as neat as I can manage..
 

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You could have just etched that. It's a lot cleaner and much more neat. It's a printmaking process. You can use muriatic acid that can be bought at any hardware store. Vinegar also works, but to a much less degree. You paint asphaltum on any area you don't want the acid to etch. You can also paint the whole cover in asphaltum, then scratch through it with a scribe. Chinese wax markers also work. Lay the cover in a bath of muriatic acid and let it sit in solution for 5 - 10 minute increments until you get the bite you want. The acid can be diluted with distilled water to lengthen the etching time and gain more control over the bite.
 
deviant said:
You could have just etched that. It's a lot cleaner and much more neat. It's a printmaking process. You can use muriatic acid that can be bought at any hardware store. Vinegar also works, but to a much less degree. You paint asphaltum on any area you don't want the acid to etch. You can also paint the whole cover in asphaltum, then scratch through it with a scribe. Chinese wax markers also work. Lay the cover in a bath of muriatic acid and let it sit in solution for 5 - 10 minute increments until you get the bite you want. The acid can be diluted with distilled water to lengthen the etching time and gain more control over the bite.

Interesting, I'd never heard of muriatic acid.. would Caustic soda in solution do the same job? Something to consider another day.
 
FANTASTIC !! :D
yes you could have gotten a very precise image with etching and the process is not all that difficult
personally i like moar better what you did there, it is true hand made art one of a kind
 
Bevelheadmhr said:
Interesting, I'd never heard of muriatic acid.. would Caustic soda in solution do the same job? Something to consider another day.
No, you need an acid. Caustic soda, which is sodium hydroxide or lye, is a base. Muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid. You can also use what's called sodium sulfate etch which is a recipe of 1 copper sulfate to 2 salt by weight. Copper sulfate is the by-product of breaking down copper with sulfuric acid. For example 70 g of copper sulfate, 140 g of salt mixed into 1L of water.

BTW- I say this not to be critical of you handwork. Handmade has it's own inherent beauty.
 
Yes, I wanted it to look hand made. I did consider casting a cover from melting down old phosphor bronze shell bearings, then carving out an image.. gives a very warm gold like colour. Did it once before, only found out afterwards that phosphor bronze has a very high melting point.. explains why it was hard to melt lol..
 

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Chemistry has never been my strong point, despite spending most of my career in the chemical industry..

Well, bit off topic, but this is how the Phosphor Bronze casting looked after some work, looks like gold and almost as heavy, though it tarnishes after awhile..
 

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Here it is on the engine, hopefully the rough alloy surround will dull down in time..
 

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I like it. At 5-10 ft it probably looks great. Any closer and you can appreciate the fact that it was handmade, just like the rest of the awesome details on this bike :D
 
My self imposed deadline for finishing the bike has been and gone, and its not running yet. But since I set the deadline, I took a management decision and moved it. Actually the main reason is that I'm doing far more of the work than I expected, and I'm learning as I go along.

I finally settled on the type of oil line to use.. braided steel and those lovely blue and red anodised fittings would usually be my default choice, but that was too modern, while simple black nitrile hosing seemed a little too plain and low rent. So I went for over braided nitrile tubing with stainless clamps.

The oil filter mount placed the oil lines too close the chain for comfort, so it was modified to angle the lines down to clear the chain. Its a bodge for now, using a short bracket with the original billet mounting plate, its something I'll revisit another time, at least I had my detailed technical drawing to guide me :)
 

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