Project Checkbook; Chris' Small Project
- Thread starter chrisf
- Start date
And again.
I actually ran out of wood (hee-hee) last night, so I'll complete it this evening. I suck at compound curves, which is why the lower supports look a bit dodgy. It is very strong, though, and I think (hope) I can bend the material around it. Again, the back of the seat accepts up to a 4" taillight. I'm using a chrome jubby from a 34 Ford. Let's hope the seat is strong enough.
--Chris
I actually ran out of wood (hee-hee) last night, so I'll complete it this evening. I suck at compound curves, which is why the lower supports look a bit dodgy. It is very strong, though, and I think (hope) I can bend the material around it. Again, the back of the seat accepts up to a 4" taillight. I'm using a chrome jubby from a 34 Ford. Let's hope the seat is strong enough.
--Chris
Looking great,I like it.
I free hand bent my pan out of an old heavy duty aluminum street sign.
Good thing is it is very strong and stiff,so I only need a rear underneath bracket to attach it to the frame(front to be held with battery strap or lip like a modern seat) as no other reinforcement is needed.
The bad is it's relatively heavy,so I may cut some holes in it and cover/seal the top of the pan with some rubber roofing sheeting I have to keep water/dirt/mud from getting to the underside of my seat foam.
I free hand bent my pan out of an old heavy duty aluminum street sign.
Good thing is it is very strong and stiff,so I only need a rear underneath bracket to attach it to the frame(front to be held with battery strap or lip like a modern seat) as no other reinforcement is needed.
The bad is it's relatively heavy,so I may cut some holes in it and cover/seal the top of the pan with some rubber roofing sheeting I have to keep water/dirt/mud from getting to the underside of my seat foam.
I have quite the variety of material available...due to me being wishy-washy about this. The current plan is to make the seating portion out of 16ga 6061-T6 (which is hard). The bent section will be 18ga 6061-T6 and the rearmost section will be 16ga, as will the side skirts. I think there will need to be reenforcement.
The taillight will bolt to the rearmost part of the seat and the front part.
I also have 3/16" 6061 I can use in a bind. We'll see how well the first one comes out.
Steve:
I'll keep you in mind. I'll likely not start building spares until I see how the original performs.
--Chris
--Chris
The taillight will bolt to the rearmost part of the seat and the front part.
I also have 3/16" 6061 I can use in a bind. We'll see how well the first one comes out.
Steve:
I'll keep you in mind. I'll likely not start building spares until I see how the original performs.
--Chris
--Chris
Then, I traced the template onto 18ga 6061-T6 and cut it out, followed by dressing the cuts with the sanded until everything was baby bear. 6061-T6 doesn’t like to bend, so I held it into position whilst my wife drilled 1/8” holes into the ali, then put small wood screws in.
For some reason, the seat looks like it has a dip in it. Looking at it in person (and feeling it) it's fine. I think it is a dirty spot in the aluminum.
Finally, I took the wheels to work with me today. I'm going to have the tires removed so I can clean them up this weekend. Surely, two of these three will clean up OK. My brother can do the ali rim/stainless spokes on his own time. I'm coaching soccer tonight, so no updates--probably until Monday.
--Chris
Finally, I took the wheels to work with me today. I'm going to have the tires removed so I can clean them up this weekend. Surely, two of these three will clean up OK. My brother can do the ali rim/stainless spokes on his own time. I'm coaching soccer tonight, so no updates--probably until Monday.
--Chris
Juice_Bruce
'71 CB350, '97 & '86 GSXR1100, GSXR600, ZRX1100
Awesome.
This is exactly what I needed to see.
Thanks,
This is exactly what I needed to see.
Thanks,
I got a lot done over the weekend, but also had a huge setback. If you remember, this project is a gift to my little brother (well, he's 26), and his birthday is in the first part of April. I have a lot to get done this month, and I lose a week for spring holiday.
So I'm basically working my ass off in the garage and it's getting to be less and less fun and more and more like real work. I have a lot of respect for guys who work and in and day out using their hands. It's such a grind. As much as it would be fun to be a professional builder of some sort, I'll stick to my creative marketing/creative media full time gig.
Enough rant. i cannot weld aluminum with my little MIG welder, so I have a sheet metal guy I use for all aluminum welding. While i was there, he offered my a square wave Esab TIG. I've been saving for a while for a TIG, so I find out this week how much he wants for it. He wanted to think about it over the weekend. Hopefully it is a good price.
Here is the seat welded up:
So I'm basically working my ass off in the garage and it's getting to be less and less fun and more and more like real work. I have a lot of respect for guys who work and in and day out using their hands. It's such a grind. As much as it would be fun to be a professional builder of some sort, I'll stick to my creative marketing/creative media full time gig.
Enough rant. i cannot weld aluminum with my little MIG welder, so I have a sheet metal guy I use for all aluminum welding. While i was there, he offered my a square wave Esab TIG. I've been saving for a while for a TIG, so I find out this week how much he wants for it. He wanted to think about it over the weekend. Hopefully it is a good price.
Here is the seat welded up:
And again. Obviously, the bottom needs to be trued and the welds sanded down. It will then get a good sand and a light polish. It came out much stronger than I estimated and much lighter too! It probably weighs 1.5lbs, so about as light as the DropBars seat I used to have.
Now, the really f-cked up bad news. I needed to clean the wheels off, so I took them to a local car wash. It worked, sorta. Then I tried some EZ-Off oven clear. It works great on anadized aluminum and even some of the pitted chrome. I figured, "What the hell?" and left it on for a few hours. Wrong decision. The wheels now look like a big piece of ozidized shit.
Here it is with the very vile EZ-Off.
Here it is with the very vile EZ-Off.
So I did what any normal, frustrated man does in this situation: I drilled vent holes in the front brake. These are 3/4" and I really should have used 1". I don't have a 1" bit, so 3/4" it is. Something to note when drill big holes (Shit, I feel a rant coming on here)...
Use a reasonably-powered drill. When I old drill died a few months ago, I snuck a huge 1/2" 9amp Hitachi drill home. I threw it in with a bunch of other supplies when we updated our kitchen. (Note: I paid for this; I snuck it in the basket from my wife). Anyway, it is too powerful and loves to twist wrists to shreds when it grabs a workpiece--not so much steel, but certainly aluminum. Yes, I drilled up to 3/4" in 1/8" incraments, but the drill still loves break wrists. I hate it.
Rant off.
Use a reasonably-powered drill. When I old drill died a few months ago, I snuck a huge 1/2" 9amp Hitachi drill home. I threw it in with a bunch of other supplies when we updated our kitchen. (Note: I paid for this; I snuck it in the basket from my wife). Anyway, it is too powerful and loves to twist wrists to shreds when it grabs a workpiece--not so much steel, but certainly aluminum. Yes, I drilled up to 3/4" in 1/8" incraments, but the drill still loves break wrists. I hate it.
Rant off.