I did get a small amount done this week, but one of the things that slipped through the net was buying some more batteries for my camera, so, no piccies I'm afraid.
I made a start on a fork brace by drilling a couple of plates to attach to the fork's mudguard mounts, and then bending some 7/8" OD 12 gauge tube into a "U" shape to join the two plates together. Which of course sounds very easy until you consider that the bent "U" shapes have to have the same inside dimensions (or at least very close to) as the outside measurement of the two plates they connect.
Since the 7/8" former on my "proper" tube bender has a hopelessly large radius for this job, I ended up using a Record conduit bender as I not only have one, but I have a 22mm former for it too. The former was slightly undersized, which normally entails "over bending" the tube and then pulling on the legs of the "U" to get them parallel again, but as luck would have it, the spring back in the tube itself took care of it for me. That's all on the bike and tacked up, but I'll need to drop the front wheel to fully weld it and take it off the bike for a final trim.
Then I'll make a front mudguard for it that will mount directly to the fork brace.
On the exhaust front, I was face with an either/or choice. Either I made the exhaust out of bent tube as I wanted to, or I had a Snake's Nest exhaust, as I wanted to. While i can make bends up to 180 degrees in the tube, the radius is just a little too large to allow me to bend up a Snake's Nest without cutting and welding the tubes I bend or buying in some mandrel bends.
So, I think for now, I'm going to make a relatively simple 2-1 for it as I don't relish the idea of sitting down for hours at a time welding bends together.
There's a rumour that the fuel tank might turn up tomorrow...
I made a start on a fork brace by drilling a couple of plates to attach to the fork's mudguard mounts, and then bending some 7/8" OD 12 gauge tube into a "U" shape to join the two plates together. Which of course sounds very easy until you consider that the bent "U" shapes have to have the same inside dimensions (or at least very close to) as the outside measurement of the two plates they connect.
Since the 7/8" former on my "proper" tube bender has a hopelessly large radius for this job, I ended up using a Record conduit bender as I not only have one, but I have a 22mm former for it too. The former was slightly undersized, which normally entails "over bending" the tube and then pulling on the legs of the "U" to get them parallel again, but as luck would have it, the spring back in the tube itself took care of it for me. That's all on the bike and tacked up, but I'll need to drop the front wheel to fully weld it and take it off the bike for a final trim.
Then I'll make a front mudguard for it that will mount directly to the fork brace.
On the exhaust front, I was face with an either/or choice. Either I made the exhaust out of bent tube as I wanted to, or I had a Snake's Nest exhaust, as I wanted to. While i can make bends up to 180 degrees in the tube, the radius is just a little too large to allow me to bend up a Snake's Nest without cutting and welding the tubes I bend or buying in some mandrel bends.
So, I think for now, I'm going to make a relatively simple 2-1 for it as I don't relish the idea of sitting down for hours at a time welding bends together.
There's a rumour that the fuel tank might turn up tomorrow...
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