what did you wrench on today??

[dorkburger]

Frustration. ....

20161009_141721.jpg
I noticed an an annoying rattle while on my last ride. Turns out that the mid panel bracket broke at its mounting point......and busted a tab off of my new to me panel The outside is still ok at least.
I pulled them both off to compare and the brackets don't match. Clearly one (or both) is bent.

[Jonathan]

Took a long Allen bit and an impact driver to the exhaust flange screws on the gs1100. Very relieved that they all came out cleanly. Lubed with coppaslip and put them all back for when and if I need to change the exhaust system.

[dorkburger]

Mid panels take 2......tweaked the bracket back in place. It was a tough to bend, and a tough spot to bend without bending it where it didn't need to. Then the broken piece was welded back on.
Things lined up better this time. Not perfect, but better.

The effort required to bend it back got me to thinking about how it got that way. Then I remembered...duh... the bike slid under a guardrail in the early 2000s

Pipe vice and the gentle persuader
2016-10-15 23.58.54.jpg

[Buffalo Bill]

Violin Bass #2

Ok, for something different:
Building a new bass for a bud, started with Menard's off-the-shelf Maple, Hickory and Mahogany.
I was inspired when I found a couple boards with AA choice grain, mixed in with common. Flame or curly Maple, and Banded quarter sawn Mahogany.

Block, glued together after chambering or hollowing out just to lose a pound.


This morning, sounds great unplugged, will be routing for pups today.

[dorkburger]

That is so cool.

[Burque73]

Wow Buffalo Bill, you're quite the artist. I've built a lot of cool stuff, but it usually doesn't do anything other than look purdy. To be able to make your creation sing is a whole other level of awesome!

I did some remodeling work for a Hispanic gentleman in the mountains East of town. His shed was full of hand picked lumber for making classical guitars. There was a band saw, a bending jig and a few other pieces of equipment, but otherwise just a humble shed. He said people come from as far as Spain to have him make guitars for them. After meeting with a customer, he would build to fit them and their style. I never knew you could tell how the sound would resonate from the wood by how the tree grew. Hand picked means he found the wood still growing!

The only instrument I play is a radio

[Buffalo Bill]

Thanks a Bunch!!!
It takes a lot of building and playing to make progress on your learning curve.
The man with the shed, building Spanish guitars is the real deal.
I may do more just to stay home and work, but guitar players can be prissy princess' and nit pick about a speck here or a speck there.

[azr]

Cleaned out a tank with straight vinegar over the last 4 days, amazing results. The tank was completely coated with rust, had been sitting for a minimum of 10 years possibly more in a wet environment. Now the whole thing is amazingly clean metal. 20 litres of Vinegar, let it sit for 4-5 days till I could wipe the rust off easily with my finger. Took a bottle brush thru the fuel cap hole and brushed all I could, then emptied almost all the vinegar, then added a couple of handfuls of small crushed rock and shock it in all different manor for 30 minutes, emptied all the rest of the vinegar and what ever rocks would come out quickly. Then mixed a partial box of baking soda with 4 litres of water and threw that in the tank and washed it around for awhile making sure it got everywhere, emptied that then spent and hour getting the remained of the rocks out, lol, then sprayed in a bunch of my favorite rust inhibitor coating and sloshed it around making sure the entire tank was coated. I will be coating this tank with POR-15 sometime soon. I used a spare fuel sender that I cut off the float arm to plug up the fuel sender hole and I made a simple aluminum/rubber piece that uses the existing petcock holes to plug up the petcock hole. For this whole process I just used the gas cap to plug that hole but I have to find a good plug that I can use for the POR-15 process. All in all a great method for cleaning the tank.

[nvr2old]

Ok, for something different:
Building a new bass for a bud, started with Menard's off-the-shelf Maple, Hickory and Mahogany.



This morning, sounds great unplugged, will be routing for pups today.

Building guitars is definitely an art form. Besides painting bikes, I did a lot of finish work and painted these and more for a builder friend of mine Danny Songhurst. Talk about persnikkity work..enjoyed doing them, but never wanted to see them after they went to their new owners. They thrashed the finishes on them when they get used..

[Buffalo Bill]

Building guitars is definitely an art form. Besides painting bikes, I did a lot of finish work and painted these and more for a builder friend of mine Danny Songhurst. Talk about persnikkity work..enjoyed doing them, but never wanted to see them after they went to their new owners. They thrashed the finishes on them when they get used..

Lovely guitars!
Yes they demand “persnikkity work” but later “They thrashed the finishes on them”.

[Burque73]

Cleaned out a tank with straight vinegar over the last 4 days, amazing results. The tank was completely coated with rust, had been sitting for a minimum of 10 years possibly more in a wet environment. Now the whole thing is amazingly clean metal. 20 litres of Vinegar, let it sit for 4-5 days till I could wipe the rust off easily with my finger. Took a bottle brush thru the fuel cap hole and brushed all I could, then emptied almost all the vinegar, then added a couple of handfuls of small crushed rock and shock it in all different manor for 30 minutes, emptied all the rest of the vinegar and what ever rocks would come out quickly. Then mixed a partial box of baking soda with 4 litres of water and threw that in the tank and washed it around for awhile making sure it got everywhere, emptied that then spent and hour getting the remained of the rocks out, lol, then sprayed in a bunch of my favorite rust inhibitor coating and sloshed it around making sure the entire tank was coated. I will be coating this tank with POR-15 sometime soon. I used a spare fuel sender that I cut off the float arm to plug up the fuel sender hole and I made a simple aluminum/rubber piece that uses the existing petcock holes to plug up the petcock hole. For this whole process I just used the gas cap to plug that hole but I have to find a good plug that I can use for the POR-15 process. All in all a great method for cleaning the tank.

Sounds like a great method. Too bad the gas tank won't fit in that paint can shaker thing at the hardware store.

[Buffalo Bill]

Rock in the tank, no thanks as they will break down to rock crumbs and jam in the creases.
I used nuts and bolts for shaking once-only once, because I shook it hard enough that they made tiny dinks it the metal. However I think they sanded flat kinda easy, because they disappeared after painting.

[cowboyup3371]

I finished installing an Eastern Beaver fuse block on Charmayne's bike tonight and hope to test the newer R/R tomorrow night.

[BurntKittyForge]

Found a cool (to me) hacked item. at Lowes', (they have the best stainless and metric AND the cool pointy $4 something for three chrome nuts I racked myself on decision in past...for hardware store grade anyway)
Anyway, it's called a "split ring hanger" from plumbing.
They had 2" ,1.5" , 3/4" and 1/2" (The measure corresponds to pipe diameter , so the internals are different But the 2" fits my roughly 2" exhaust pipe sections...The 3/4 would fit my (1") handlebars for a GPS mount , the hole on them are threaded for 3/8th course thread )forgot (TPI)...

Got me thinking and figure I can use a cheap turn signal fork mount on my bar-end weights and use a 10mm nut inside to mount mirrors right on the handlebar weights! (???)

Backyard ALL day...Got a slight sunburn and thought how stupid for not riding instead of disassembling stuff for second time (Backyard THE WORSTE! URGH! It's putting away / getting tools and finding them time after time and dropping crap in the grass that bothers me MOST ...besides ants spiders mosquitos)

First weekend in around 2 years wife was off on saturday, had high hopes ...turned out to be like two winey kids and one big grouchy one instead

Failed attempt at broke header bolt removal, made a sleeve/ bushing piece and tightened the one bolt flat. That sealed it up (again) for now anyway...1/16th bit in dremel ...broke three, no dent...1/8th in handdrill...broke four bits, no dent...considered cutting a slot w/ my dremel and 45 deg. attached, ALMOST did ...decided not to. Some bits were HF, so:

DEcided NOT to buy the $75 flux core that were (3) sidewalk sale OR the $50 sidewalk price arc welder...

Got the fuel pump mostly finished...going to post pics in minute WooHoo managed to get three pics off my photobucket in about 1 1/2 hours, only crashed computer three times!
(Think page is faster middle of week / not as many users or ads or something(?))

Washed a bunch of leather scraps (same used for seat cover, none as large) ...been wondering about making some leather riding pants soon for winter...

Painted rusty bits of header with rust restore, and then 2000F Rustoleum, hope it don't burn off over the rust stuff, the old rust restore burned to white...have over half left...

Forgot what else, too long reply...Cool guitar (s) and other stuff up there ^^^^^^^^^

Fired up GSX1100 w/ NO muffler , holy crap, Multiple flames, LOUD
@ Ddaniels go for the largest jet kit...I have 140 mains, 20 pilots and RS carbs though , Like a leaf blower, flame thrower combo ...Killer thing, Fired up w/ muffler , like a silencer on a big gun I was thinking , ran better w/ muffler but it's like a false sense of "mild" IMO seeing the two back to back...

[ddaniels]

Ok, for something different:
Building a new bass for a bud, started with Menard's off-the-shelf Maple, Hickory and Mahogany.
I was inspired when I found a couple boards with AA choice grain, mixed in with common. Flame or curly Maple, and Banded quarter sawn Mahogany.

Block, glued together after chambering or hollowing out just to lose a pound.


This morning, sounds great unplugged, will be routing for pups today.

Looks really cool. I've made three solid body electrics which came out pretty good. I bought the necks though as I didn't want to try and tackle that. My favorite necks are Carvin. One of the ones I built the body out of Wenge wood. It's South American I think and it's the absolute oilest, most dense wood I've ever come across. Sawing the shape out of it took forever, and then carving the top was a nightmare. I should have chambered it because it's a boat anchor. Can't wear it for very long. I'll have to post up some pics sometime.