Choppin', Makin' Sparks and Melting Metal

Got some more work done this weekend. My friend Mike has access to a "suitcase" TIG and offered to bring it over to where I'm working on the bike to help me. Since I don't have a car/truck or a trailer it was going to be a pain to get the bike over to Ross's house (plus he's in the middle of his mods for the El Diablo Run and doesn't have much room). So Mike brought the TIG and we got to work...

This is where the sissy bar was when we started. I was off to a good start, but I was using stainless steel so I needed a TIG to weld it up right.

Also this week I had finished making my battery tray. I used some angle iron, a piece of flat stock, two barrel nuts, some threaded rod and wingnuts. I think it came out pretty good considering how long it's been since I've done any metal work.

My work area is finally set up and ready to chop. I still need a drill press and a good vise, but I'm getting there.

The finished tray ready to mount.

I got there early and got things ready so Mike and I could get started....

Of course that means we didn't have something we needed. In this case it was the right plug to hook up the TIG. Mike made a run to Lowes while I cut the rod to finish the sissy bar. I started wearing my helmet to do this because it is auto-darkening and has a "grinder" setting. This is better than safety glasses because I don't get metal pieces up my nose.

Mike tacking the new pieces in place.

Doing the real welding to make it all work.

The beast that made it all possible. I'd love to get one of these one day. It will run off of 110 or 220V, you just change the plug.

More work getting done.

I love to see metal glowing red hot.

We used my MIG with the flux wire to mount the box. I'll go back in this week and make it look prettier.

The bar welded up.

The completed sissy bar. Now I can get the fender mounted correctly and finish up the rear of the bike including mounting the voltage reg and cutting/notching the fender.

Mike also machined me a couple of spacers. When Ross and I first set up the rear I had a stock HD rear brake and part of it was a spacer. When I switched to this Fab Kevin brake this side had to be respaced.

That's it for now. Mike is coming back after work one day this week so we can mount the oil tank and start to finish up some other stuff. By the way I know I watermarked these with 2012. I didn't catch it until I was finished editing them and didn't feel like doing it all over again. I've edited my watermark now so that the rest will be correct.

Happy New Year & Some Progress On The Flyrite

The first post of 2013 and I'm happy to say it's about progress on the chopper. Where I work they've let me have a small corner of the warehouse to do some of my projects and right now this is my main one. I still need to get the bike over to Ross's shop for some TIG welding and machining, but I am getting done a few of the things I can right now.

After I finished for the day I decided to play with the new flash and triggers I got for Christmas/Yule. In this one I have a flash behind the bike and nothing else. I thought it was kinda neat, but does show that I have a long way to go to learn this flash photography thing.

It's an ugly flux core weld, but it seems to be pretty solid. Hopefully I'll find a bottle soon so I can do some better looking and stronger MIG welds.

Finally got the old electronic ignition stuff out. I gotta figure out what to use for the timer cover instead of this hideous thing.

The new points set up. It still has to be timed and the wire run to the coil, but it is at least installed on the bike.

The carb is done. I'm waiting for my new faux breather bolts to finish this part (these are head breather heads on a case breather motor so the holes need to be plugged).

Got the new grips on. I have new risers and clamps, but I'm not putting those on until final assembly.

And here we have another attempt at flash photography. This time I put it to the side and up a bit. There is a flash behind the bike too, but it didn't fire. Like I said, I'm still learning how to make all this stuff work like I want it too.

That's it for today, I guess I gotta remember to change my watermark to 2013. Have a good year and I hope to meet more of you out on the road!