Number plate illumination

Ive tried a number of different ways to have the number plate mounted on the bike, but i finally think ive got it sussed. I have rolled a couple of bits of steel and welded them together with some 16mm steel tube, then over the top of that Ive made a shroud that will hold the LED's to light the number plate. I welded the top on this morning and started making a holder for the LED's which will slot inot the top as in the first pic. the hope is that i can use 2 x 10mm ultra bright LED's pointing in at each other to provide sufficient light. failing that i'll have to use some smaller 5mm Superbrights pointing down at the slot I've cut.

Iits a pain as Ive a problem with my power supply - all that etching has taken its toll and it keeps blowing fuses!

Muddy Mending

Steve had sent me down this old fender I beleve to have been on a truimph once - well actually he sent down 2, the one I wanted and this one - which turns out to be spot on for the job!

Nice and wide for the back wheel thats going in there. It was in a bit of a sorry state with loads of cracks and holes from various bits and bobs being bolted to it, so this morning its had a bit of a fixing session!

this is where the most of the damage was:-

plenty of grinding and welding and its not too bad now. still needs a bit more work, but is fine for initial mocking up. I cut the bottom section off as I wanted a fairly stubby fender, and mocked up in place its looking a little something like this:-

I wont do too much to it now until I have the wheels properly mounted, but it would thing the top needs a little trim, but apart from that is should be perfik!!!

Kicker Pedal

I’ve had the pedals sitting on my desk for ages, so it was about time I got cracking with them and made up the kicker pedal.

I decided to draw around the existing kicker arm. My thinking was that when i put the new pedal on I could make sure it was on the same angle....


To split the pedal down this end cap has to be removed, which reveals 2 nuts with a washer in between them.


Once the spindle was out, I put the bearings etc into a plastic sandwich bag (I’m dreadful for loosing things).
I cut the existing pedal out, and then slotted the top. I also ground a flat onto the spindle for it to fit inside...



Next step was to grind back some of the chrome and the crap on the pedal to give a clean surface to weld to.

Then my little outline on the bench really paid off –

Then it was a case of welding it all up. Toddy showed me how to do something similar on a pedal I made over at his, and I noticed that once he welded it up, he cut a deep V into all the areas that were previously not together. This allowed for a strong weld between all the areas to be built up.

I got a fair bit of heat in it, but this is it still glowing!




I roughly ground back some of the welds – I’ll take some more time over them with a scotch bright disc when I’ve sorted out a die grinder or a bigger compressor.

And when it’s re-assembled it looks something like this:-


I smashed out the reflectors – so I’ll be scheming something to replace them – maybe I’ll try some engraving?!?

Sing while your springing

Got a load done in the shed today, got some more gas for the welder yesterday, so I could get on with some bits I've been waitning to get done.
First thing to get done was mounting the seat. I cut off the moun the other daym and so I re-mounted it in the right place to allow me to work out where everything should be sitting. Its not permanantl welded yet, but its firmly up there!

that allowed me to work out how much I needed to add to the rod between both the springs. You can see the standard one here in the front, and the new modified one in the back.

I think that I will have to get a new rod / spindle turned up - it looks a little flimsy as it is, and of course has 2 welds in it. at least I can use the longer one as a mockup tool, and take all the measurements for the new ones.

the next pics are of the springs in situe. they will be splayed out like in the pictures. I really like the look of them. I will need to make some lugs to weld to the frame to mount the bottom spring too.

Leather Stamp Version 2!

Had another crack at the stamp for embossing the leather for the new seat. Loads of ideas were banded about over on dirty bobbers, but I thought that I should have a crack with the nylon again, but as Scarlett suggested with lino cutter.

I Cut all the outlines carefully with a scalpel

all the big areas were carved using a power carver I got in Lidl on the cheap!



As it progressed I started loosing some of the template, so I used a sharpie pen to colour in all the high spots!



I couldnt get the detail in the lettering I wanted, so I opted for just the cat head. I'll hopefully be able to give it a try next week on the leather..

Remote Master Cylinder

These arived today - remote master cylinder and reservoir - need to see if they are up to the job now!

Leather Stamp

As I have decided to re-make the seat pan for the bike I have a chance to play about with some more leatherwork. I notices my car has a logo embossed into the leather, and with a bit of looking on the net I found that if you use a stamp you can emboss a design into the leather. A chance for a different techniques to try - so of course I'm straight on it.

Initial thoughts were to use some nylon and carve out the relief of the design. as a first attempt I used a rough piece of nylon, stuck a design to it and attempted to cut it out with a craft knife:-

this was it after the paper was peeled back, and I coloured it with a sharpie to see how it looked. Its ok - I had to lose the lettering as I couldnt get the right level of detail, but maybe I'll have another try with a scalpel to see if i can get the design any sharper and deeper.