The college got a few more CNC machines in the lab where I work this past week. They're pretty cool but it certainly doesn't look like a facility for training beginning machinists. I think the advisory committee is looking to have people trained specifically for their plants rather than making actual machinists out of them. I don't think there is going to be a manual machine, either mill or lathe, in house. I'm thinking it might be fun for me to learn a bit more about CNC machining, however.
Here's a couple shots of the Sprint gas tank going along with the last post. If you look closely at the lower photo you can see where the seam opened up in the crash. This would be an easy fix if a guy knew anyone who could weld aluminum.
The seat would take more than a bit of welding, however. It actually looked pretty nice prior to the crash - little ducktail on the rear, reinforcing brackets riveted in on the sides, closed cell foam padding. Not much good for anything now. I do still have the buck/former I used to make it. You could drill the rivets out of the brackets and save those, then knock out a seat. Wouldn't take all that much. If you annealed the sides you might be able to pound it pretty straight and salvage it. And then again, maybe not. Regardless, more than I'm interested in doing. Especially right now.
I bought the new chain and plug wires for the Sportster and set about getting those installed. No sweat on the plug wires, especially since I relocated the coil to the stock location. The chain on the other hand was a bit more difficult. I had to take a few links out, which was no biggie and then I threaded the chain on to the sprockets, put the little tool on to keep the ends together, put the master link thru, pressed the side plate on and then discovered that the new master link that came with the chain was missing one of the grooves for the spring clip. What the Hell? Never seen that before. So the chain installation is on hold until next week. I'll swing by the bike shop and get myself a new genuine Harley Davidson master link to replace the genuine Harley Davidson one that came with the chain.
Going along in the same vein, I wanted a chrome nut to secure the new chrome brake lever that goes on the backing plate. It takes a 3/8" fine thread. Menards had two left so I bought them both. At 67 cents a piece, why not? I open the first bag up and sho-nuff, it's a coarse thread, rather than a fine thread as the bag is marked. Fortunately, the other one was in fact fine thread, so that's all cinched up. I also bought a chrome plated flat washer. It was $1.09 and the nuts were $.67. Seems like it would be the other way around. Not much involved in making a flat washer. Oh well. Looks good now. In fact, I'm going to get a chrome bolt for the chain guard next time I'm at Menards. Might as well have everything shining brightly back there.
At least I've been able to get some work done as of late. The wife has one more chemo session to go and then things should be getting back to normal sometime shortly thereafter. She's been doing real well compared to what I've heard others have gone through but it's not fun just the same. We're just real lucky we have good insurance and that I'm around most of the time to help out with the household chores and take her to the doctor, etc. As Roseanne Rosannadanna used to say - It's always something.
No comments:
Post a Comment