Brake Hanger

It warmed up to a balmy 20 degrees the other day so I cranked up the heater in the shop and finished up the brake hanger bracket for the 900. The photo shows the rough part before I took it to work and sanded the edges or did any other clean up. It pivots off the axle bushing in the top of the photo. There's a bracket on the swingarm to bolt the stay rod but I'm thinking of welding a bracket to the frame instead, the idea being the braking force won't effect the suspension or something to that effect. At least that's what it says in the manual.

I've still got a bit of clean up to do but it looks like it's going to work. I've got the pads for the caliper ordered along with a couple of fittings for the brake line. I've been waiting to finish the exhaust until I had the brake done. Shouldn't be long now.

I was talking to the machine shop professor at the college about the 900 exhaust collars, so he said bring in the drawing, he wanted to take a look at it. We went back and forth a bit with my idea and he said since you've got a blank, why not write a program for the Haas mill and see what happens? He wrote a quickie program, I watched. I did learn a little something along the way, however. Even though I've made a few things on a CNC, I was never that good at programming and it's been over twenty years ago now so I'm pretty much clueless on all the G codes. 

Anyway, we (meaning him) partially knocked out a part. Holes are drilled for the studs on the engine and the center hole and counterbore are programmed. Made a little oopsie on the counterbore by neglecting the tool offset but that's why I cut five pieces instead of four. Next step is to profile the outside. Might need to talk to Surly and get the exact locations of the intersecting arcs on the print he drew up but no hurry on any of this. I figured I could run the part during the class I'm going to take in March but the instructor figured it would be a good way for him to get a little more familiar with the mill. He's got four different CNC machines in the shop now that he's trying to get comfortable with, three different types of mills and the new lathes. He's got his hands full trying to figure everything out and prepare for the classes he's teaching. Not easy starting a new program from scratch when you're an army of one. I appreciate him taking some time for me, though. I love fiddling with this stuff.

As a sidenote, the Missus saw a photo on Facebook of one of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers performing his duties during the current blizzard raging on the East coast. I used to grumble when I had bus duty in the winter but the weather was never all that bad or they would have canceled school. I have nothing but the utmost respect for those young men and women performing that duty. It's my understanding that they are allowed to leave their post if the weather gets too bad but no one has ever done so. 24 -7 every day since 1937. God bless each and every one of them.