Bike & Vise

The weather was unseasonably warm over the weekend. Saturday had temperatures in the 50's and some nice sunshine midday. In fact, it was so nice I opened up the big doors in the shop while I was working. It felt like springtime. Sunday was still warm but overcast/drizzly. Not a bad day to be in the shop working on things, however. I turned the heater on to drive a little of the dampness out of the air but could have easily gotten along without it.

I put the back wheel under the bike again and took a couple of measurements. One of them was for the brake stay. I machined this up from a piece of 1/2" aluminum rod. Left hand 3/8-24 threads on one end, right hand threads on the other. If you look closely you can see a larger diameter next to the left hand Heim joint. I'll put that in the mill and cut a flat on there for a wrench. I need jam nuts on there to maintain the adjustment once it's installed but those are ordered. So's the brake line. 

I also started on a hanger for the exhaust pipe. I got all the holes drilled in it. Now I need to cut it out and clean it up. I get that done I can bolt it on to the bike and make the corresponding bracket on the exhaust pipe.

I was going to fix the vise while I was out in the shop and when I started taking the rest of the bolt out, I discovered it was broken in another place as well. On the right of the parts are two pieces, a short piece is still stuck inside the part in the middle of the photo, and there's a little bit of a piece in between the two parts. Pretty crazy. It went snap! and then there were four pieces. The one little piece still inside doesn't have enough sticking out to grab, so I'm going to weld a nut over the top of it and then it should twist right out. At least that's the theory. I already have the new bolt machined and ready to go back in. I used an Allen head rather than farting around trying to make something up with a square head.

Other than mounting up the seat, I've now got most of the fabricating done on the back of the bike. Still not sure what I'm going to do about paint. I plan on taking the frame and having it soda blasted and then maybe powder coated. That would eliminate my paint worry on that part of it but that still leaves the tank and sheet metal. I just don't have a decent spot to paint anymore. I either need to find someone who does good work cheap, or invest in something so I can do it here. Still another bridge to cross but they seem to be getting farther apart at least.