Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Makin' Mounts


The lights for the sidecar came in. They're LED's in an aluminum frame that's a slip fit inside the tubing - combo tail light, turn signal, brake light. I'll need to drill a hole in the tubing and then weld a nut on for a set screw to keep them in place and to give them a good ground. At least I think they need a ground. They have three wires but no instructions, one of the wires might be for a ground. Need to find out before I toast them.

I got started on making the mounts. Progress was a little slow due to getting a cortisone shot in my foot. Fortunately it only hurt if I was moving or standing still. Anyway, I got the sidecar aligned with the bike with a bit of toe-in and then made up the front mount. After getting it bolted to the frame and clamped to the sidecar frame, I started making up the rest of the pieces. Shouldn't take long to finish them and then I'll start on the floor and the fender/enclosure for the sidecar wheel. I still need to order some material for that but I'll get on it this week. 

I haven't really built anything like this in a while - it's rather enjoyable. 

3 comments:

Surly said...

If you reverse polarity on a diode they're done. Double check the wiring. Also, LED's work better with the correct size resistor inline. Some automotive LED bulbs don't have them but just know they might do odd things like blink or at worst, burn out. I have a selection of resistors for 12V LED's and there are calculators online to tell you which resistors to use with a given bank of diodes. Forgive me if you know this but I'd hate for you to let the smoke out of your fancy new tail lights.

Shop Teacher Bob said...

I sent an e-mail off to the company I bought the lights from to see which wire goes where. I'm relatively certain the black wire is a ground, which means of the remaining wires, one is for the tail lights, the other for either the brake or turn signal. However, I don't anything about the necessity of using resistors with these. When I get ready to hook everything up, I'll be looking for some help.

Surly said...

No problem. I'll be glad to help.