The Bucket Foundry

[Michael Moore]

Greg, the pistol-grip torches are the Henrob/Dillon brand. I bought one of those and literally could not get to grips with it, every way I held it seemed awkward to me. I ended up selling it to a guy in Australia, and I now have two of Kent White/Tinman Tech's Meco Midgets which I like.

https://www.tinmantech.com/products/...dget-torch.php

Jeff was by today and we used my band saw to cut some slices from a 5" bar of (correction, 316 not 303) stainless (avoid this if you can). I've got another one to do for him in the morning, with every slice the bimetal blade takes another 5 to 10 minutes to complete the cut. I think after the next slice that blade will be retired from stainless work.

After chatting with Jeff I think the next iteration of the top side of the head pattern will have the fully radiused corners like on the inside short fins at the outside corners too. It will probably make them easier to mold.

cheers,
Michael

[Grumph]

After reading John Bradley on welding I went out and bought a nice new lightweight torch.
I can't get on with it, I'm still using the old man's prewar solid brass great heavy thing.
Needs strong wrists....

[Michael Moore]

I talked to tech support at Freeman this morning and they are sending me some samples of Renshape 450 and 472. I ordered a suitably sized chunk of 472 from an eBay seller since that sounded a likely choice between the two, and it gets me going a bit sooner. But the 450 is 30% less expensive so if the sample of that machines and finishes nicely I might go with it in the future.

[ken seeber]

Were you having the aluminum rotors coated? I've got a Hunt plasma-sprayed rotor around somewhere, and I talked to Langcourt one time about having my Bultaco Sherpa T hubs nikasiled in place of the peeling chrome plating. They told me they'd done some nikasil-coated aluminum kart rotors for a customer and they worked pretty well.

No, we just run the pads direct on the aluminium, but we do supply them with soft pads (ie less metal) and, whilst they do score up a little, they do work well. Others have made them up from just 6061 plate, after lots of drilling.

So Neil, I've found a way to run disc brakes without the hassle of messy hydraulics.



Not a great pic, but you get the idea. Looks like the major parts (caliper and fork leg clamps) can be sourced from Bunnings. And a bonus would be that it would work very well in the sticky & stinky bubbling mud you guys have over there .

Question. Why did you use oxy to weld up your hydroforming blanks rather than Tig?

[Flettner]

No, we just run the pads direct on the aluminium, but we do supply them with soft pads (ie less metal) and, whilst they do score up a little, they do work well. Others have made them up from just 6061 plate, after lots of drilling.

So Neil, I've found a way to run disc brakes without the hassle of messy hydraulics.



Not a great pic, but you get the idea. Looks like the major parts (caliper and fork leg clamps) can be sourced from Bunnings. And a bonus would be that it would work very well in the sticky & stinky bubbling mud you guys have over there .

Question. Why did you use oxy to weld up your hydroforming blanks rather than Tig?

Is that a wooden wheel? Nice caliper system, you supply those?
When welding up chambers I find the tig leaves a messy inside unless you purge weld. At the cost of argon no thanks. I'm only welding mild steel and gas welding does a nice job (when you can see and the torch is adjusted right)
To that end I pulled the Harris apart, found no fault, reassembled and now it works fine? I would like to know why but who cares it's working well now. Using a number 1 tip. Incidentally the welds don't look that much better
This weekend I'm all out expandapipeing, can't wait.

[Flettner]

I talked to tech support at Freeman this morning and they are sending me some samples of Renshape 450 and 472. I ordered a suitably sized chunk of 472 from an eBay seller since that sounded a likely choice between the two, and it gets me going a bit sooner. But the 450 is 30% less expensive so if the sample of that machines and finishes nicely I might go with it in the future.

You've got to look at it like this, if the raw material cost a bit so what, look at how many castings you will get from it, in the long run this cost is insignificant compared to the time you put in.
I know, a bit rich coming from me who likes to find free rubbish wood from the scrap bin.

[Michael Moore]

Which is why I want a material that doesn't snap fins off after hours have been invested!

I looked up the website for the eBay supplier (the seller's address had what looked like a commercial domain name) and it is a pattern shop that looks to be largely or entirely CNC, not "old school". I dropped them a note and got a nice reply back. I was told that the 450 might be a little nicer to hand finish than the 472, but since it is the son of one of the partners who is selling the remnants on eBay they obviously make use of 472.

I've got a bit of info and photos on hydroforming exhausts on my website:

http://www.eurospares.com/frame8.htm

Getting the wrinkles dressed out can be a trial sometimes, hammering with the part still pressurized seems to help a lot.

cheers,
Michael

[Flettner]

Which is why I want a material that doesn't snap fins off after hours have been invested!

I looked up the website for the eBay supplier (the seller's address had what looked like a commercial domain name) and it is a pattern shop that looks to be largely or entirely CNC, not "old school". I dropped them a note and got a nice reply back. I was told that the 450 might be a little nicer to hand finish than the 472, but since it is the son of one of the partners who is selling the remnants on eBay they obviously make use of 472.

I've got a bit of info and photos on hydroforming exhausts on my website:

http://www.eurospares.com/frame8.htm

Getting the wrinkles dressed out can be a trial sometimes, hammering with the part still pressurized seems to help a lot.

cheers,
Michael

Thank you, good reading.

[F5 Dave]

Ahh heavens, that's who you are, I remember that site from, well like a very long time ago

[Michael Moore]

Dave, my website has been up for 20 years now. I wish I'd had a better idea of how large it would get so I could have started with a plan for better organizing 12500+ files (1.3gb). Every time I think about giving it a sprucing up I'm daunted by the magnitude of the work I'd have to do, and I then go and do something else.

cheers,
Michael

[Flettner]

Ok, I am not worthy hydroforming is not as easy as I first thought, made a bit of a mess and wasted a day. Bugger that and threw it all in the corner, run out of patience. I think I tried to make the bends too tight. Anyway gone back to my old ways of pipe building, at least it works first time. I'll have another go when I'm less aggravated. The header pipes formed well, I guess that's a start.
Press tools next time!

[Michael Moore]

Neil, isn't a nice curved and tapered header pipe coming out of the cylinder the best part to have success with? Once you get to the middle/convergent sections those are often easier to fit to the bike with the traditional cones/cylinders.

There's some nice examples of hydroformed pipes and photos of the process here:

http://www.pit-lane.biz/t3107-gp-125...s-welded-cones

[Muciek]

In ESE thread Wobbly said that having hydroformed header and the rest made of cones is best way.

[dark art]

That thread on pit-lane has very valuable info indeed.

The hydroformed curves tighten aprox 30%. Headers are very easy to hydroform, even with a pressure washer, just remember the rule of thumb of 30% (is very dependent on curve radius and pipe diameter). 1mm thick sheet formes much smoother than 0.8 in my experience.

[Niels Abildgaard]

Will it not be better if the welding seams were parallel to the gasflow?
Make a pattern of salt( NaCl) ,put some scissor made and fitted strips on,weld and wrap it with wire.
Throw it in water and salt dissolves?
The swedes terrorised Europe during thirty years war with canons made of very little wrougth iron strips wrapped with leather.