De Ranged

Got some time to kill while I wait for my flight home for the holidays a whole month at home! So time to catch up all the stuff I haven't posted on this lol First off the plastic fairleads, it was a bust lol just couldn't get the stuff to hold the bend, I've never tried bending something as thick as this in UHMWPE, the sheet I've bent before was easy just heat the area you want the bend in till its clear, then bend it and hold it till the colour comes back and its all good here's a shot showing a piece in the shed oven notice the core is still white So I made a jig to clamp it but this is the result it will bend in all good but after about 30-40 seconds it snaps, I tried more heat, preheating the jig shallower bends etc.... 30-40 seconds in pop every time, I don't know if any of you guys do this but I keep re thinking problems I can't solve lol, if you look at the second pic you can see the breaks all start from the back (flat side) so I may have an answer if I can build a heater that leaves the back still white and just bend the round side this may work..... maybe something for the future lol

lol na.... I have some skill, no where near where I want to be..... Lo-fi, sweet.... thats so cool to hear..... if you or anyone else wants more info on what I've done I'm more than happy to answer why, how, etc I can't garrintee how I explain things will help lol I can be very bad at communicating at times, but I like to help..... this sort of stuff is my passion, its cool to see others try and succeed with a little help Got a couple of cool little shop projects coming up that you guys might want to copy.... if anyone is interested in copying something I've done, I have a fair bit on CAD, I use my shop projects as training to improve my CAD skills for work so I'll be able to give plans and details.... the scooter tho is a eyeballing job lol no plans, just a vague idea in my head and a build it, bit by bit aproach

Got some more stainless wire.... catch is no one in town had any in 0.8mm on a 15kg roll lol so I'm going to have to make a reel holder to run spool gun rolls in my mig But anyway I got the front axle out from under the chassis... I need it gone so I can get a set of axle stands under there to work out the rear leaf springs I'm close enough to final weight that I'm able to add weights in place of the missing components and passangers, I've added a tempory X member to clamp a leaf spring too and its just a case of adding leaves to it till I get it to take the weight at the right piont

Formed the rear from another hammer form Welded it all together and ground back the welds Now i just need to sort how I'm going to mount things, the bezel to the rest of the body the light into the body and then the body to the bike

lol and there is another project for the shed.... the shed I haven't built yet Just a thought, I run a wash down table where I use desiel/petrol mix (got over a 100L from a mate who mistakenly filled his camper with petrol lol) its very stale now but still works a treat I've setup so it drains back into a 20L drum, my pickup pump syphons off at about the half full mark, this leaves the bottom half of the drum as a sediment trap to let the carp settle, before I start using it I pop the lid and use a sheet metal scrapper to the bottom of the tub and dig out the dirt

Had a fun day in the shop..... Decided to do a bit more on the scooter.... since I had the fake front forks done I decided to have a go at the headlight started with the front hammer form.... not as simple as it first looks lol because the sides are so close the wood wouldn't have the strenth to form the steel so had to do it in stages First form the inside shoulders so a pair of bucks.... with good shoulders to clamp Next, the outside of the hammer form..... shaped up the forming buck, because the edges were so weak I fitted the centers back in With them in I made a new clamping buck and formed this A few hrs later using asorted offcuts of pipe and my high crown pannel hammer on the wood bench I've got a body almost there.... Got one more hammer form to make a dome for the rear and then sort some sort of mounting setup and the bezal mount for the front hamerform

And another update I need to get the pics and story up but the plastic fairleads was a bust i'm going stainless pipe now lol

A wee update...... Stage one of the tool station, made from cast offs and scrap that has come off a worksite..... that base weighs in at around 80kgs lol The red box is just there for moving (I'm moving sites), the blue boxes are Total Tools brand tool boxes, HRD brand roll cabs $399 each

Lol so true its why I do what i do, just sometimes you look back and think..... "I'd be so much further if I didn't......" lol Here's another, I've got a few more yet..... i'll try and get them up before I head home but I've got a large job list for work

And a close up of a waste of time...... but I couldn't help myself lol

We've just had our (New Zealands) first U4 race..... was very well recieved heard from some of my Aussy mates they are keen to come for the next one... will wait n see how that pans out Been sitting on a few extra pic's for this build... my laptop bit the dust and then I've had a carp run at work lol good enough one night was a 10:30 finish followed by a 3 am start lol.... but I've got a bit of time today so here is the rear bumper.... tried to make it look landy but lol I don't think I've managed this one

lol no its a performance aid its there to help cornering in the bendy stuff It does lol especially with me on it I need to update my threads on here thanks for reminding me lol tomorrow night

My apologies to all those looking for the broken pics, with photobucket not worth using I linked to my FB didn't realize they change url's on pics to stop this.... I've now sorted another option so I'll see if Imgur is a better option Been a bit distracted trying to sort a number of things so I'm able to start back up with the custom stuff in the new yr, It might even include an Ultra4 chassis build Anyway since I've been home and in the shed I had to do some more on the Toy... my home cash hadn't come through, international transfers sometimes take a while so I couldn't get the alloy for the tank but I had some sheet for the panels so started them I'm currently building the rear bumper and the rest of the panels hopefully get this finished soon

I used to do alot of driveways and footpaths in a previous part of my job and where we were doing it we used to get heavy rain often, some of these might help Get accelerator or hardener (depends on where you are as to what they call it) it accelerates the curing process.... this will help cure it before the rain, but you have to be certain your up to the job if you do this Over fill the slab slightly, lol this is the worst issue we had, the amount of panels that would be 5+mm lower than they should have been When your finished fill a couple of wheel barrows so you have some extra to grab off to fill hollows, spay them with water and throw a tarp over and every 5 min's turn it over with a shovel when you've finished tamping it down, get a plank and "bounce" the plank on it to bring up a good amount of slurry the more you bring up the better, this was the next issue we used to have, not enough slurry ontop before the bull float so the float hooks the aggregate and have to waste time on the float, if its good I'll go over it 3 times with the float.... start in my finishing direction (side that has the best reach), I then go at 90 degrees (fill in any hollows, hope you looked after the concrete in the wheel barrows lol, if you have brought up enough slurry you can float the extra over these patch pieces so it levels nicely), have a breather or a drink and then float it again in the finish direction with a light hand drawing only 20min - half an hr come back and edge, if you see something wrong at this stage don't try and fix it you'll make a bigger mess, your better to polish it out in a couple of days time with a grinder I like Arjans suggestion for the recovery eye, I'll add that too mine when I get to it lol Water is good as Arjan has said problem is when its at the stage where its sort of warm,( the chemical process is happening) the water drops will separate the cement from the aggregate, I had access to Hydro excavators with high pressure pulsing lances so I used to use these to mist on water if we got strong sun and it was drying the top too fast I used the hardener, because we were doing patch panels (some of them up too 10 x 8m) they were part of a drive or footpaths so the rain would flow down them and we had appearance conditions we had to meet (like for like) so rain splatter marks like smallfry's or worse washout marks from flowing water were a fail and often ment rework, if its warm and there is no risk of rain you can get a retarder put in that will slow down the curing and give you more time to work the concrete Good luck

I like the fact I can mod before I build so hopefully less time staring at projects trying to work it out lol at work its about validation and repeatably and managers need pretty pictures with lots of irrelevant detail so they can picture what I'm doing lol So finished the Dies and pushed a couple of test pieces in the ARB press I was a bit out lol I thought because of the large amount of panel I'm moving up that there would be more spring back the alloy near on matched the die the steel has about 10% less height on the main form, the counter angle for the flat on top again the alloy near on matched but I'm only a couple of degrees out for the steel The warpage I was expecting thats a big shape to just force into a panel in one go.... I'll just pre-stretch the panels before I force the die now I have the test measurements I can CAD out the die and I should be able to machine it to provide what I want On a side note I was surprised I cut the alloy Once I was at the stage of that I needed the computer again I had some time so sorted a bit more on the shop scooter, here's the parts I got Straightened the frame, had a slight bend in the frame just below the head tube. The triple clamp matches the shocks so I'll machine up a couple of tubes to slide in over to make it look like they are full length forks. The tank is getting gutted so I can fit the dash from the scooter in it. I've gutted the motor and taken a grinder to its base as well as the back so it would fit lower and in around the oil tank. The only thing I haven't worked out yet is what I'm going to do for paint.... I don't want a flash finished look I'd love to keep the patina of the tank and match it round the bike but thats way beyond my painting skills

Cool project, Don't stress the number of projects.... simple rule is does it fit in the shed ? yes.... all good then lol

As part of my work I'm modeling up all the mods I make to equipment, getting to see what is in my head is cool and to mod it before I build instead of "Oh this would have been better"lol But I have to say the biggest joy is after all the swearing CAD does what I want it too lol.... slowly teaching myself how to use the program Was my first day in the workshop was driving in thinking there is bugger all traffic for a Friday..... wasn't till I'd gotten into the shop and I'm working out the steel I need (and was planing on going to buy) that the radio starts talking about the long weekend lol public holiday.... roster work you loose track of things lol so decided to see what off cuts I had in the shop 160mm is close to 120mm dia lol not much material to remove to get it down to size And this is what I got for all of that Started machining and the 20 degrees didn't look good enough to bend it to 15 degrees so I changed to 30 degrees and I've cut a 10 degree back angle on the flat to over bend it, I'm going to make both halves of the die thicker than normal so I can chuck them back in the lathe and "tweek" them This is going to be the male, so I'm going to press in a 15mm dia centering rod from an offcut of 4140 just because I have it A little tip for those that have considered making there own dimple dies.... don't stress about material lol all this hype on the net about using special tooling steels etc I have a set of of die's I made somewhere around 10yrs ago, 50mm dimple, 45 degrees and a 12.5mm rib... I made them to a 3mm clearance and I've used this on up to 5mm plate in my 60ton press and if you look at my buggies battery box it still presses a nice crisp dimple in 1mm sheet.... and it is made from free machining bar stock Oh and remember how I said this thread might get a bit eclectic.... a little summer project a shop scooter lol It was seriously rough lol but we suspect it was setup for scooter racing.... so I'm going to give it some style.... "Cafe racer wrong" style lol having a drink with a mate yesterday bouncing ideas, I'm getting some parts from his junk pile, a dead motor to fit in, a rotten tank and a triple clamp and handle bar that might even line up on the forks..... the idea is something that looks so fake its funny lol More to come

Back home.... was a hard roster lol 6 weeks with only one day off and some of the weeks were 80hrs..... Time to build some cool stuff lol Done a wee revision on this found a cheaper wire supply and they use the same dia reels for 100m and 30m so I've made these a bit smaller Designed up the dimple die so I can form the dimple for the spindle, I'm using a bit of guess work here.... I'm designing the die so it matches the model (something I haven't done before) so I'm going to throw a bit of guess work into this, I want a 6mm step up at 15 degrees, now because I've got a two stage dimple (a flat on the raised section) I'm making the angle greater but I'm keeping the bend "lines" in the same place, so I've designed the die at 20 degrees with just a 2mm clearance, will see how it goes I'm also making another die set to form a shoulder for the spindle, this is also something I've never done before so should be interesting Real pictures coming soon lol

Been gathering up supplies so when I finally build the new workshop I'm better setup and organized, at the same time I'm working away so have a bit of time on my hands so I'm designing and building (the smaller things that I can bring home) I decided to throw this up as it may be of interest to some..... now for those that suffer OCD I'm eclectic so I chase an idea till another pops into my head or I get distracted so this thread will be like most of my projects a bit all over the show lol So to get the ball rolling here is a little design project an Automotive wire coil rack, I've got to do a new loom for my 40 series cruiser so I figured why not sort the rolls of wire so ordered a heap of new wire (30m rolls) and here's what I came up with since there isn't anything that really fits the bill on the market Made from a couple of sheet metal hammer forms and I'll have to machine up a new dimple die to make the spindle holder section I designed a hook into one end so I can clip it over the end of the MDF top of the bench and stand it up when I want to do loom work on the bench, stackable with a handle and it will hold 12 30m rolls so I'll need 3 or 4 of them This is how it will sit on the end of the bench

Got a plan to minimize this when I sort the new shop, got a few shop projects I want to sort when I finally get the new shop..... alot better organization and set out

Then you have mates that can find what they want but where they put it back is as random a toss of a coin 😡 i have 3 10mm ratchet spanners in my shop but only one is where it should be lol I've started building a version of this setup at work, but instead of the top/mid boxes I'm putting a close up pin board..... thanks for the inspiration 🍺

A wee bit more Mounted the radiator header tank.... still got to plumb it up to the radiator need to see what BSPT to AN fittings I can get More 1mm sheet metal hammer forms.... having a ball with this over the top stupid stuff lol Heres a better shot this side was a 3 dimensional hammer form, 3 separate dies, oh and I've fitted grommets to the mounts to keep the alloy from rubbing on the steel Hopefully get another night in the shed tonight trying to piece together a drive shaft for the back

I have a number of King Chrome ones and they they are around 10 yrs old, more than half of that commercial use and one of my draws (the odds n sods draw) is jammed full... that full I often have to force and riggle the tools down into it to close, at a guess I'd say 20kg of tools and dies and its been dealing with this for most of its life it does feel a bit loose but it still hasn't let go That said I'm looking at some cheap tool boxes from Total Tools, Chinese made house brand.... but they have a good thick construction ( I can't even get the materials and slides for the same price lol) my plan is to form tool organizers so the draws shouldn't be overloaded and I'll build a new larger peg board for all the common used stuff A little tip.... if you decide to go the same way as me, go have a look at them and measure up the gap for the draw slides and make certain it can take a good quality replacement, I've found some of the cheap stuff has these narrow slides that don't look like they would last and I can't seem to find replacements on the net

Finished the rad mount...... took a bit longer than I thought but I'm happy Now just got to make up the "wing nuts" and track down where my header tank has gone that should have arrived a couple of weeks ago lol

For all my patience bending and welding this I did get a few issues but they are minor enough.... the hammer forming on the bends has left me slightly off square so my clamp frame only fits one way .... not a biggy lol and I got a little weld warpage that pulled the middle of an edge down so I have 3mm dip on one side but the felt seal will deal with that I've had to step it up a notch... turns out my home oven is a bit fancy and bigger than the norm.... I can't fit the plastic clamp in any oven I've got access to at work lol So I've bought a Radiant Patio Heater 2400W and I'm going to have to build a colapseable heating box