Battery on wheels

Its been a while since my last post. Been busy with many things but not seen the inside of my toolshop for a while. Time for a little project!
Do you recognise this........ The large car battery you use as starter support for the bikes is always in the way and you end up moving it around from one spot to the next........ and again.......and again.....

My battery has got wheels now. Build a little cart that has space for my loader and, if needed, space for a bike battery that needs charging. Bit of paint and its done.

Air suspension pump

Made this from a bicycle pump and a special filler nipple.
With this I am able to fill the suspension at the right pressure and when removing the pump prevent any air leakage when removing the filler nipple

Engine and Tranny Jig!

After surfing the net I converted the inch drawings into metric ones this Sunday. Time for the milling machine again ;)

Frame jig, restarted!

Remember this one?
Stopped building it this spring for obvious reasons. Now winter-time is there its time to dust off the project.....and finish it.
2nd leg and rotation hinge.

Upgraded my vacuum meters

While adjusting the carbs today my vacuum meters dropped to the ground. It had to happen at one point because of the crapy bracket they were mounted on. Decided to give them an upgrade.
Bought some small air valves and welded a little box together. The new and improved vacuum meters have been put to good use. This bikes carbs are aligned

No leaks, the pump is connected!

Final fiddly job done on the degreaser cleaning tank. I fitted the pump.
Everything works and the tank has no leaks. Job done, I am happy :-)

Where have the bloody fish gone to....

Oily mess, a solution!

The guys from JJ Suspension asked me to make a retainer that catches the oil when disassembling a front fork or rear suspension.
No more oily mess on the floor and when finished with the work it neatly slides under the workbench.

I have EMAIL!

I got myself a Backyard Mechanic email address today. If you want to sent me stuff, comments or questions, feel free to do so. I'll try to keep track and respond.

info@backyardmechanic.nl

Degreaser cleaning tank, DONE!

First bend, Tube bender success!

Just made my first bend and its perfect. I am building a cabinet for in the house to store some equipment onto.
I used 32mm seemless tube with a 2mm wall thickness. The same stuff I intend to use for my future frame build(s) :-)
Look how perfect it turned out. My bender works!!!

Tube bender, Another tick in the box!

Today we made the last holes. The 1 inch center holes for the die center.
With some pins the bender is now operational.
This piece of equipment is a big tick in the box on my wishlist! I am very pleased with the result. I'll show some test-bends soon

Tube bender, Progress!

Almost finished drilling all the holes. The last few ones to do are 1 inch, for which I have no drill. Time to ask for help :-)
It will be done.

Bender goodies, Back from lasercut!

The parts for the tube bender have arrived. Tomorrow we make holes :-)

Tube bender assembly, Getting closer!

Spend time today to align the tube bender frame with the die sets I recieved. Only some small justifications needed.
Now I can call in the help of mr Lasercut......

Tube bender drawings!

I didn't waste any time tonight and started to make the drawings for the tube bender based upon all the sketches, fotos and advise I found on the internet. I'll testfit these to the die-sets before having them laser-cut.
Can't wait to make the first bend..

Goodies, goodies!

Today some parcels arrived. Two die sets and a tube notcher.
The bender itself I intend to build myself, Internet is a great source of information and I was able to retrieve some build plans.
This increases my fab capabilities and brings me another step closer to the next build :-)

Cool Calendar!

I found this one the web some weeks ago (look here http://www.mitziandco.com/). What a nice bunch of pictures. I'll find a nice spot in the workshop. Only 1 week to go before the new year :-)

Frame jig, It can rotate!

Continued working on the legs of the jig. Last time I made the rotating disks and the vertical adjustment on the main leg of the jig. Today I added some support legs at 45 degree angles to support the jig when it is rotating. IT WORKS........
All of the jig parts have to be detachable to allow for easy storage. It requires me to be a bit more creative and add some bolds in places that matter. 1 set of legs to go before the jig is finished. Tomorrow is another day.......Lets heat up some more steel.

Frame Jig, the legs!

With the size and the weight of the Jig I need to take special care of the legs it will stand on. At the same time I want to be able to change the height and be able to rotate it. This will make my life much easier when welding the frames.
It took a little while to figure it out but I think I cracked it.......
Now we need to make the 2nd leg.

Frame jig, almost ready!

Spend another few days assembling the parts. It is getting there. 1 or 2 days more work and I am ready for my first frame.