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Motorcycles, tools, and garages! A little bit of everything mechanical and technical.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Santa's Heavy Hauler #3


Time for some body work!

Test fitted everything.



Slapped some green paint on there,



and just double checked to make sure everything still fit...





Tried something new here. I've always been intrigued with gilding, and I found a pack at Hobby Lobby so I figured why not give it a go?





I'm not very good at it...

Time for more details. Needs a pinstripe!



Some engine detailing,



and I think we are getting somewhere.


Sunday, February 22, 2015

February Riding.

So with the Presidents Day long weekend and the SUPER nice weather we had, I was able to get out and do some yard work, till up the flower bed, AND!!! Dig the bike out of its winter cocoon. Got the plates renewed on Tuesday, and rode it to school Weds, Thurs, and Fri. Weds was super cold but doable. Thurs and Fri were great- but of course I look out my window Friday afternoon and see this...


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Didn't last long or stick, but sheesh.  60 degree temps in February?!  Then it drops back down to the mid teens.  Dang tulips don't know what to do- noticed today that they are poking up already.

Side note- Son 1 is now playing the trombone and rides home with me after school... So I'm sure that makes for an interesting sight as we go through town with the 'Bone strapped on the rack and us with our backpacks and coats on, in February.  Did I mention its only February and we are RIDING!?  ;)

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Random post for the day.

Go big or go home?



Sorry Slinky, I think that bird is a little out of your league.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Santa's Heavy Hauler #2

New bed attempts, 1, 2 and 3.



Fenders, attempts 1 through 4.




I wanted to build a complete suspension for this but ran out of time. I did try something new though and made axles and a custom driveline.









Frame attempt number 1.



Attempts 2, 3, and 4...



How #4 started out:





With the driveline.




Sunday, February 15, 2015

Pipe dreams: The future dorkpunch Garage.

Alright guys, looking for a little organizational feedback. In a couple of months, if all goes according to plan, this will be the new dorkpunch garage:







Lets assume we are starting with a clean slate- it's sheetrocked / insulated and has a wood stove and thats pretty much it.

Here's what I'm thinking for layout.





The "island" will be on wheels so it can be rolled around. Would like the lift table to be able to stow under the island or workbench so its out of the way when not in use.

Primary use will be fixing small engines in the summer, but I've got my fingers in about a dozen different pots so I'd like to be able to have a welding corner and / or a "paint booth". For the welding corner I'm thinking of building some portable walls / curtains that can be set up where I want them. The "paint booth" will most likely just be a section of wall with a hefty exhaust fan that I could set the welding booth walls up around too.

Any suggestions as to placement of tools? Air compressor would likely live in the back corner, with hard line run along that wall with several air jacks and a drain at the end. My "big" power tools are all pretty portable- drill press, scroll saw, table saw, and sliding compound miter saw would probably all live under the workbench until needed.

What am I forgetting!?

A lift would be awesome but definitely not in the cards anytime soon. I would probably get more use out of a gantry style crane...

As to the placement of the truck- I have a few "project" vehicles- they don't get moved around much. I was thinking I would put two of them back in that corner, and I would still have enough room to park a mobile vehicle at the roll up door that I could pull out when I wanted space to work.

The house also comes with this attached 2 car carport:



and this old chicken coop that I plan on converting for motorcycle / John Deere overflow storage.



In all reality, it will probably look something more like this, but not as clean...



Saturday, February 14, 2015

Santa's Heavy Hauler #1


Haven't posted this yet-  here's the build I did for the Christmas build-off.  "Santa's Heavy Hauler".  Probably my most expensive custom to date- just because of the sheer number of WHEELS...

How to turn these:





into this:



in 3,149 easy steps!

This build was really hard. The "castings" are plastic and I quickly discovered that working with plastic is NOT fun.



VERY easy to take too much off using the belt sander, and the hand files just don't work well with it. My little scroll saw would just melt lines in the plastic instead of cut them. Ug...





Headed in this direction.



Motor donor!


Gluing cabs together.



Starting on the bed.













I discovered that the body was built a little off. Turns out one of the rear fenders is slightly further back than the other. Made it REALLY hard to get everything lined up, and by the time I got to this point I was really not liking how it was coming together.





You can tell I didn't get the rear fenders all the same height, so...



Time to try something different.