Action, Camera, Lights!

So I continue to work my way through the FJR1300 Gen III retrofit project. Previously I was able to machine the name plate and LED light holder that would eventually get mounted to the back of the Pelican case. Next it was onto building a Pelican Case mount as well as try and come up with some way of mounting a couple of Clearwater LED driving lights.

I continue to strive for professional looking results and when mounting accessories to the bike it is important to blend the mounts in with the flow of the bikes lines. Nothing looks worse then something that simply doesn’t appear to belong. Subtle and discrete is usually a good thing and the less flashy and obtrusive I make it I think the better it will look.

So as my dad and I search for a place to mount the front auxiliary LED lights to it soon becomes evident that there are not too many options, at least none that would look good. Finally settled on trying to fabricate a couple of brackets that will get sandwiched between the base of the mirror mounts and the fairing. After much looking and measuring it would appear that the odds may work in my favor. Although I wasn’t convinced the plan would come together in the end there was enough evidence presented that would suggest the efforts verses the failure ratio was one worth pursuing.

So the bike was hauled into my garage and the fabricating began. I had a basic idea of what I wanted to accomplish however the aspect that complicated it all was I was working with 3 odd ball X Y, Z, angles. The angle of the mirror mount was situated in such a way that I needed to compensate for the angles and build a bracket that would eventually be square, plumb, and level.

I stock old cereal boxes in my garage because the cardboard is good for building templates from. So I began by building a cardboard sample of the LED light bracket in order to help determine the angles that would be required. Once I mocked up the cardboard I switched over to a scrap piece of steel and build a crude mount to ensure my efforts would not be wasted. Once I determined the proper angles I began building to good brackets.

As far as the mounting of the Pelican case I simple machined some spacers to fit in place of the existing factory rack hold down hardware locations. I cut the spacers at an angle to ensure that the mounting of the case would remain parallel with the back rack.

Once everything was fabricated the complete works got a glass bead blasting and then everything was fogged with some matte black powder coating. In the end I think the completed project worked out well. The front lights look super clean and super factory looking. The matte black finishing blends everything into the bike and prevents things from standing out as thought they don’t belong. My dad is happy and has since taken back possession of his bike and has everything wired up and working. He put his first 100km on his new bike today and was happy to report that everything is working 100%. On with the pictures…

I built a cheater arbor to help speed up the set up when needing to mill a radius. The arbor is a chunk of cold rolled round bar with the same radius as I require. I center the rotary table to the mill head and then clamp down my work piece once I have my arbor lined up. It isn’t highly accurate but I would guess that I am within .010″.

Here are the results of my laziness. The radiusing of the mirror spaces work out great. They were cut from 1″ x .250″ 6061 aluminum.

Here are my roughed out mirror base spacers. The black base gasket shows some resemblance, this is good.

This is one of my good LED light mount brackets starting to take shape. I scribe my bend angles with a cut off wheel. This way I get a super clean inside bend line and it allows me to weld the exposed cut on the outside of the bend and clean it up. It not only adds strength but also looks ultra pro.

Much time was spend mocking up the brackets to ensure that my X,Y, and Z coordinates were all on even planes. Here I got within .50 degrees of level.

The lights will be adjustable vertically but not horizontally therefore the brackets need to be fabbed accurately. I used a couple of squraes and a staright edge to help determine what the “straight ahead” position.

Before I performed the final bend on the brackets I milled out the adjustment slots to allow for vertical adjustment of the LED lights.

Here sit all the LED light components minus the final bend, and trimming, of the brackets.

Final bends. All that remains is welding and grinding of the scribe lines.

In order to make the bracket look super clean I needed to be able to hide the wiring. I milled a channel into the base spacer plates and the drilled a hole in order to feed the LED wiring in under the mirror assemblies.

So here you have it, all the fabricated components glass bead blasted and ready for powder coating. I never posted pics of the Pelican case spacers however it is fairly obvious that I spun them up on the lather out of aluminum.

First batch of matte black powder coated components.

With the Pelican case plate coated I was able to epoxy on the “Iron Butt” name plates.

Here the Pelican Case spacers are installed on the rear of the FJR’s rack.

A side shot of the mounted Pelican Case shows how the angled spacers allow the case to run parallel with the factory rack. Looks clean.

The case gets bolted to the spacers from the inside. In order to accomodate the parallel fit some angled washers were machined.

This is the inside shot of the mounted name plate. The 2 center studs were machined out to allow for hiding of the LED wires.

This shows the routing of the wires in behind the mirror base. There is still a plastic fairing cover the dash assembly.

Tucking the wiring of the lights in under the mirror mounts worked great.

OCD PCCB LCDs

Well it was time to get into the finishing stages of the Porsche dual monitor stand project. Up until this point all the fab work had been completed and it was time to disassemble, clean, and put the finishing touches on. I admit I enjoy the fabrication work more than the finishing however there is much to be said for the satisfaction one gains from seeing the project come together in the end and reach completion.

I had a specific finish in mind for each component of the stand at time of inception and the game plan never wavered. All the components received the finishing touches that were original brainstormed. Basically it came down to three processes. Powder coating, brushing, and polishing.

All the powder coated components were glass bead blasted and cleaned prior to getting fogged.

All the components that were to be powder coated needed a good cleaning and glass bead blasting as a preliminary step prior to fogging of the powder. The stand was completely disassembled, and few welds touched up and then all the mild steel components were tossed into the blast cabinet for an exfoliation session. Once they were rid of all external toxins it was time to shower then with some denatured alcohol and prepare them for the sprinkling of powder. My powder color choice was really not a choice at all. I felt as though I had no options except to go with the flat black powder (the same stuff I used for the CB160 engine). When I look at the marketing material, and finishes, Porsche uses in the vehicle showrooms and service reception areas the presence of brushed stainless and flat black are fairly evident. As much as it would be nice to through on a splash of color I opted to stay conservative, and with the original plan.

Opted to go with the matte black powder. Ordered up 4 more pounds since this is the same color I am using on the CB160 cafe racer build.

I bolted the stand to the oven rack so that I could just slide the complete assembly into the oven. I covered up the rack while spraying to try and prevent me from powder coating it.

Just about all of the stainless steel and aluminum were finished with a brushed look. I have always struggled to try and develop a good technique for brushing stainless. It is important to achieve a constant, and even, brushed look. The crucial piece that required this treatment was the 3 inch stainless flat bar that was backdrop to the “Porsche” logo. I was starting off with a rough finished piece of stainless. I opted to install a brand new 180 grit sanding belt onto the 6 x 48 sander and proceeded to work down as much surface area as I could fit onto the sanding belt. It hard work and it takes its toll on the horsepower but in order to reach the level of finish I wanted it was important to work the stainless down as whole. The 180 grit paper was working however I decided I would see how a 120 grit approach would work. I swapped over the belt and continued to work the metal down. I think the brushed look of the 120 grit gave me the look I was searching for so I decided to go for it. In the end I was very pleased with the end result.

This is a shot of the ceramic rotor aluminum hub just before it is going into the oven for baking.

Powder is starting to flow in nicely. 15 minutes at 375 degrees PMT.

When it came to giving all the aluminum components the brushed look they all got mounted up on the lathe and all received hand sanding to achieve the look. Since the aluminum is much softer then the stainless I found a 320 grit finish was better suited to tie the 2 different metals in together.

Performed a single stage polishing of all the rotor to hub pins. The slight gleam will help them pop against the matte black.

Completed set of polished hub pins.

The pins were a bit tight sliding back into the rotor hub because of the thickness the powder coating added. A bit of persuasion was all that was required.

As far as the polishing goes there was not much to do. I always try to work in odd numbers if possible. In the case of the finishes I had black powder coating and brushed surfaces. Adding in a polished dimension would bring my even to odd and help create e a more pleasing look. I also opted to polish because of the purchased Porsche emblem. It was only available in a chrome/polished look and therefore I did not want to leave its finish all unto itself. I chose to polish all the locating pins of the ceramic brake rotor. I did not polish them to a chrome finish but opted to just “gleam” up a bit. The only other part of the project that was left with a polished look was the rim of the base aluminum disc that sits on top of the rotor. It is only about 3/32” that is polished however it is enough to add a subtle highlight.

Giving the base aluminum plate a brushed finish.

Here is the bottom of the base where it will bolt to the rotor hub. It’s not pretty but it is functional. You can see the BMW logo stamped on the bottom right corner of the plate.

I taped off and mesured out the location of the Porsche emblem install on the front name plate.

This is the stainless steel backing plate for the name plate. The top plate is the finished brushed product, the bottom plate is the finish I started with. Lots of grunt work standing in front of the belt sander.

Applied gel feet on the bottom of the rotor to help protect the desk surface that it will sit on.

So with all the components in a finished state all that was left was reassembly. As usual the reassembly takes the shortest amount of time but is also, usually, a highly satisfying part of the project. Too bad it is short lived. With it completely assembled I was able to stand back and determine if the end result beared any resemblance to the originating idea. I would say it came out better then expected. I had my doubts during the fabricating process whether or not I had possibly taken a wrong turn with the design. I was not sure the “Porsche” nameplate was going to blend. In the end I think it all came out fine. The combination of straight lines, flat black, and brushed highlights brings it all together. I can only hope that the dual monitor stand will meet my friend’s approval. As for me it is time to clean up the shop and regroup. I think it is time to get back onto the 65 Revive project. Not sure what will be next, perhaps I will be in the mood for some exhaust fabrication. For now I will leave you some pictures of the finished project.

Monitoring Progress

So I continue to make progress with the Porsche dual monitor stand. It’s one of those projects that started from a basic mental blueprint however I have allowed it to morph into its present state based on decisions made “on the fly”. Sometimes I need to see the project come into existence before I can actually bring some life to it.

Previously I had beaten my way through the mechanicals of it. I was able to get the monitor arm pivots fabricated and now it was time to build the main support structure. As previously stated I am trying to develop a bit of a motorsport theme but at the same time ensuring that I keep things “straight and square” the German way. As I look at the design and style of Porsche showroom decor much of it is brushed stainless and black therefore I will try and incorporate those finished into the project.

I’ll let you follow along with the pictures. I have added captions to help better describe what I am trying to accomplish. If any of it is not clear then please speak up! I aim to please.

So I am making a couple of circle bases to sit on top of the rotor. My first circle is a 7″ diameter that is going to be cut with my homemade plasma circle cutter. Here I have set the cut radius to 3.5″.

I had an old aluminum BMW suspension reinforcement plate laying around the shop so I decided to cut my 7″ base circle from it. It’ll be ironic that the Porsche monitors will be supported by a BMW component. HA!

My 2nd support circle needed to be a bit smaller and cut from steel. I tacked on an old ring I shaved from a chunk of pipe to act as my guide.

Next I needed to build the support structure that would act as the pillar for the 2 monitors. I really struggled with design. I wanted to base it after the supports you would see on a race car, those that may anchor a spoiler. I drew out some designs on 1/8″ MDF that would act as my template. This was my first failed atttempt. I think the issue was that I put a radius in it. BAD!!!! Remenber? Straight and square!

Here is my second attempt at a support template. Much better…looks more “motorsport”.

So here you have it, my 2 monitor supports cut from an 1/8″ steel plate.

In order to add more of a “race” aspect to it I needed to drill some holes. I tacked the two supports together to ensure my holes were drilled precisely in each support.

Using some 1/2″ aluminum round bar I drilled and tapped 5mm threads into a total of 7 spacers. I then bolted the two supoorts together using stainless steel 5mm socket head cap screws.

Support brackets then got TIG welded to the steel base.

It was now time to mount the 2 previously built monitor pivot brackets to the support. Things got a little funky since perfect alignment between the 2 monitors were required. Here I determined, in a very crude manner, the over spacing between the 2 monitors. Elegant isn’t it?

It was time to weld the montior brackets to the 5/8″ steel rod used as the cross support. To ensure the montiors would end up parallel to one another I clamped a 6″ x .250″ piece of aluminum between the 2 monitor supports then welded them into place.

Next it was time to weld the 5/8″ cross support round bar to my previuosly built vertical support brace. Another hi-tech jig was used to ensure everything would end up straight and level.

So ther you have it, the monitor brackets and the support braces joined together in molten matrimony. The extra 2 rods that are present above and below the 5/8″ cross bar are 5/6″ stainless steel bar used purely for esthetics. You can also see the layer base I made from my 2 plasma cut circles.

Here is a view from the back side. I think is has some decent visuals.

Close up view of how the hinges all fit together. What is not evident in this picture is the color scheme I have in mind. It will involve a combination of flat black and brushed stainless/aluminum.

The stand still has more components to add before the fabrication work can be deemed complete. I am planning to mount a Porsche nameplate to the back yet and therefore I require a support. I started by arcing some 3/8″ round bar thinking this was a good idea.

Turns out the arc’d bar was a bad idea, it did not visually fit with the rest. Obviously I neglected to keep my number 1 design guideline in mind “staight and square!”

Here is my re-do. Much more straight. Sorry but I have not build pictures. I squeezed the work into an evening and 100% focus was required. I am not sure this “add-on” sits right with me. My heart says get rid of it but my head is telling me to relax cause things are going to come togther in the end.

Here is the end detail. I could have very easily made the 90 degree corner transition much more basic however why make it simple when it works just as well complicated? The end caps are brushed aluminum.

The support needs to hold a name plate up so I am layering the plate like I did the two circle bases. The larger flat bar is 3″ stainless steel while the smaller section is 2″ mild steel.

Here is the overall shot. The monitors will be blocking much of what you see here.

Here is the side the customers will be able to see. As it sits right now I am not sure it is much to look at. It will be the finishing details that will bring it all together. For now the stand needs to be disassembled, have a bit more welding done, and then the clean up and finishing process can take place.

Screensaver

It’s been awhile since I performed a quick afternoon project but it so happened that one fell into my lap recently. A friend had scrounged up a used LCD computer monitor at his work that he wanted to use as a second monitor for his work station. He works in a shop and has his computer situated on top of a rolling tool cart. Well this monitor that had been dragged out from the bottom of a bench was lacking a stand but otherwise was a perfectly good functioning unit. So the task at hand was to build a monitor stand.

The criteria were fairly basic. Had to be cheap to build, solid enough that the monitor would not accidentally get tipped off the cart, there was no need for angle adjustment and just needed to have the screen set vertically, and the base of the monitor needed to be 6.75 inches from the table height. No Problem! The objective here was to build something quick and cheap and as long as the function was there the fashion would not be a factor.

First up was collecting the materials. Needed a solid, heavy, cheap base so an old Jaguar brake rotor would do the trick. The remainder of the stand would be built from spare metal I had laying around the shop. The design? What design! I decided to let the plasma do the walking and see what shape the stand would morph into.

No sense in elaborating on the details. The pictures will lead you through the highly complex build as you will see that a lot of time and precision was put into the build . It was a mindless couple of hours in the garage which is just what I needed. The stand turned out great and the function performs to spec. The red wrinkle matches the tool cart and the stand even sports a ”garage” look to it. Mission accomplished!

The veritcal support was made from a section of 5″ x 1/8″ flat bar left over from the fireplace pergolia project. The top was radiused using the plasma cutter. Here a 1″ hole is drilled as to act as the splitting into two legs.

Legs get trimmed out with the plasma. I love that thing! Slicing metal helps make up for what I might be lacking in testosterone levels.

Here I have the vertical support mocked up on a circular base. The clamped angle iron is a quick and easy way to ensure I have a good 90 degree angle. The base was a chunk of steel I had left over from my gazebo table build.

Ran a couple of TIG beads to join the couple in holy moltenry.

The old Jaguar rotor got a quick glass bead blasting. The rotor was fairly worn and the ridges were a bit deep however if I cleaned it up then the project would no longer be quick and easy and I would have suffered failure.

Decided to lay down some wrinkle red powder that I had as extra.

Here the rotor was coated and ready to get slid into the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes PMT

The vertical support was powder coated to match, here the baking session is just finishing.

I didn’t want the brake rotor base to scratch the top of the tool cart so I decided to adhere a chunk of fish pond liner to the underside of the rotor. I used contact cement to secure it. BTW contact cement eats powder coating, who would have thunk.

After the rubber base was glued on the edges were trimmed up, came out pro looking. Too bad no one will ever see it.

I had some funky flat head 6mm torx bolts in the bolt bin so I faced them on the lathe to get rid of the production stampings and then gave them all a quick polish.

So here you have it, quick and dirty but funtional and having met all the desgin specifications.

Powder Trip

So with the powder coat colors chosen for the CB160 engine is was time to start the coating process on the good engine components. The plan was to shoot the cylinders, head, and valve cover with matte black. The upper and lower engine case will go HD bead blast silver and the side covers will be colored with anodized aluminum.

I am still very new to the whole powder coating process and have learned quickly that one similarity between anodizing and powder coating is the extensive prepping process required to ensure good results. In the case of the engine components I want to ensure that everything is out gassed and then surface prepped properly.

Engine has been out gassed and glass bead blasted. Onto the masking process.

Everything is masked and plugged and ready for the preheat

The first step involved an extensive amount of good old fashioned cleaning using a solvent tank and pressure washer. Once I had as much grease, oil, and dirt off the components as possible I proceeded with the out gassing. I fired the powder coating oven up to 550 degrees Fahrenheit and baked all the engine components for 2 hours. It was certainly evident from the smoke and the oil that leeched out that the out gassing process was accomplishing its intended task. I made sure that I bolted the cylinder to the cylinder head before out gassing in order to prevent the cylinder sleeves, and head inserts, from coming apart.

Head and cylinders mounted onto an adapter plate I made so that I would be able to spray the fins vertically.

Set in the oven for a preheat session up to 160 degrees.

Once everything was out gassed I headed over to the glass bead blast cabinet. With all the important casting sections either taped off or plugged I proceeded with blasting everything clean. As with anodizing it is important to ensure that none of the blasted components have oil on, or in, them as the blasting tends to drive the oil and grease further into the pores resulting in a failed finishing process. This is why the out gassing is performed before the blasting.

Matte black powder fogged on. Careful inspection with a flashlight indicates everything got coated.

Completed and baked coating, fairly happy with the results.

With the blasting completed it was time to give everything a major bath and scrub it all down with hot soapy water. Once clean the time consuming process of taping off, and plugging, of crucial sections of casting could begin. Components with gasket surfaces got taped using high temp tape and all the bolt holes, and studs, were covered using silicone plugs.

Engine case after it has been out gassed and glass bead blasted.

Hot water and dishsoap was used for the clean up.

I wanted to lay the powder onto the finned engine components with the fins in a vertical position. If I sprayed the powder onto to them horizontally I feared that I would get too much powder build up in between the fins. I welded up an adapter that would allow me to suspend the head and the cylinders vertically and would also give me a way to rotate the assembly as I sprayed.

Masked and ready for preheating and coating.

The powder went on great, good coverage, no issues.

So with all the prep work done there was nothing left to do except lay on the powder and hope my rookie endeavor will experience a successful outcome. Over the course of the next few evenings I was able to get through all the engine components and complete the coatings. There were lots of lessons for me to learn and some flaws in the coating that defines my ability however overall I am very pleased. The finishes all flowed out nicely and the overall effect is great. The coverage is good and the color was what I expected.

Baked and completed HD Bead Blast Silver case.

So with all the engine components now coated I will be able to send the cylinders and the head out for machining. While waiting for their return I should be able to start reassembling the bottom end.

Sorry, no pictures of the side cover process however here is my good set of Aluminum Anodized powder coated covers.

(M)Power To The People

With all the key components cut out for the BMW M TEK sign it was time to start piecing it all together. The idea was to layer it all to give it some 3D feel to it. I was also going to have to make it all come apart so that all the individual pieces can be finished appropriately.

Using a felt pen I traced out all the components onto the backing plate so that I was able to determine what overlapped where. Then I went to work building spacers out of 6061 aluminum round bar. I machined all the spacers on the lathe then drilled and tapped all the holes. Eventually all the spacers got TIG welded onto their appropriate sign component. As uneventful as all this is the process was somewhat time consuming. However I am a big believer in that the amount of time invested in the project will be visible with the end project.

So at this point all the components have been mounted and bolted down. I had yet to build the exhaust pipe mounts. My main concern is that I didn’t want the mounts to be too visible. I Vise-Gripped some washers onto a sheet of aluminum and plasma cut out a couple of inconspicuous plates. The plates got aluminum tubes welded onto them that would allow me to slide the M3 exhaust tips onto them. The brackets then both got mounting brackets welded to the back side of the sign.

The only phase left in the actual construction involved welding the 1” aluminum perimeter, previously made, to backing plate. Using an old sheet of plywood and some wood screws I was able to position the perimeter tight up against the backing plate and then join them with some welds. Yes there were a few gaps, yes I find them difficult to cope with, will anyone notice? I doubt it but it still bugs me.

Okay so the actual construction is done and now comes the point of the process that involves spending time finishing all the components. This is where I struggle. I am not a great finisher however I am determined to improve in that department. My original plan was to combine flat black spray bomb, anodizing, polishing, and brushed finishes to create some contrast. I will spare you the vision because the vision had changed. I really had my heart set on anodizing but opted not to for various reasons, I’ll save that technique for another project. My new plan involved seeking out some outside help for part of the process.

I have friend, who has a friend, who knew this guy named Dave. Well it turns out that, because of my friend’s friend, Dave is now a guy I know. Anyway…I went to see Dave cause Dave does vehicle tinting, rock guarding, and vehicle wraps for a living. I went to see him because I wanted to incorporate some carbon fiber look to the sign plus I thought he could help me with the addition of some color. Well it turns out Dave was the guy to see cause he confirmed that what I was looking for was something that he could do.

So with the components prepped I took the pieces to Dave and this is what I got him to do. The backing plate got layered with a carbon fiber look wrap. The outer circle of the BMW roundel was also wrapped with carbon fiber and then was decaled with a white laser cut “BMW”. He wrapped two of the “Propeller” blades with BMW blue and then laid down a custom made M stripe decal on my supplied aluminum support. Fantastic! The wraps totally gave the sign a motorsport look to it. I am a little disappointed that I farmed out some of the work however I consider it a lesson in recognizing, and accepting, ones limitations.

The plan from the start was to polish up the “M” to a mirror finish. I also decided I would polish the circle that provides the background for the BMW emblem. The polishing of the circle will hopefully add another dimension to it all. I sanded the circle and “M” down to a 400 grit and then went to town on the buffing wheel and put the aluminum through a 4 stage buffing process. After that I had Stu, an automotive detailer and friend of mine, help me finish off the mirrored look with a 3 stage polishing compound laid on with a 7” electric polisher.

The rest of the components were all finished in a brushed finish. After sanding the remaining pieces down with 400 grit I took a Scothbrite pad to them and carefully brushed in the final look. The brushing helps the polishing of the “M” and BMW circle really standout.

All the non-visible backs of all the components all got spray bombed with flat black. I wanted to prevent any nasty reflections from occurring as the light creeps in from the backside of all the suspended lettering.

So with a few more minor finishing touches and a bit of detailing I was ready to check this one off my list. And I did however I had some straying thoughts while I built the sign which led me to put the effort in to build a couple of bonus items. So with some extra material on my hands and a little bit of time I came up with a “M-R” sign. It is simply a mini award that was meant to recognize another key player at the dealership who is not a tech but still plays a significant role in the department. Their name starts with a R therefore I turned the “M power” into “R power” The sign is nothing more then a couple sheets of aluminum trimmed to spec. The base was carbon wrapped and then top was half polished and have “M stripe” wrapped.

The second bonus item was a “Pimp My Hoist” kit. I built a hoist control upgrade kit for one of the hoists at the dealership. The kit was all made from 6061 aluminum and machined on the lathe. The 4 key components comprised of a motor button, lock release, hydraulic down release, and an oil tank vented lid. To give it the “M” look I machined 3 separate rings for one of the levers and then anodized them with “M stripe” colors. The lever was then bolted together to give it a 1 piece look. The rest of the components were all polished.

Anyway…there you have it. A completed project that was able to teach me a few things. Hopefully the service manager will be pleased with the result and hopefully the sign will suit the purpose. Time to move on to a bigger project, stay tuned.

Spelled It Out

It was time to start coming up with a plan to put some lettering on the BMW technician award. The basic components were all cut out but the sign lacked the info that was going to define what the sign is going to represent. In keeping with the German BMW theme I decided to shift from the “M Tech” theme to a “M Tek” theme.

The plan was to cut all the lettering out of the same aluminum sheet I used for the base. Now if I had a CNC plasma then the cutting of the letters would have spared me of some ingenuity. Since I don’t have a CNC plasma, yet, I was faced with having to cut all the lettering by hand.

I decided that multiple steps would be required in order to ensure that the lettering would come out looking that of CNC quality. It all started on the computer tracking down font that was similar to that of the BMW line. The “M” font was not an issue as I was able to AutoCAD the dimensions using an actual “M” emblem as a reference. The issue was with the “TEK” font and after reviewing many different fonts I finally settled on one that was similar. The only concern I had was that the font would eventually be increased by approximately .170” around all the edges. Since the font would be acting as a plasma guide I needed to ensure that the space left between the plasma cutting tip and the plasma cutting tip guide edge (sort of like a kerf) would not alter the look of the font too much.

The “TEK” font then was scaled to size and printed out on multiple sheets of paper. So after a bit of arts and crafts I was able to tape and cut paper that would leave me with a full scale version of my lettering. So with the paper templates in hand I was off to the garage.

So as the second step to the cutting process I traced all the lettering out on 1/8” MDF hardboard. With a jigsaw in hand I trimmed all the letters out. Using multiple sanders, including a drum sander on the drill press, I was able to work all the lettering down to precise dimensions. It was important to ensure that the lines were all straight and the radiuses were all smoothly rounded. Since the templates were going to be the actual guide for the plasma torch any imperfections in their shape would surely transfer through onto the aluminum.

With the MDF templates built the rest of the job was quick and easy. The letters were Vise-Gripped down onto the plate of aluminum and then trimmed out using the plasma torch. The edges only required light touch up with the belt sander and flap wheels. As far as the “M” letter goes there was no MDF template made. The “M” was all measured out and then straight edges used to provide the guide.

With the letters all cut I was able to lay them out onto the rest of the sign and verify that the image I had in my head was the image that was now sitting in front of me. Now that all the components of the sign have been cut the next phase will involve layout and some sort of method to attach all the pieces into unity.

Show Me A Sign

A local BMW dealership that I have done some work for in the past approached me about a potential project. The manager of the service department was developing an internal company technician recognition program and was in need of some “hardware” to hand out. The manager wanted some sort of “Stanley Cup” for the award that would get passed around to each recipient. He wasn’t able to offer much of a suggestion as to what the award was supposed to be. All he knew is that he wanted something unique and he thought that I may be able to come up with an idea.

Well I pondered it over for a day and decided to pitch an idea to him that had been lurking in my mind for sometime. For some unknown reason I have had the urge to build a sign. I really have had no use for a sign and therefore no reason to build one. It’s not that I had any particular type of sign in mind; I just wanted to see what I could come up with. So with paper and pen in hand, along with some colored Hi-liters, I used all the skills I lack as an artist and sketched out a fairly pathetic artists rendering of what I envisioned I could build.

The idea was to build a 4 foot wide by 26 inch high aluminum sign. The shape, and feel, would mimic that of old school garages as well as modern BMW vehicle lines. As I pondered about what the point of the sign was I decided to create an “M Tech” theme award. For those of you who are unaware the “M” style BMWs are the high end performance line of BMW vehicles. Therefore it seemed fitting to provide a high end performance based award to the top technician.

So as I spent time researching and figuring out how to combine old school with M Power and came up with the following design. The overall shape mimicked that of old school garages combined with the features found on the back of an M5. I plan to incorporate some chrome tail pipe tips along with the air vent found on the rear of the M5. The sign would be made out of aluminum and incorporate multiple layers. It would also involve using different finishing such as paint, polishing, brushing, and anodizing.

Well I took my artists rendering to the service manager and pitched him my idea. I was bit shocked that he told me to “go for it” after only seeing my pathetic sketch. I suspect there must be a certain amount of trust involved as I am not much of a salesman.

So with given the green light I spent time getting the basic shape and dimensions finalized in AutoCAD. With some dimensions to work off of, a 4’ x 5’ sheet of utility grade aluminum, and some 6061 flat bar I stepped into the garage, broke out the plasma cutter and started shredding metal.

The backing, or base, that would support the rest of the sign was cut out from the sheet of aluminum using my homemade circle cutter to ensure the lines were uniform. The BMW emblem was designed to be 2 tier and was cut as per the AutoCAD specs to ensure the ratios all remained the same. The border was built from 1” x .125 aluminum 6061 flat bar. The entire border is made up of approximately 6 sections all welded together. The bends were either done with the ring roller or the Hossfeld clone bender.  I had acquired a complete set of 4 M3 chrome tailpipes which I had planned to use for the project. The pipes were too long so they all got trimmed down on the band saw and then cleaned up on the lathe.

So as it sits now the base and basics have all been rough cut and mocked up. Next step in the process will involve designing BMW font lettering and coming up with a technique to accurately cut them out of aluminum.

Scheming For Paint

 

I am not sure the blog has reflected, all that well, what my time has really been consumed with lately. I had posted a short bit on a collapsible paint booth that I am in the middle of building. Well the work certainly has not slowed down and, as with most projects, always takes longer then one expects. Anyway…progress continues to take place and a booth is starting to actually take shape out of the pile of aluminum that used to be lying on the garage floor.
The booth has been great practice for improving my aluminum welding skills. I am feeling much more confident with the procedure and feel that I have really been pushed to a whole new level of options when it comes to fabricating.

I have spent a few full day Saturdays working as quickly as I could just to get the main frame up.  The overall dimensions came out to 9 feet wide, 13 feet long, by just under 8 feet high. The idea is that it will collapse small enough, an light enough, to allow for storage on my garage ceiling.

Up until this point I have completed 3 key components. The 2 end frames have been welded up. One of the end frames houses the door which also acts as the exhaust filter and the other end frame has the intake filter incorporated into it. The 2^nd key component is the roof section. The roof has been split into 2 sections thereby allowing it to fold down in between the 2 end frames. The end frames and the 2 roof pieces are all held together with hinges. The 3^rd key component involves the vertical supports for the center roof sections as well the horizontal floor braces that secure the 2 end frames.

I am not too sure what I can really say about all of this. The pictures are all fairly self explanatory up until this point. I have chosen to make the roof vertical supports and the horizontal floor braces separate from the rest of the structure. I have room for separate storage of these components. With the main frame in a collapsed state the overall thickness is only 4 inches however this will change a bit yet. The entire structure is getting wrapped in a tarp which will only add some bulk to the collapsed unit. I am unsure how to calculate the overall thickness until I can actually test it. Hopefully the unit will still fold as nicely as it does now.

I am to the point were I need to fabricate the fan assembly that will be moving all the air. I have chosen to build my own fan assembly using a 1 hp motor and separate aluminum fan blade driven by a pulley system. Once the fan assembly is mocked up I will jump back onto the frame and incorporate some duct work to help direct the air flow. Stay tuned…there’s more to come.

Hung With Wear

I seem to have a never ending list of projects that I have agreed to complete for others. I enjoy helping out and I like the challenges that these projects present me with. However sometimes the projects get overwhelming and I find myself sacrificing my family responsibilities in exchange for getting these little jobs completed. I figured that if I am going to spend my time doing a job for anyone it should be for the wife.

Over seven years ago I had assisted my wife’s elderly grandmother in moving out of her apartment into an assisted living complex. This meant that many of her belonging needed to go elsewhere as there was little room in her new place. One of the items that needed to be disposed of was a suit valet that belonged to my wife’s grandfather. He had died many years earlier however his suit valet remained. When the decision came as to what was to become of it I was instructed to disassemble it and dispose of it, which is what I did. I know nothing about suit valets and I suspect the one I tossed was nothing special except for the fact that it belonged to my wife’s grandfather. In his working days he made a living as a family physician and used the suit valet to hang his suit jacket on everyday. How could I toss that out? Well I did except I kept one small part which was the coat hanger portion. The hanger was made of wood and was finished with stain. The hanger was worn in certain areas and polished smooth from years of use. It had both character and history attached to it. Anyway…I kept it and hid it for 7 years thinking that one day I will do something with it. Well it is my wife’s birthday coming up so I thought that this year was the year the hanger was coming out of hiding and something was going to be done with it.

So I actually spent months of frustrating brainstorming coming up with bad ideas as to what to build with the hanger. I suspect my wife shares the similar trait that her grandfather had in that she picks out her clothes the night before. So I figured what better use for his hanger than to incorporate it into a suit valet for his granddaughter. So this is the basis for the build.

Typically suit valets take up floor space and are more tailored towards men. Well I decided to make a wall mount female version of the valet. I wanted to blend together something that represented both my wife and her grandfather into one. I had the hanger; that was the easy part. I needed to build something that would actually be allowed to live in the house, this is not easy. I took my wife’s love for yoga and decided create a Lotus flower theme coupled with the hanger to fabricate a valet that would be worthy of wife’s approval. For those who may not understand the yoga and lotus flower connection you can read about it here http://www.yogapoint.com/articles/lotus.htm I started to read the article however my attention span is too short to support an article without any pictures of shiny metal.

The plan was to plasma cut all the individual Lotus flower leaves out of a stainless steel sheet. Mount them so they are suspended off the backing plate and then pretty the whole thing up with some stainless steel accents. The wooden hanger was originally mounted on the suit valet from the bottom side. The top of the hanger, the part where the hook typically goes, was clean and untouched therefore I wanted it to remain so. A hook needed to be fabricated and wrapped around to the top of the hanger from the underside. Finally a second hook would be required to rest the hanger on.

I started with a picture of a lotus flower enlarged to the proper size. I laid it on my stainless steel plate and used a Xacto knife to cut out each flower. The knife left a scribe line in the stainless that allowed me to free hand plasma cut out each individual leaf. With each leaf cut out time was spent at both belt sanders to clean up all the edges.

The stainless leaves were then assembled to form a template for the backing plate. Once I had a rough shape created I plasma cut the 1/8” mild steel backing plate and cleaned up its edges. I had picked up some 1/8” 304 SS solid rod that I thought would work well as accent pieces. I created some supports to hold the rods and TIG’d them onto the backing plate.

Something you need to understand about my wife is that she knows colors. If something doesn’t match then you had better look out. I would have to run for an umbrella because it would rain stress and anxiety. I went through 4 different shades of brown until I found, what I think, was the matching shade. This was the riskiest part of the whole project. The paint I used was a textured spray bomb that left a sandy and gritty type finish.

At this point all the leaves had .400” spacers glued to the backsides using windshield urethane. The leaves were then urethaned onto the backing plate. Now that I had something concrete I was working with I was able to manipulate the SS 1/8” rods into some “greenery” to give the whole project some contrast and balance.

Onto the hanger. Don’t know what to do. I started cutting things, bending things, welding things. Then I started to throw lots of those things in the garbage. I finally stayed simple and trimmed a section of stainless steel sheet out that got wrapped to the underside of the hanger. I then bent 5/16” SS round bar to use as the hook portion. It wasn’t overbearing or obtrusive. I think it worked out well.

The hook for the hanger needed to also fall into the simplistic category. I spun out a peg on the lathe using 6061 aluminum and then put it trough a 4 stage polishing finish.

So there you have it. Garage time well spent, I think. Her birthday had come and gone and the “valet” has found its new home on the wall next to the closet. She has put it into service and and small part of her grandfather lives on.