The Water Buffalo-Seemingly never ending cafe project

[Hoosier Daddy]

shinyribs wrote

Oh,after I got them mounted. Extra bracing and all...they still wiggled. What the...?!?! It's not my plates flexing. It's the actual tubing of the bike frame itself!!! I hope they dont stress crack the stinkin' frame. Still pondering on what to do there.

MAN! I'da never gussed THAT! especially the way the factory triangulated the frame there.



That green line is a short span to flex after being tied in on both ends with the red frame bracing. The others may have a good suggestion on using the egine mount plate but DAMN, you wouldn't think that would flex THERE.

[shinyribs]

TOOLS1 wrote

I would have made them mount to the engine mounts; like Honda did with the matics, and F models. Also I notice you have went back to the pods. Couldn't handle the wheelies?
TOOLS

This is an F modellol.
The pods are on there because I'm a speed freak and I'm having to wait forever for my K&N filter to show. If I pull the air filter outta the airbox it runs like it means business. Still lacking the topend of the pods,but pretty stinking good. But the only filter I have is a greasy,gooey mess and I refuse to run with a filter. You see how funky my bike is Gotta have filters.

 I totally misled you guys on the frame flexing. Sorry!

The tube is not flexing as in bowing,it's twisting. The way I did the frame mounts they have a large welded area contacting the frame tubing,but they dont wrap around very far at all. They don't even wrap a 1/4 of the way around the tube. Kinda like the kickstand mounts: it's not just a flat edge welded to the bike,but it has a saddle,or a cuff, that fits to the frame so it wont try and twist the tubing at that area.The flexing is not severe.When you bang your feet on the pegs they feel rock solid. I even stood on them a bit during the test ride the other day. You can't feel them flex,but when you yank on the with your hand you can see them move. I'll just keep my eye on the weld seams and if I start to see a stress crack develop I'll reinforce it then.

Pulling off the engine mounts would definitely be a super strong mounting point. But I'd have to source some really long metric bolts which would difficult to find. And expensive. But it would also make for some very long brackets to reach back that far. That would be a lot of added weight and would bring up a whole other set of flexing issues. It'd take about 14'' to reach the engine mounts from where my plates are mounted now. 14'' of anything is gonna flex unless it super thick steel (heavy) or heavily reinforced. <-Also,heavy.

In other news...I got started on the levers. I got them mostly finished (still need a little filing) but I did get them welded to the pivots. The brake lever is shorter since I wanted it to hit the ball of my foot. The shifter I kept long so I wouldn't have to swing my foot out so far to swap from top to bottom on it. I have considered doing a two-tab shifter lever. Not a heel-toe,but where you would have a tab on either side of your foot at all times. Just rock your foot to shift without having to swap sides on the shifter. I can't decide if it would be a good idea or not,though.

I also found out that the knurled pegs hold dirt like crazy. The o-rings actually seem to provide a good deal of traction so I think I'm going to turn the knurls off and just run them smooth like this brake peg. Oh yeah,I got a brake peg done Looks much cleaner without the knurling IMO.I'm having trouble getting the stainless tapped,though. I just have a standard tap and die set,nothing heavy duty. I havent broke a tap off in this stainless yet,but I will if I try to go any deeper. I've only got about 3/8'' of thread inside the lever tab. I'd like to have at least 5/8-3/4''. I'm not sure what kind of tap I need to get or what is even available.

holy poo i just wrote a book ^^^ My apologies if you actually read all of that

[Hoosier Daddy]

shinyribs wrote

 I'm not sure what kind of tap I need to get or what is even available.

Ever seen a McMaster Carr catalog? That place must be friggin HUGE! I use them at work and have yet to order anything they don't have in stock and ship right away, you'll have it in two days!
www.mcmaster.com - taps

[shinyribs]

Hmm,so many choices! Im trying to figure out which would be best for hard metals,but some of the ''better'' taps are close to $40!!! And that's only a 1/4-20 tpi. Sheesh...

[TOOLS1]

For really hard metals, you want the tapered taps.
TOOLS

[shinyribs]

I was trying to find a set of serial taps. Apparently they are only used/sold over the pond. Oh well, I fired off an order to McMasterCarr just now. Thanks for the link Hoosier. My credit card hates you right now. First time it's been used...since it expired last time

[Hoosier Daddy]

Ha-ha. Wait till you see their catalog!!! 4" thick and very fine paper like a phone book so you get an idea of the hundreds of pages... MILLIONS of items.
Makes an excellent bathroom reader.

[shinyribs]

Hoosier,you were right. This tap got here fast!Sadly,it broke just as quickly. The worse part is that it's permanently lodged in the piece it was supposed to tap soooo i got to start over on that. Zero progress this weekend on this.

[shultz_1978]

Can you use a Tap Extractor on it. What name brand was the tap? Was it a low carbin cheapy?

We sell some pretty good taps. Fast cut , Cleveland twist, Dormor, Sowa and Gurring. Are some good brands.

[shinyribs]

Here's what I got. I believe it was a Dormer,not sure really. I oiled the tap and stuck it in-snap!-right at the shank. Oh well.

What would you sell me for a 1/4''-20 hole going into stainless?

[shultz_1978]

That should have done the trick. But a good tap well run you around 30-35. Like some thing From Widia A 3404SS. For one or two holes I would not worry to much about coating. But the altin Or tin are good all round coatings.

That Vanadium tap should have been fine. What did you do?
Its a 1/4" tap not 1-1/4 bolt you use a five foot cheater bar on. lol

[shinyribs]

Well,I'm not exactly sure what I did wrong to be honest. I used oil. Just some thin 10W like I always use to thread or drill with. I start the tap in the lathe to be sure it was straight. Workpiece in the chuck and the tap in the tail stock. I didn't power up the lathe,just turned the chuck by hand until it was started good. i was going in a half turn at a time and back all the way to clear the chips. I got the whole thread cutting portion of the tap (about 3/8'' ) and was still cutting good. I went to back it out the clear the chips and it just snapped at the skinny part of the shank. Oh well, just my luck.

But,since you sell these things for a living I'd rather buy from you than a faceless vendor! Of course if it's too much hassle to fool with the shipping and all I can understand that. Just let me know how to pay you if you can get one,or I can just reorder from McMasterCarr.

[shultz_1978]

Not to log our build thread But Tomorrow I can see what a good tap would be at my cost and let you know. What size was it. You can pm me. If you wish

[shinyribs]

PM sent.Thanks bud.

[TOOLS1]

You need a tapered tap, not a semi-bottoming tap.
TOOLS

[shinyribs]

Crap. You already told me that,too.  I'm so dumb,but don't tell anybody. Of course,I never made it anywhere near the bottom with this tap.

[shultz_1978]

1/4-20 tpi taper tap. You do know you don't run a taper tap all the way through any thing? You need to know the depth of the taper. Right

So if you ran that tap in all the way you may be to big. Sorry for the delay had to leave for work.

[shultz_1978]

Ok My bad You are fine I was thinking pipe plug threads.

How many holes do you need to do? If you got to that point you could finish it with a standard 1/4-20 8304 EM-SS SF MOD.BOTTOM TAP

Is this a through hole?

[TOOLS1]

He is never going to even get one complete thread with a bottoming tap in that HARD stainless steel. If it's not a through hole, he needs to have it deep enough to get enough threads with the tapered tap, for the bolt to thread into. The bolt would not need to thread in more then 3/8 inch.
TOOLS

[shultz_1978]

That is what I was woundering if he really needed the bottoming tap. Thanks Tools

That tape I was talking about is just hard stainless steel. We sell them all the time. But you are right if he can use some thing like a gun tap or even just a standard spiral flute he should.

 A gun tap will push chips thats why I was woundering if it was a through hole or even 1 - 1-1/2" deep.