Curbly, I DIY site that I really enjoy reading, is giving away a Craftsman table saw. Here are the details:
http://www.curbly.com/bruno/posts/11286-curbly-giveaway-craftsman-10-laser-trac-table-saw-349-value#new_comment_form
Monday, October 3, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Suzuki GS750 Cafe
Let's start with a cute story.
About a half dozen years ago, I was at the Secretary of State to get a title transferred. It was about three in the afternoon on a Tuesday, and the wait was, as always, ridiculous. I had been waiting for about ten minutes (looking at probably another forty) when one of the clerks announced that they were calling last call on all written tests, and anyone there to take one should come up to the counter.
Seeing a shortcut, I approached the counter and said that I was there to take the motorcycle test, but that I also had to do a title transfer and get a plate. Could I do them all at the same time?
The woman said yes, and gave me a copy of the test.
Even thought I had not read the motorcycle handbook, the test was hilariously easy, took about five minutes, and I passed it easily. So, after being there for less than twenty minutes I walked out with my title, plate, and a motorcycle learners permit.
The next logical step was to buy a motorcycle. That motorcycle ended up being a Suzuki GS500 that I found on Craigslist for about a grand. It was a great bike to learn on, but ultimately not the bike I wanted.
I've always loved the bikes from Mad Max, and wanted something in that style. I ended up buying a 1978 GS750 from a buddy, and after doing some poking around, I decided to go the cafe route.
Here is a crappy cell phone pic of the original bike:
Here is the tank with the outline of the inserts marked with tape:
It took some nerve to take that first swing of the hammer. After that, there was no turning back. Here is the tank after the initial pounding, and with body filler to smooth out the surface.
*tip: if you are going to attempt this, put a block or some sort of spacer in the tunnel of the tank. Mine pinched together ever so slightly, but now it is a little tight whenever I have to mount it on the frame.
Here is the tank back on the bike, and the beginning of the first seat pan. I haven't yet chopped the frame:
I really liked the shape of the original "duck tail", so I decided to retain it. I used a couple of ideas I gleaned from other builds to make my tail section. In retrospect, I kind of wished I hadn't. I learned about using fiberglass, so that was cool, but the product I ended up with was big, bulky, not what I wanted, and took a lot of time to make.
Here is the start:
I wrapped the original piece in tape and foil, and then began covering it in fiberglass. It was a messy and imprecise process. I am betting a could do it much better now.
Here is the fiberglass reproduction next to the original. Pretty close, but at no point in time did it occur to me that I was reinventing the wheel. Why make something, when I already have a perfect item sitting right there.
Here is the tail with the beginning of the board sitting on the frame. Also featured is the first crappy paint scheme:
Here is the seat glassed, puttied and sanded, with the beginnings of a seat:
I built it to work on the original hinges. Once again, pointless:
Here it is, mostly assembled:
Kind of ugly, but it is getting there. I traded the original exhaust for a 4-1 kerker style, and also sold the original seat to help fund the project. I should mention that I am doing all the work either in my basement, or my charitable neighbor's garage.
I didn't like the black/yellow, so I repainted it red/silver. Repainting it will be a common theme:
I was having carburetor issues (also common theme), so those had to be fixed, as well as some electrical issues (yet another trend). Here it is torn down and the frame also getting some paint:
Wiring hell (note makeshift soldering station):
I hated the clunky dash, so this is the beginning of a long term streamlining project:
Around this time I also swapped the airbox in favor of pods. I like the look more, and I hated removing that fucking airbox every time I had to work on the carbs. Which was often. This left me with jetting issues that took about a year (and a donor set of carbs) to get right.
I also eliminated the battery, and replaced it with a bank of capacitors. I bought the capacitors off ebay. At the moment, I don't remember their value, or the calculation I used to come up with what I needed. They were wired in parallel, and then wrapped in electrical tape and shoved under the seat. In case you are wondering, the electrical output of the stator fluctuates with engine speed, so this is needed to keep your electrical system steady (otherwise your headlight does some funky stuff, amongst other things). They also help a lot with starting the bike. Which is important, since there is no pushbutton start, it has to be kicked over.
It was around this time that I also bought a second engine from a guy in Cleveland for $80. I needed it to replace my head, as there was a broken exhaust stud that refused to be removed. After trying everything short of EDM (vice grips, WD40, PB Blaster, welding a nut onto the end) I broke a hardened backout bit in it. Sometimes you just need to know when to say fuck it.
As a nice bonus, there was a new Dyna ignition in the engine, which put me about $40 ahead on the deal.
Also during this time I had had it with the wiring harness. There was an almost never ending series of shorts and bad grounds. Since I had eliminated the turn signals and starter, most of the existing harness was vestigial, so I decided to junk it rather than keep fixing it. I designed the new one from scratch, used better wire, soldered almost all connections, and I think I layed it out better for my purposes.
This is a crappy meter that I threw on the ground in a fit of rage:
This is the bike around then (note different paint scheme):
Notice how there is almost nothing in the frame other than motor? I like that.
Unfortunately, now I was sick of my seat. I decided to do something much simpler. The original tail, bolted to a metal pan.
Also, I wrapped the headers. Initially it was just for looks, but it ended up being quite practical. I was chasing down a plug fouling/carb problem, where sometimes cylinders would stop firing. Being able to touch a header to see if it was warm was a great troubleshooting helper. I don't know if any of you have accidentally touched an unwrapped header, but I have. I slipped once while looking at the engine, and reflexively reached out to steady myself. I grabbed a header pipe like it was a monkey bar. It totally sucked, and burned my hand into a clawlike shape for about a week.
I can't stress this enough: Don't do that.
The bike was getting closer to where I wanted it to be. Also, somewhere around this time, the rear wheel bearing ate itself on a ride. In a very rough part of town. Exciting! So, I found another one on ebay. I also repainted the bike again, and stripped some of the aluminum parts (forks, brakes).
Also, the front brakes started to leak (of course), so I replaced the lines with stainless from Z1. I also removed the splitter from the brake setup and ran two lines all the way up to the master cylinder. I can't recommend this upgrade enough, they feel so much better now.
The next summer I broke my collar bone (on a pedal bike) and had a daughter, so nothing of note happened with the bike.
This summer I painted it (again), got rid of the infuriating fuel door, did some more work on the dash, and general cleanup.
Also, my mother made me a leather seat, which I love. It is also the first peace of work done on the bike that wasn't performed by me.
For a 30+ year-old bike, I think it rides pretty great, and pulls strong. To quote a friend, "it's vintage fast", and I'm pretty proud of it.
Here is video proof that it runs:
*other things I forgot to mention:
Not sure what I want to do next. I often think about spoked wheels, but the mags have grown on me. I also think about doing a lighter chain conversion. I like the small gauges JC Whitney sells, but I also like that I have retained and used the stock speedo. Rearsets would be nice, but I don't want anything too "new looking" on the bike. Maybe suspension upgrades. Perhaps I should rebuild that spare engine I have.
If you got to this point by reading the whole thing, thanks! If you just skipped to the end, you have betrayed yourself for what you really are, which is little better than an animal.
Seeing a shortcut, I approached the counter and said that I was there to take the motorcycle test, but that I also had to do a title transfer and get a plate. Could I do them all at the same time?
The woman said yes, and gave me a copy of the test.
Even thought I had not read the motorcycle handbook, the test was hilariously easy, took about five minutes, and I passed it easily. So, after being there for less than twenty minutes I walked out with my title, plate, and a motorcycle learners permit.
The next logical step was to buy a motorcycle. That motorcycle ended up being a Suzuki GS500 that I found on Craigslist for about a grand. It was a great bike to learn on, but ultimately not the bike I wanted.
I've always loved the bikes from Mad Max, and wanted something in that style. I ended up buying a 1978 GS750 from a buddy, and after doing some poking around, I decided to go the cafe route.
Here is a crappy cell phone pic of the original bike:
The picture doesn't do it justice. It ran okay, but was far from showroom condition. The first thing I did was replace the handle bars with a set of clubmans, and I removed the tank to pound some knee inserts into it.
Here is the tank with the outline of the inserts marked with tape:
It took some nerve to take that first swing of the hammer. After that, there was no turning back. Here is the tank after the initial pounding, and with body filler to smooth out the surface.
*tip: if you are going to attempt this, put a block or some sort of spacer in the tunnel of the tank. Mine pinched together ever so slightly, but now it is a little tight whenever I have to mount it on the frame.
Here is the tank back on the bike, and the beginning of the first seat pan. I haven't yet chopped the frame:
I really liked the shape of the original "duck tail", so I decided to retain it. I used a couple of ideas I gleaned from other builds to make my tail section. In retrospect, I kind of wished I hadn't. I learned about using fiberglass, so that was cool, but the product I ended up with was big, bulky, not what I wanted, and took a lot of time to make.
Here is the start:
I wrapped the original piece in tape and foil, and then began covering it in fiberglass. It was a messy and imprecise process. I am betting a could do it much better now.
Here is the fiberglass reproduction next to the original. Pretty close, but at no point in time did it occur to me that I was reinventing the wheel. Why make something, when I already have a perfect item sitting right there.
Here is the tail with the beginning of the board sitting on the frame. Also featured is the first crappy paint scheme:
Here is the seat glassed, puttied and sanded, with the beginnings of a seat:
I built it to work on the original hinges. Once again, pointless:
Here it is, mostly assembled:
Kind of ugly, but it is getting there. I traded the original exhaust for a 4-1 kerker style, and also sold the original seat to help fund the project. I should mention that I am doing all the work either in my basement, or my charitable neighbor's garage.
I didn't like the black/yellow, so I repainted it red/silver. Repainting it will be a common theme:
I was having carburetor issues (also common theme), so those had to be fixed, as well as some electrical issues (yet another trend). Here it is torn down and the frame also getting some paint:
Wiring hell (note makeshift soldering station):
I hated the clunky dash, so this is the beginning of a long term streamlining project:
Around this time I also swapped the airbox in favor of pods. I like the look more, and I hated removing that fucking airbox every time I had to work on the carbs. Which was often. This left me with jetting issues that took about a year (and a donor set of carbs) to get right.
I also eliminated the battery, and replaced it with a bank of capacitors. I bought the capacitors off ebay. At the moment, I don't remember their value, or the calculation I used to come up with what I needed. They were wired in parallel, and then wrapped in electrical tape and shoved under the seat. In case you are wondering, the electrical output of the stator fluctuates with engine speed, so this is needed to keep your electrical system steady (otherwise your headlight does some funky stuff, amongst other things). They also help a lot with starting the bike. Which is important, since there is no pushbutton start, it has to be kicked over.
It was around this time that I also bought a second engine from a guy in Cleveland for $80. I needed it to replace my head, as there was a broken exhaust stud that refused to be removed. After trying everything short of EDM (vice grips, WD40, PB Blaster, welding a nut onto the end) I broke a hardened backout bit in it. Sometimes you just need to know when to say fuck it.
As a nice bonus, there was a new Dyna ignition in the engine, which put me about $40 ahead on the deal.
Also during this time I had had it with the wiring harness. There was an almost never ending series of shorts and bad grounds. Since I had eliminated the turn signals and starter, most of the existing harness was vestigial, so I decided to junk it rather than keep fixing it. I designed the new one from scratch, used better wire, soldered almost all connections, and I think I layed it out better for my purposes.
This is a crappy meter that I threw on the ground in a fit of rage:
This is the bike around then (note different paint scheme):
Notice how there is almost nothing in the frame other than motor? I like that.
Unfortunately, now I was sick of my seat. I decided to do something much simpler. The original tail, bolted to a metal pan.
Also, I wrapped the headers. Initially it was just for looks, but it ended up being quite practical. I was chasing down a plug fouling/carb problem, where sometimes cylinders would stop firing. Being able to touch a header to see if it was warm was a great troubleshooting helper. I don't know if any of you have accidentally touched an unwrapped header, but I have. I slipped once while looking at the engine, and reflexively reached out to steady myself. I grabbed a header pipe like it was a monkey bar. It totally sucked, and burned my hand into a clawlike shape for about a week.
I can't stress this enough: Don't do that.
The bike was getting closer to where I wanted it to be. Also, somewhere around this time, the rear wheel bearing ate itself on a ride. In a very rough part of town. Exciting! So, I found another one on ebay. I also repainted the bike again, and stripped some of the aluminum parts (forks, brakes).
Also, the front brakes started to leak (of course), so I replaced the lines with stainless from Z1. I also removed the splitter from the brake setup and ran two lines all the way up to the master cylinder. I can't recommend this upgrade enough, they feel so much better now.
This summer I painted it (again), got rid of the infuriating fuel door, did some more work on the dash, and general cleanup.
Also, my mother made me a leather seat, which I love. It is also the first peace of work done on the bike that wasn't performed by me.
For a 30+ year-old bike, I think it rides pretty great, and pulls strong. To quote a friend, "it's vintage fast", and I'm pretty proud of it.
Here is video proof that it runs:
*other things I forgot to mention:
- Fork Gators!
- Lowered the headlight bucket considerably
- Removed left hand controls
- LED tail light bulb
- Louder horn (activated by the old starter button)
- Since I re-wired it, there are only three wires going into the headlight bucket. Three! Can you believe it?
Not sure what I want to do next. I often think about spoked wheels, but the mags have grown on me. I also think about doing a lighter chain conversion. I like the small gauges JC Whitney sells, but I also like that I have retained and used the stock speedo. Rearsets would be nice, but I don't want anything too "new looking" on the bike. Maybe suspension upgrades. Perhaps I should rebuild that spare engine I have.
If you got to this point by reading the whole thing, thanks! If you just skipped to the end, you have betrayed yourself for what you really are, which is little better than an animal.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Hot Rod Lawn Mower
Teener's parents gave us an old Honda lawn mower when we bought our house. It wasn't pretty, but it ran well, and we were glad to have it.
It has been having some difficulty lately, and last week it finally wouldn't start. So, I took apart the carb, cleaned out the jets, and gave it a general tune up. It's running like a champ again. The sad thing is, it still looked rough. Its silver paint was flaking off, the bag was completely soiled, and the pushbar looked sad.
So I gave it a quick and dirty makeover.
It has been having some difficulty lately, and last week it finally wouldn't start. So, I took apart the carb, cleaned out the jets, and gave it a general tune up. It's running like a champ again. The sad thing is, it still looked rough. Its silver paint was flaking off, the bag was completely soiled, and the pushbar looked sad.
So I gave it a quick and dirty makeover.
Tomorrow I am going to make my lawn my bitch.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
It's log, it's log, it's big, it's heavy, it's wood...
It's log, it's log, it's better than bad...it's good!
Not every project can be glamorous, as a matter of fact, most of my projects aren't glamorous. But this one is almost too embarrassing to write about.
Teener saw a stump side table in a West Elm catalog that she liked.
West Elm Product Page
I'll admit, it isn't exactly my style, but I kind of like the simplicity of it. Here's the hilarious part though, it's $200 before shipping (and I can only imagine what shipping is for a log).
Teener's parents basically live in the woods, and her dad loves cutting down trees. So a couple visits back we had them bring us a couple logs so that we could make our own. And then I left those stumps outside for about 2 years.
This last week I got around to making one. The first problem I ran into was trying to level the surfaces. You can only get it so close with a chainsaw, and I don't have any other saw large enough to cut through them. So I resorted to using a power planer to wear one down. That worked until I smoked the motor.
So, then I did the rest with a belt sander and finished it off with an orbital. I gotta say, it sits flat and is pretty level (level enough to safely rest a glass on). A little hand sanding, some stain and spar urethane and I am pretty happy with it.
Here is the finished one drying on its sibling.
Since if took a couple hours of tedious work to level it off, I don't know if/when I will get around to doing the other one.
And here it is in the room it was made for:
Now all we need is a cold fall night, a fire in the fireplace, and a glass of red wine to put on it.
Not every project can be glamorous, as a matter of fact, most of my projects aren't glamorous. But this one is almost too embarrassing to write about.
Teener saw a stump side table in a West Elm catalog that she liked.
West Elm Product Page
I'll admit, it isn't exactly my style, but I kind of like the simplicity of it. Here's the hilarious part though, it's $200 before shipping (and I can only imagine what shipping is for a log).
Teener's parents basically live in the woods, and her dad loves cutting down trees. So a couple visits back we had them bring us a couple logs so that we could make our own. And then I left those stumps outside for about 2 years.
This last week I got around to making one. The first problem I ran into was trying to level the surfaces. You can only get it so close with a chainsaw, and I don't have any other saw large enough to cut through them. So I resorted to using a power planer to wear one down. That worked until I smoked the motor.
So, then I did the rest with a belt sander and finished it off with an orbital. I gotta say, it sits flat and is pretty level (level enough to safely rest a glass on). A little hand sanding, some stain and spar urethane and I am pretty happy with it.
Here is the finished one drying on its sibling.
Since if took a couple hours of tedious work to level it off, I don't know if/when I will get around to doing the other one.
And here it is in the room it was made for:
Now all we need is a cold fall night, a fire in the fireplace, and a glass of red wine to put on it.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Canned Tomatoes
This is our vegetable garden. And by our garden, I mean Teener's garden. She decides what to plant, and where, and I dutifully agree with her. That isn't to say I can't garden, I have grown successful gardens in my past, and I come from a long line of farmers. It's just that this is her hobby, and I don't feel the need to go poking around in it.
It is placed between two garages, and it basically swims in sunlight all day. The first year we planted a ton of tomato plants, and we ended up with an impenetrable jungle of rotting tomatoes. Last year we planted a lot less, but we still had too many plants, and in a fit of cleverness, we planted the earlier ripening ones in the back. This year we planted a dozen different varieties, and that seems to be the perfect number.
We are now at the phase where we are getting more tomatoes than any reasonable person has use for, so I decided to can some. I have done a bunch of canning in the past, so this wasn't new territory.
I won't go into a ton of detail about canning, this is the internet, and there are tons of resources.
Here is my bounty:
And here it is cooking down after it was all peeled and seeded:
All that I added to it was a little salt, basil (from the garden), a shit-ton of garlic and some lemon juice as a preservative.
And here are the rewards:
I suspect that I will be able to get at least two more batches like this out of the garden.
Cuff Links and Rings!
Not every project has to be macho. And now that I have stated that, let me get into today's projects.
I first read this page years ago (long before instructables and I don't remember how I ended up there), and I was intrigued by the process.
http://homepage.mac.com/johnhuber/CoinRing/PhotoAlbum20.html
Now, I cannot stand to wear jewelry. It is honestly a struggle to even wear clothes. Not because I am a nudist, or some other weirdo with an agenda, but because I have a hard time getting comfortable. Which is probably why I still stick to t-shirts, work shirts, Levi 550s (34-32), and chuck's size 9.5.
But, the thought of making a ring has stuck with me since. And no, it has nothing to do with any of that Tolkien shit. I may be a nerd, but I am sorry, those books were a serious task to get through. I won't go too far into it, but man, how many pages can you dedicate to a couple dwarfs hiking through a wasteland?
Anyway, Teener has a thing for silver jewelry, and I recently found myself at a flea market where an older chap was selling silver coins. It seemed like it was time to give it a try. I won't go too far into the process. The link up above goes into much better detail than I would.
She says she likes it, and I have chosen to believe her.
The other project stems from jealousy over a buddy's recent birthday present.
My pal Ryan just got a pair of cuff links from his girlfriend. I know I made a bunch of ballyhoo above about clothes and comfortability, but I must admit, I do like wearing a suit. I think it might stem from the fact that I wear one about three times a year, so it is always a special occasion. And if I am going to wear a suit, I want to do it properly.
And speaking of a special occasion, my cousin is getting married in two weeks, so I decided to get a pair of French cuffs for myself.
I toyed with buying a pair of links off Etsy, but I decided to go the DIY route. I ordered some link backs from a seller off ebay, which set me back about $7 for six pairs. I could only think of two ideas for now. One pair is made out of some circles I cut out of some old ram chips, the other pair was made of a couple keys I popped of a defunct laptop keyboard (Alt and FN, silver, which is a bonus). I just glued them to the back with marine epoxy. I think I might dip the circuit board pair in a resin, to give them a nice finish.
Nice and yet subtly nerdy, much like myself.
Speaking of which, I bought a nice tie while I was at the Detroit Maker Faire. It was from the Cyberoptix booth:
http://cyberoptix.com/
Their shit was really cool, and yes, it made me feel very old and sad when I realized that I went to a faire, and I bought a silk tie.
I first read this page years ago (long before instructables and I don't remember how I ended up there), and I was intrigued by the process.
http://homepage.mac.com/johnhuber/CoinRing/PhotoAlbum20.html
Now, I cannot stand to wear jewelry. It is honestly a struggle to even wear clothes. Not because I am a nudist, or some other weirdo with an agenda, but because I have a hard time getting comfortable. Which is probably why I still stick to t-shirts, work shirts, Levi 550s (34-32), and chuck's size 9.5.
But, the thought of making a ring has stuck with me since. And no, it has nothing to do with any of that Tolkien shit. I may be a nerd, but I am sorry, those books were a serious task to get through. I won't go too far into it, but man, how many pages can you dedicate to a couple dwarfs hiking through a wasteland?
Anyway, Teener has a thing for silver jewelry, and I recently found myself at a flea market where an older chap was selling silver coins. It seemed like it was time to give it a try. I won't go too far into the process. The link up above goes into much better detail than I would.
She says she likes it, and I have chosen to believe her.
The other project stems from jealousy over a buddy's recent birthday present.
My pal Ryan just got a pair of cuff links from his girlfriend. I know I made a bunch of ballyhoo above about clothes and comfortability, but I must admit, I do like wearing a suit. I think it might stem from the fact that I wear one about three times a year, so it is always a special occasion. And if I am going to wear a suit, I want to do it properly.
And speaking of a special occasion, my cousin is getting married in two weeks, so I decided to get a pair of French cuffs for myself.
I toyed with buying a pair of links off Etsy, but I decided to go the DIY route. I ordered some link backs from a seller off ebay, which set me back about $7 for six pairs. I could only think of two ideas for now. One pair is made out of some circles I cut out of some old ram chips, the other pair was made of a couple keys I popped of a defunct laptop keyboard (Alt and FN, silver, which is a bonus). I just glued them to the back with marine epoxy. I think I might dip the circuit board pair in a resin, to give them a nice finish.
Nice and yet subtly nerdy, much like myself.
Speaking of which, I bought a nice tie while I was at the Detroit Maker Faire. It was from the Cyberoptix booth:
http://cyberoptix.com/
Their shit was really cool, and yes, it made me feel very old and sad when I realized that I went to a faire, and I bought a silk tie.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Bikes (pedal powered)
I wouldn't call what I had when I turned 30 as a freak out, but it was definitely a realization that I had to change a few things. I certainly wasn't going to give up beer, and running is completely boring, but I did need to make at least a better than token effort at taking care of myself.
As a college student I did a lot of biking on campus, and bikes always appealed to the engineer in me. They are wonderfully purpose driven machines. So I decided to purchase a nice road bike and commit to putting some miles in. I won't turn this into a post about exercise. What that first bike did was not just get me back into riding, it also got me into wrenching on bikes. What followed has been 6 years of collecting, tearing apart and rebuilding my bikes, and wrenching on friends' bikes as well.
I currently have 3 road bikes, 1 mountain bike, and 1 art bike.
Two of the road bikes are high-end Cannondales. One is almost an antique, and one is pretty new. The new one is a much better bike than I am a rider. The funny thing is, the bike I ride the most is a fixed gear that I cobbled together from an old Bianchi I bought off ebay, and a bunch of spare parts.
There are tons of sites explaining the fixed gear cult, so I won't get into it now. What I will say is as a riding style, it is addictive. As a bike nerd, I love the absolute simplicity of a fixed gear. For more info, check this link:
I didn't take any pics of the Bianchi when I first bought it. But trust me, it was ugly. It kind of looked like a beat up version of this (substitute purple for blue):
It has gone through a bunch of iterations, but this is it as it stands now:
This was it a few years ago:
This bike is worth less than a tenth of my other bikes, yet this is the one I ride the most. Maybe it's because I'm not afraid to leave it leaned up against a parking meter outside a bar.
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