Bike builders that have machine tools/shops

[indian22]

Taking stock of what I 'ave & don't. Of course I'm overstocked in the first category and find bumpkis in the latter. Finding, ordering and recieving ain't going to happen this close to the endless year end holiday which covers the last 10 days of each year and the beginnings of the fresh one.

Today was beautiful and I made progress on my latest project, a side car, but very few great days left in the 10 day fore guess and me caught without key parts and supplies and my old drill press decided to retire yesterday without giving notice. Of course I should have noticed weeks ago that this treachery was afoot. Same with the hot water heater that I noticed today was leaking a little, but soon a lot!

I blew a fuse in the mill last evening and just knew I had a replacement, but was not to be found after a lengthy search. Of courseI found six 10 packs of mig welding tips after I bought a pack of same a few days back.

I need more patience and a sense of humor, but I'm pretty much out of stock on those as well. Certainly happy I'm young, handsome and rich! Just kidding that was me pretending to be "Woke"!

Happy Christmas to you all!

Rick C.

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

Taking stock of what I 'ave & don't. Of course I'm overstocked in the first category and find bumpkis in the latter. Finding, ordering and recieving ain't going to happen this close to the endless year end holiday which covers the last 10 days of each year and the beginnings of the fresh one.

Today was beautiful and I made progress on my latest project, a side car, but very few great days left in the 10 day fore guess and me caught without key parts and supplies and my old drill press decided to retire yesterday without giving notice. Of course I should have noticed weeks ago that this treachery was afoot. Same with the hot water heater that I noticed today was leaking a little, but soon a lot!

I blew a fuse in the mill last evening and just knew I had a replacement, but was not to be found after a lengthy search. Of courseI found six 10 packs of mig welding tips after I bought a pack of same a few days back.

I need more patience and a sense of humor, but I'm pretty much out of stock on those as well. Certainly happy I'm young, handsome and rich! Just kidding that was me pretending to be "Woke"!

Happy Christmas to you all!

Rick C.
===================

I can attest to the foes with tools.

My HF Die Grinder I wanted to use to get a bracket made for my motorbike. The bin it was in had quite a bit of moisture in it, just not drenched completely. So, a lot of other electrical tools in the same bin are possibly going to need some attention or replacement. Being head strong I took the grinder apart. The contact points on the switch had some burn spots which I scraped clean and put all back together. The design of the switch is crappy. Right from new purchase it was not long before I could tell what you need to do to turn on the tool, is to push slide switch to on fully and then back off slightly.

There are these very small long coil springs that push on metal cylinder pointed tips, they are for the teeter totter contact strips for hot and neutral contacts.

It is just that the slide which get the detent by moving the pressure exerted when just past the fulcrum become less pressure as it moves away from the fulcrum. So, backing off from fully switched to on, is what really turns the motor on.

It is the same still the same funky switch, so I got it back to square. Easy to not find the tiny springs that may fall off the table.

I now have my bike back running great. Just checking out the weather to see if camping trail riding can be done soon.

 

[indian22]

Getting up and going again is a big part of our hobby.

Having tools ready to go is really important and I got caught with my pants down...again, at a point I 1was making really nice progress on my sidecar project for which I have lots of holes to drill. I also have various tools with which to drill them if I had shapened them, which I've done. The loss of my drill press requires a purchase and wait for delivery. My small mill could be pressed into service if I had screw machine length cobalt drills in the appropriate sizes, which I don't, but am adding also from a vendor in Arizona who can't ship until after the first of the year. So I can use my arm breaker 1/2" drill motor or wait. I choose to wait.

Fortunately there are other tasks related to this work I can get started on and still get closer to completion of a working frame.

Tools matter....and I'm still having fun!

Rick C.

 

[fasteddy]

You have the Arm Ripper 5000, 1/2" drill also. We have one that my dad bought at least 50 years ago. Neither my brother or I will use it now due to age and having been tossed around by it many times. The bit catches and the ride into oblivion or the wall or anything else that is in the way, begins.

Steve.

 

[indian22]

I see you have experienced the big drill motors wrath Steve. Not a tool to toy with or use without a hefty bar installed and an escape plan well rehearsed.

Rick C.

 

[fasteddy]

I had a friend years ago who as an apprentice electrician was given the job of using the Hole Hog which was a 1/2" drill with the chuck at a 45 degree angle to the drill body. When they were drilling holes in the studs and floor joists to pass the wire through they used a spade bit. If it didn't pass through the wood perfectly straight it would bind up and throw him up against the wall or across the room depending which side of the stud or joist he was working from.

Off the top of a ladder was the worst. He was bruised badly for a couple of years until they hired another apprentice then it became his job. Best part of it was he worked for his father and uncle and they had no mercy. When he complained they told him to get a cushy job, like a carpenter.

Steve.

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

You have the Arm Ripper 5000, 1/2" drill also. We have one that my dad bought at least 50 years ago. Neither my brother or I will use it now due to age and having been tossed around by it many times. The bit catches and the ride into oblivion or the wall or anything else that is in the way, begins.

Steve.

I chose to let a machine shop that also did auto work for me, use my drill bit and his lathe to widen the inner diameter of my 3/4" crankshaft extender. Amazing, the bit is still and the work moves into it! I could have gotten the Delta 50's era multi-power tool table with drill press out of storage, but wanted my bike done sooner. I really don't have the space for the table, but still might see? Yep, the table saw could be something where two pusher sticks keep fingers away, but even so it is with some given risk.

The die grinder is great since using the Dremel or clone uses up the cutting wheels so fast it is not very smart. Small amounts of grinding for Dremel tool is alright. I got a speed control to use with the die grinder. The tool is something I treat with respect. I check the power cord and go through the motions of how I will be using the tool on the work first with the motor off. Only then do I power it on if all seems right. There is a bunch of things that you have to consider, like where the grind dust and sparks are to be flying. Check to not have it fly toward flammable stuff. How in the vise is the work able to be ground that the wheel does not catch. You know rotation should be away not toward! Stuff to use, a leather apron, weld gloves, ear plugs, mask, heavy coat, & the great face shield that Fasteddy mention also covers neck area if head not far back.

 

[PeteMcP]

I had a friend years ago who as an apprentice electrician was given the job of using the Hole Hog which was a 1/2" drill with the chuck at a 45 degree angle to the drill body. When they were drilling holes in the studs and floor joists to pass the wire through they used a spade bit. If it didn't pass through the wood perfectly straight it would bind up and throw him up against the wall or across the room depending which side of the stud or joist he was working from.

Off the top of a ladder was the worst. He was bruised badly for a couple of years until they hired another apprentice then it became his job. Best part of it was he worked for his father and uncle and they had no mercy. When he complained they told him to get a cushy job, like a carpenter.

Steve.

Hah! All back in the day before mobile phones when stunts like that were limited to giving just your workmates a good laugh rather than the entire nation via social media and TV clip shows where you'd even get paid for sharing such near-death events.

 

[fasteddy]

It was this kind of work accident that started OSHA which governs workers safety in a work environment. Occupational Health and Safety Act.

 

[Mossy]

Safety comes down to you feeling safe... I remember grabbing a guy who walked off the staging 3 stories up... Just snatched him up and for a second his feet were dangling... When he realized he wasn't falling and was back on the staging I said ' ok quit fooling around and let's get this clapboard hung ' he needed the day off after that but he was the boss so I wasn't to hard on him and nobody else saw it and the guys at the Irish pub didn't hear about it either... There was another time I told him to go sit in the work truck and organize tools... We were a tight crew and took care of each other like brothers...

 

[Tom from Rubicon]

You guys are having fun and for lack of notifications, I just joined the party.
Something is buggered and I know not why. Oh well! A week ago on The WoodenBoat Forum
A book was referenced that is fitting to this forum thread.
The Perfectionists
How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester | Goodreads
Second hand books abound.
It is an interesting book for no other reason than how and why we are so expecting of and dependent of those who sought perfection. My life as a Tool & Die Maker / Machinist, resonates in the early chapters.

Tom

 

[indian22]

Welcome back Kotter Tom !

Rick C.

 

[Venice Motor Bikes]

While you guys are on the subject of work violations... Here's an old pic of me when I was in the Ironworkers union.

This is 33 floors up in Downtown Los Angeles.

 

[indian22]

Way to go there Norm I also worked structural steel for a couple of years in my youth.

Rick C.

 

[Oldbiscuit]

While you guys are on the subject of work violations... Here's an old pic of me when I was in the Ironworkers union.

This is 33 floors up in Downtown Los Angeles.


View attachment 111993

Lots of respect for you iron workers !!But it always amazed me how you guys could get so high with Brass B…s that must have weighed a ton !!

 

[Mossy]

Doing a roof might have been 2 stories the new guy was doing the inch worm thing... So we stapled him to the roof so he wouldn't hurt him self and went to lunch... Forgot about him and did another small job in town and at 4 came back to get him down... He was calling for help but was so faint you couldn't hear him from the street... OSHA approved hazing

 

[fasteddy]

My thoughts exactly, Oldbiscuit. I inherited my fathers inability to work at any height above ground level.

Steve.

 

[indian22]

I needed the money, pure and simple!

Rick C.

 

[fasteddy]

Rick, not even if they were holding a gun on me.

A former next door neighbour who is in his early 60's decided to pressure wash his metal roof. My bother tells his wife that he has a extended wand for the just that job and he was welcome to use it. Nope so my brother is in the back yard watching him set up to do the job and he's not feeling good about it so he's watching as the neighbour starts up and suddenly slips and rockets off the roof and disappears.

The safety rope tightens and then goes slack and as my brother is running around the house to get to the gate leading to their back yard he's dialing 911. The neighbour is lying on his back on the concrete sidewalk moaning help me. Ambulance gets there and they cart him off. He recovers eventually and didn't suffer any lasting injuries.

My brother was looking at what he was using for a safety harness and it had a cheap plastic belt buckle that snapped instantly.

The crown on this entire saga was that the neighbour was a doctor working for the Workman's Compensation Board.

Steve.

 

[PeteMcP]

I'm not remotely keen on working from a great height - so it was a relief to find it wasn't a requirement as an apprentice graphic artist...

But my Dad told his fair share of stories about when he was chief of the shaft maintenance crew at the last two collieries he worked at before accepting early retirement from the NCB (National Coal Board). The tale I always recall best happened when he and his crew were replacing a 12" dia. pipe which was clamped in sections the entire depth of the 1800ft shaft. Working from the cage top, the plan was to unbolt each pipe section then sling it to the cage and lower it to base. While undoing the flange bolts of one particular pipe section, the pipe dropped and the flange trapped my Dad's foreman Bob's foot against the edge of the cage top. Even with steel toe-capped boots, Bob's foot was badly crushed and bleeding heavily. Suddenly Bob piped up, telling Dad to grab hold of him 'cause he was about to faint and he wasn't attached to his safety harness. Sure enough, Bob passed out but luckily Dad had grabbed Bob round the waist while a couple of other crew members used pry bars to shift the pipe flange off his foot. Much to everyone's relief, Bob quickly regained conciousness and the first words out of his mouth were "Quick! undo my pants, I'm gonna sh*t myself". So one of the crew deftly tried unfastening Bob's kecks while Dad attempted to squat him over the cage edge before nature took over. Too late ...you can imagine the rest. Oh how they laughed about that story in the pub for years. Bet it wasn't funny when it was happening.

Then there was the time, one Guy Fawkes Night (Nov 5th), when I was a kid and my Dad came walking down the street after work with his arm plastered, in a sling. When I asked how it happened he matter-of-factly told me he and a workmate were hammering steel spikes into guardrail timbers (effectively railroad ties) down one side of the mineshaft. Dad was holding the spikes while his crewman was wielding the sledgehammer - except he missed the spike and shattered Dad's forearm. No wonder Dad was a hero to me. And like a lot of ex NCB Mineworkers his later years were blighted by vibration white finger courtesy of the windy picks they used. A class action law suit for compensation for VWF was filed by the Mineworker's union - but the NCB spun proceedings out for so long, most retired miners had popped their clogs before seeing any recompense.

(...'Popped Their Clogs' anyone?... Kicked the bucket. Snuffed it. ...)