| Author | Message | ||
     07xb12ss |
alright my blinker project is on hold this is my new idea - i love the look of the rear section of frame on this bike - i am thinking of leaving the plastic off for a more raw look, if i do this should i take the rear frame and have all the welds cleaned up to be a little more presentable? wether i do or not i am going to have it powder coated black to match the front frame i would probably leave the sides exposed but finish the top that isnt covered by the seat with some type of sheet metal or something, same for the bottom just for water/road grime protection issues such as taillight/blinker housings im not really worried about, that will be easy to come up with something but do you think the electronics, wiring, battery will be ok being exposed? i dont ride in the rain, i hit the occasional water puddle but i dont think that will affect anything alright guys/gals, let the commenting begin oh and ill have a better picture from the side tmrw so you can see a better angle  | ||
| Carbonbigfoot |
The idea has some potential... Sounds pretty cool. If you never ride in inclement weather, I don't think the electronics would suffer... my 2 cents. R | ||
| Naiguy |
a naked naked bike?!?1!?!!??  | ||
| Adoogie3 |
I wouldnt clean the welds up to much .You will then loose strength. | ||
| 07xb12ss |
flat black (debating on that), naked, and loud (waiting on the drummer) - i want this bike to scare women and children hahahaha ive gotten more ooooohhs and aaaaaahhs in the one day ive ridden my bro-in-law's night rod special than the 4 months ive had my CR i didnt think about the losing strength part - thanks for that little piece of info | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Ugh, I just don't get the salvaged bike look.  | ||
| Blazin_buell |
This sounds interesting ,definitely keep us posted! | ||
| Chameleon |
I would think you wrecked it and are too cheap to buy plastics. Also, I would worry about theft or vandalism / sabotage of exposed components. What about transparent plastics? No reason you couldn't have some made... (Message edited by chameleon on January 21, 2009) | ||
| Boogiman1981 |
any weld that is right will not loose it's strength from being smoothed out. the bead on top is excess. the weld itself to be strong literally fuses the two pieces of metal all the way through or at least it should in this situation. | ||
| 1_mike |
Boogi - Tell ANY...racing association, anyone in the Aerospace industry, oil industry, etc., this revalation. You'll get laughed out of any town you may want to live! Mike | ||
| 07xb12ss |
I appreciate the feedback guys, I have decided, for now, to keep the rear tail on, but I am going to have the bike painted a flat black or charcoal Most of the mods are almost done and I should have pics up by this next weekend | ||
| Boogiman1981 |
well i guess the structural welding guys i know that have their welds x rayed on the regular are just full of it then? last time i took any welding classes and worked as a welder the point of welding as it was explained to me was to make two pieces into one seamlessly. | ||
| Ron_luning |
In a fillet weld (probably what you're looking at on the subframe) you can "clean up" the weld with little or no strength lost. The weld material should be the shape of a triangle when viewed as a cross section. Unfortunately that is not really possible all the time, so there is usually excess weld material. That excess material will give the weld (cross section view) a convex shape. That material extending beyond the shape of the triangle does not figure into strength calculations. Plus, it is usually not continuous along the length of the weld and therefore contributes even less to weld strength. I know that this must be hard to picture, so check out the diagrams here: http://www.twi.co.uk/content/jk66.html Bottom line is that there probably is a little room to grind and polish the factory welds without hurting strength at all. Just don't go too far. Better yet, put the plastic back on and have a better looking bike. | ||
| Ccryder |
FWIW, IIRC these are "butt joints" not fillet joints. Especially with thin crossection material the weld bead helps spread the load and the heat affected zone. Also the contact patch with full syn oil will make it 2000% stronger! Time2Run B4 I get flamed.......... | ||
| Ron_luning |
If they are butt welds you can still remove the excess material. Ccryder, I'm not sure what you mean that the "weld bead helps spread the load and the heat affected zone". The desire is to have the HAZ as small as possible to preserve the material properties of the base metal. If you were to draw force lines through the metal and the weld, they would show that the weld material extending beyond the dimensions of the base metal provides no useful increase in strength. The weld material extending beyond the base metal is excess, and can be removed safely. The problem would be that most people don't have the tools or skills to remove it without damaging the base metal (thinning it out accidentally). So again, you've got to be very conservative in the amount you remove. You could do the smart thing and leave it alone though. | ||
| Ccryder |
Ron: You are partially correct on all accounts, including that most people don't have the skills or tools to remove the it w/o damaging the base metal. So where did I leave that Syn contact patch? I know it's around here some place..... Time2Eat | ||
| Blake |
Neil is most likely correct. To be 100% certain we'd need to know the particular alloys and heat treat if any that are involved. Aluminum is not the same as mild structural steel when it comes to welding. With good old A36 steel, the XX70 filler metal is stronger than the parent metal and the parent metal is not heat treated for added strength, so it doesn't lose strength when welded. Most structural aluminum alloy sections are heat treated for added strength and the filler metal employed to weld them is most often not near as strong as the parent, even after heat treat strength is lost in the heat affected zone. You start grinding away on aluminum alloy welds and you takes your chances. I'd not do it. You certainly don't want to be grinding them flush, that would very likely result in disaster. | ||
| Slypiranna |
+1000 Blake, 6g Tig Cert to Aerospace on s/s, aluminums, ti's, inconels, ect... DO NOT grind/alter/and/or touch, any weld. You'll only be the one "hurt" by doing so...or perhaps we all will after the insurance companies raise the rest of our rates...mm | ||
| Ccryder |
Blake, SLy thanks, now lets get down to the real stuff...... what about my Syn oil contact patch question????? JK Time4Sleep | ||
| Buelltech6 |
just polish it and hope you dont get caught in the rain |
