Still working

Just got back from Canada, spent a month with my Dale built a ton of really cool shit, went to born free, built a bike, saw the rockies and had a blast!

I'll be filing in photos later on when I'm not enjoying the New England weather, for those who havnt been, Canada is cold!

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Sissy Bar

Johns new Bar, thought long and hard how to design a simple sissy bar that hadn't been done before. Not really an easy assignment considering these things are basic by nature serving only two real functions and they have been created since the birth of Choppers. So, I had better post this thing before someone else designs and builds one just like it then I look like the copy-cat.

Production

I made 112 (total) of these bushings in around 10hrs once I was set up and in a rythm. Without the new machine I would have hung myself. Run time for one piece was around 1min 10sec. The handling time killed me, drilling and cutting, then getting set back up to run another. I started making a parting tool for this lathe but time wasn't on my side and I couldn't finish it before these needed to be delivered. 

Velocity stack pt.2

 

Thank God for the collet chuck! With out it I would have never been able to get the cross slide close enough to the spindle as I needed to. This chuck by nature moves the work out about 3" past standard scroll type chucks. I made the "boring bar" insert holder today and finished up the rest of the stack. The inside was much more difficult to get a smooth finish on because the bar has flex by nature and causes chatter, so I braced it up some with my hand and got a decent finish. Ill take the small inconsistencies out with some emery tomorrow. 

velocity stack

Got Garys stack pretty much finished today, really stoked on how it turned out. Messed around with the knurl, wanted to make it super shallow but really crisp. I need to take care of the inner diameter tomorrow. Makes a good beer holder for after work too.

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"The Tool"

I have been working on this tool for a while now off and on, but I have some stuff in my head that requires the tool so it was time to finish it up. It gets bolted to the cross slide of my lathe and is manually operated. The first picture it the bearing assembly I came up with so that it would be sturdy and smooth, too smooth I could use some more friction...oh well. This is an example of what I can make with it. It looks too much like Saturn but for a mess around test of performance it works.

Shoulder Bolt

I needed a shoulder bolt with a certain size shoulder today for a tool I'm making, so I decided to manufacture it rather than open the McMaster catalog, spend a half hour searching through the thousands of different sizes, calling them up and then waiting a day with nothing to do and no tool to make new parts with. Here it is from raw form to finished bolt. 

Quill feed handle

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Head Light

I just kind of free styled this, what's new, I do that with pretty much every aesthetic piece I machine. Holy shit what an undertaking. It looks amazing in person and it screws together, no machine screw bezel BS. Tomorrow I get to work it into the fork shroud.

Engraved

I got the rest of the gas caps and some exhaust badges back from the engraver. It's a cool local shop with an old world feel. All of the work is done manually on 60's  vintage machines using microscopic hand-ground tools measuring no bigger than one or two thousandths of an inch. The badges were created from a hand drawing I made which is then cut into a steel plate roughly 2' x 9". This plate then gets fixed to one end of a reducing arm with the aluminum badge at the other.

The engraver traces the master plate blindly with a scribe attached to the arm and the machine reduces the image accordingly; in this case about 300%. It's a rather interesting process to witness and it's a dying trade as most things are CNC machined these days.

I like to do as much of my work in house by hand as I possibly can but I don't feel guilty farming out some work to local craftsman with the same ideals as myself. In this industry keeping things hand made is the whole lure. It's why the machines we make are so enticing.

Reverting to CNC takes that hand crafted richness and artistic flare from what we are creating and turns it into a monolithic piece of machined billet with no mystery. They all work the same and there are no flaws but as far as being identical they are not and that's a good thing. The way I look at it, any person who want's to "customize" their motorcycle and can't afford some $50,000 + custom, reverts to a catalog where every part is the same. If this is the case than how unique is your bike really? I am not a huge shop with trained monkeys aka bench welders making parts 9hrs a day. I do however offer unique limited quantity parts at the most reasonable prices I can.

Yes, you could buy a gas cap for $60.00 that is one of 10,000 made at some job shop slap it on your tank and say it's "custom" and maybe not think twice about it. Or for a couple bucks more get something you can brag about being 100% hand made.

I'm not speaking entirely for myself and do note I am certainly not the only person making their products completely by hand. My goal is only to pose the question:

Do you want "custom" or do you want unique?   

More gas caps

I feel like gas caps and handlebars are all I have been making lately. Oh yea, because I have. At least it's fun.

Got Bars?

LSS Turn-Down T Bar

These bars are gorgeous! They have .120 wall lower construction with an .065 top bar for internal throttle option. Bars measure 7 1/2" wide with 8 3/4" overall height. They have 20 degrees of pull back and 20 degrees turn down.


These are available by clicking the original parts link on the side bar.

LSS Turn-Down T Bar- $180.00

Gas Caps

I finally got around to having the gas caps engraved with my logo. These measure 2" across and are machined from 6061 aluminum. Comes with steel bung. Like any part I offer these caps are 100% hand made in house and in extremely limited quantity (only five).
Available for purchase on my Original Parts page.

$80

Handlebars

I finished these up today. I am only making ONE set of these so if you want them act fast. They are as narrow as possible while still fitting in a stock Harley clamp. Measuring 4 7/8" across the inside of the bottom tube, 9 3/4" high with 15 degrees pullback and a 40 degrees pull down. The bottom construction is .120 wall and the top tube is .065 and will accommodate internal throttle.  Available for purchase on Original Parts page.

*Full polished stainless construction
*Hand made
*Real Knurl
*Only one available

$180.00

LSS Special Lane Slitter Bar

Teaser

Struttin'

Finished up a SS strut/license plate mount/tail light setup and added some weight to the rear of the bike with the flat struts all at the same time.

New Parts!

Bars...Coming Soon!