Quitting Time

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Breather Repair pt. 2

Made a plate to protect the case and add rigidity and support for the pulling procedure.

I ended up welding the shaft of an existing puller onto the breather gear, making sure to put the nut on first. Note the color of the weld. That's the aluminum bronze rod I mentioned a couple days ago. I made a couple short beads with ER70S-2 filler rod and it cracked, so I switched the machine to AC, grabbed a stick of aluminum bronze and problem solved.

Notched a heavy I-beam so it would slip around the stud. I used this as the fulcrum base because the gear needs to be pulled strait out and cant be turned.

It's a crude looking tool but it only took and hour to make and it works

I got the gear 3/4 of the way out and it ended up snapping. I tried coxing it around while still in the bore but there was half a spiral clip wedged deep in there and it wouldn't come free.

The other half of the gear stuck in the pocket

Well, I got everything out and I don't really feel one way or the other about the amount of damage. Before I attempted to get the gear out there were hair line cracks all over the outside of the pocket and there was just no way that gear was coming out with all the shrap metal wedged behind it. I was planning to ream it and machine a sleeve anyways. Maybe I'm numb, but at least I'm confident.

Ampco Bronze

There are times when you want to pull your hair out trying to get a job done. This job was one of those cases. Not because it was difficult to complete, but because the two metals I was trying to join were of dissimilar characteristics. I assumed the base metal of the heart shaped forging was just that, forged steel, that said every common filler rod I tried on it would crack when the weld cooled. I tried pre/post heating; didn't work. So I did some research and found this filler rod for joining dissimilar metals. It worked amazingly on a test  piece and it strong as hell. It requires that you weld using alternating current. That's right, it sounds fucked up but it worked.  If you build shit and TIG weld than get a tube of this stuff, it was $15 for 1lb and I can see it coming in handy more than just this once.

Aluminum TIG Welding

I was asked if I would share some insight and pictures on the way I weld Aluminum. Here is the rundown with pictures. I use a few methods to weld Aluminum and I didn't need to use them all for this job so when I get the chance in the future I will make an updated post.


I am using 1/16" 1.5% Lantinated tugsten as I mentioned before in an earlier post. I sharpen the tip with a steep angle and remove the point so there is a flat on the tip.





I am using ER4043 filler rod for it's superior wetting characteristics. I prefer 1/16" rod for finished welds because the bead is smaller and more controllabe when it is added to the puddle. It also flows much easier and allows a faster rate of travel.

For this weld I used filler rod and taveled relatively slow considering the work. I was welding two pieces of pope together and one was a thicker wall than the other. I didn't want a lot of the bead to spill over the edge and my current welder doesn't have a frequency adjust knob so I was stuck runing a slower rate of travel, manualy pulsing at around 1 pulse/second.

This weld I decided not to use any rod and just purge the two metals together. Notice how the bead makes a Z type pattern, that was done by moving the torch side to side slightly and pulsing with every movement.



Notice the shiny ball at the end. As I mentioned before if I had been using pure tungsten this ball would be around 3/32" father than the much smaller 1/16" ball I have here. This magnifies the cone effect of the arc and makes controlling it much more dificult.



Finished Hub

Finished, runs perfectly true.

The cup ended up cracking from the heat and the tungsten got bent some where in the mix.

Frame Fab

I found these forgings digging through a barn on my property. If I had to guess I would say they are from the 40's or 50's when industry was still strong in CT. Cast into them was Bridgeport, CT. A cool piece of local tooling has found a new home as part of my newest project. Now all that is stopping me from finish welding is a delivery of Aluminum Bronze filler rod. I will post an update when they are all smoothed in.

Joe steals my welding gear

My bro has been working on his own projects at the shop. He's a fast learner.

Building Fins

Old timers say weld aluminum with Pure tungsten (green). I say hell no! Try to do this with a pure electrode. I have switched over to 1.5% and 2% Lanthanated for both AC and DC welding. They can carry up to 50% more current than pure tungsten and due to lack of radioactive material you anent going to get cancer like with 2% Thoriated (red)!  

Boom Stick

Down tube

I picked this roller up out of New Hampshire for my next project. The frame showed some repairs when I initially looked it over but I didn't notice this damage until I had it all stripped down. Slugging a stationary frame tube in it's middle is somewhat of a pain. I decided I would drill the plug holes at either end where they should be as well as one near the neck forging and one in the middle of the replacement tube. I snaked some safety wire through the holes and fastened it to the slugs drawing them into the tubes as needed. Set the replacement tube into place, pulled the slugs into position and tacked.

The rear seat area needed a lot of attention as well and I added some really cool early 40's forged pieces as well. Update coming soon.

 Looks like the bike was dropped on this side and the tube was bent inward

 Section to be replaced. Notice the slug sticking out of the forging, and the piece of safety wire. It will draw up into the bottom of the forging then get lowered into place and tacked.

 Finish welded

Nice Joint

Photo comes from my friend Mikes shop MPH Fabrications. Nice work!

Broken Spoke Repair

Worked on getting rid of the retarded HD axle adjustment blocks. While I was at it I lengthened the swing arm by 1/2"