theTRUTH

See cars and bikes being built for the salt

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russelllowe
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Re: theTRUTH

Post by russelllowe »

Thanks Dave, I'll take it!

Here's a bit of an update on the fairing. Working on the lower part ... in plan it uses the a NASA developed shape (Young body 60pc laminar) that is supposed to be super slippery; it's definitely more pointy than round at the front so it kind of fits with the previous discussion. Where the sides are pretty two dimensional the bottom part has quite a bit of shape at the nose before it flattens out towards the back.

Here it is getting the first side tacked on:

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And a view in elevation:

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I'll end up cutting a triangle off the rear top corner so you can see my leg from the side ... and at the top edge it'll step out a bit so it'll go around the clipons (and fair in my shoulders in the process). I'll probably extend the rear of the front guard too so that gap between them isn't so large.

Might even make a blister to fair over that bit of the frame that sticks out...

Any comments or advice most welcome.

Cheers!
russelllowe
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Re: theTRUTH

Post by russelllowe »

Hi Guys,

Quick update; still working on the lower fairing ... got it welded inside and out, and fabricated brackets at the front and rear so it'll stay where it's meant too. The brackets seemed to take as much time as making the fairing itself.

This shot shows me sitting on it wondering what to ask Santa for this Christmas:

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Here's a look inside at the brackets, not that exciting, but since it took so long they get their own pic!

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In the second shot you can see that I've cut away the trailing edge of the fairing so you can see my legs from the side.

Now this is where it should be I'll get on with mounting the nose ... then fill in the gap. Not sure this is a great way to do it, but it's how its getting done ... Still plenty to do, but I'm in much better shape than this time last year.

I've just texted Santa asking for 30mph, hope you get everything you ask for too!

Merry Christmas!
momec3
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Re: theTRUTH

Post by momec3 »

As we all know the small stuff takes the most time. Looks good to me and when you build stuff out of your head there are no rules as to the sequence. Being inspired by your ally panel work. Well done.
Chris
russelllowe
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Re: theTRUTH

Post by russelllowe »

Thanks Chris, yeah it seems to be coming together...

Here is todays effort, step one, bend some 1.6mm strip with a couple of RHS's, a block of wood and a home made hammer:

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Step two, shrink the horizontal flange to shape with the shrinker/stretcher (it's the same NASA streamlined shape I used for the belly pan):

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Then step three, get the top bit in the right place (which took the longest, my initial intention was to hard mount the top to the bike and fill in the gap ... but it all got a bit chicken/eggy so I went egg and fixed the relationship between the top part and the lower flanges with some 50mm strips of aluminium):

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I dropped the bike lift down and was surprised, as usual, at how low it was ... and still over 100mm off the deck.

Once I have the side bits on I'll have to do something about some blisters to cover over my handlebars which stick out another 50mm or so each side. I'm not sure that I'll take complete advantage of the rules and cover my entire forearms because the last time I did that it made me feel pretty claustrophobic. I ended up taking them off at the lake ...

Cheers!
russelllowe
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Re: theTRUTH

Post by russelllowe »

Hi Guys,

Some fairing fillers and some more brackets ... mounted ... and begining to look fast:

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And from the riders point of view:

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Some big ol hand blisters and a couple of filler panels arround the mid section and it's done!

After some more aluminium welding and filing to make it smooth that is...

Solid though.

Happy New Year to all of you ... hope 2020 brings rock hard salt and epic top speeds for every one of you.

Cheers!
russelllowe
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Re: theTRUTH

Post by russelllowe »

Thinking I'll run in Fuel in 2020.
harky
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Location: Adelaide

Re: theTRUTH

Post by harky »

Impressive. , it WILL be faster , and you won’t get blown off
why fuel ?
that thing will run on 91. ———- economy +

2020 has nice symmetry to it , hope that translates into speed symmetry 😳🤔😁
harky
DLRA #643
so far 120mph for$2000---imagine how fast I can go for $20,000
russelllowe
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Re: theTRUTH

Post by russelllowe »

Thanks Harky, staying on the bike was a high priority (it seemed quite happy to go it alone in 2019)!

I'm thinking Fuel for the renewable aspect; time to start acting like its 2020 I recon.

Yeah! 202, 220, both numbers I can get behind.

Cheers!
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RGV
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Location: Mid Murray Mallee

Re: theTRUTH

Post by RGV »

Looking great Russell.

Dave

Last Minute Racing
DLRA #928

2010 MPS/G 250 118 MPH
2011 Washed Out
2012 Washed Out
2013 MPS/G 250 131 MPH (RECORD)
2014 MPS/G 250 140 MPH (RECORD)
2015 MPS/F 250 DNF
2016 MPS/F 250 114 MPH (RECORD)
2017 MPS/F 250 DNF
russelllowe
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Re: theTRUTH

Post by russelllowe »

Thanks Dave!

Started on the blisters for around my hands today ... if anyone is curious about this metalshaping stuff, these were my steps (using 1.6mm, 5005 alumium sheet ... it's about $70 a sheet; 1200 x 2400mm):

I decided to make a bowl and then cut it in half, one side for the front of each blister. Bowls are metalshaping 101, pretty easy to do and in a way everything is a bowl ... just with different sections and directions. Step one was a disk:

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That's another home made hammer. I have two store bought blocking hammers, one's a Tommisini steel one and the other is nylon. Neither work as well as this one; the steel one marks up the aluminium and the nylon one isn't agressive enough. This one looks like the Wray Schelin, Pro Shaper, ones. You could use a ball peen hammer from Bunnings if you wanted to ... as many have said before me ... the aluminium doesnt know how much your hammer cost. The stump has a bowl carved in each end of it, this time I'm using the shallow bowl because it fits the profile I needed almost exactly. It's only just over a foot tall, so I have to grub around on the floor to use it. I'm kneeling on a door mat which wasnt attractive enough to include in the picture! I got the stump from a pile someone left on the side of the road, no idea what type it is; its quite light coloured so I don't think it's a hardwood. But that probably just displays my ignorance...

Step two, drive the hammer into the side of the bowl to create these tucks (or puckers, or gathers, or whatever ... pleats?):

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The next step is to crush them down into themselves, the angle of the tucks and geometry of the bowl in the stump helps this; with the right angles the aluminium can't escape so it actually ends up shrinking (which is where the term stump shrinking comes from) and beacuse of that it gets thicker:

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The wrinkly line you see at the bottom of the disk is what a successfully shrunk tuck looks like. After doing that a few times, and stretching the middle part, plus a few rounds using the fat end of the mallet ... it looks like this:

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It's about 90mm deep in the centre, so quite a bit of shape (it has a 150mm radius) ... I timed myself and it took about 30 minutes to get to this stage. It was a pretty full on 30 minutes, I could hardly lift my hammer arm for the next 10 minutes or so and was sweating like someone who needs to do more exercise...

Next step is the English wheel ... I could have continued in the stump because the shape was getting pretty smooth, not Instagram pro-smooth, but definitly home-built-bodywork-on-a-budget-smooth.

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My English wheel is from Hare and Forbes, it was just under $700. I'd like to make my own at some point, build it into the structure of the house (between an I-Beam and the concrete slab) but the wheel kits I could find online were many times the price of this Chinese made number. It does the trick. As an aside, I made the warehouse guy open the box so I could see if mine was made on a good day before taking it away ... Imagine how happy the world would be if 1970's Ford Cortina buyers could have requested a car that wasn't built on Friday afternoon. Thats what I had in mind.

And here it is cut in half and taped in place:

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I measured the thickness of the outside of the bowl and it was about the same as it was in the begining 1.6mm. maybe it was a touch thicker in spots, but nothing worth shouting about. The centre was about 0.8mm though, so I would find it pretty tricky to weld (to the rest of the blister).

So after all this ... I think I'll do it another way. There is a guy on Instagram ... @evan.wilcox ... who makes the most amazing tanks, seats, body panels, etc. He uses a technique where he cuts out segments and welds the seams back together before shaping the aluminium with hammers. He uses an oxy/helium gas welding setup which results in a softer weld and allows him to form across the join. I'm using TIG (and 4043 welding rod) so my welds a a bit more brittle, and tend to crack if I put too much shaping across them ... but I think I can mix techniques.

I'll let you know.

Cheers!
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RGV
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Re: theTRUTH

Post by RGV »

Hey Russell, you could get a job doing this stuff. Fan bloody tastic. :D :D

Cant wait to see it on the salt.

Dave

Last Minute Racing
DLRA #928

2010 MPS/G 250 118 MPH
2011 Washed Out
2012 Washed Out
2013 MPS/G 250 131 MPH (RECORD)
2014 MPS/G 250 140 MPH (RECORD)
2015 MPS/F 250 DNF
2016 MPS/F 250 114 MPH (RECORD)
2017 MPS/F 250 DNF
shedmarket
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Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2012 6:53 pm

Re: theTRUTH

Post by shedmarket »

Hi Russell,

Enjoying the build updates. It is a pity the forum isn't used much, it is a great way to promote the event and get people interested in going to the event to see the vehicles worked on all year put to use.

With your welds cracking have you tried annealing/tempering the sheet and welds before shaping them? Was making aluminium handrails for a while many moons back (boilermaker by trade) and if you tried rolling the plain aluminium tubes they would corrugate badly on the inside of the bends. The annealing process was pretty simple with aluminium compared to steel, with steel you have to get it all glowing red, around the 1,000 mark. Aluminium doesn't change colour, it just melts (around the 660 mark from memory).

Light the acetylene only so the black smoke is billowing. Run that all around the aluminium until coated nice and black (the black is carbon by the way). Now gently heat the aluminium all over (oxy acetylene alight correctly now) being careful not to burn the carbon off with the flame. When the aluminium is the correct temperature the carbon will start to simply disappear. Once all carbon is burnt off douse in water.

Pipes used to roll perfect then without distortion so should help with what you are doing. The welding changes the grain structure of the parent metal next to the weld. The annealing should refine the grain structure evenly across the weld, parent metal and the heat effected zone.

Hope to see you on the track in a few months. Good luck.
Stayt`ie
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Re: theTRUTH

Post by Stayt`ie »

G'day Shedymarket,, a thing called bookface unfortunatly killed off meaningfull discussion :roll: :wink:

Thanks for the tip on heating aluminium, I did not know that 8)
First Australian to ride a motorcycle over 200mph at Bonneville,,,
russelllowe
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Re: theTRUTH

Post by russelllowe »

Hi Shedymarket,

Yes, I quite enjoy reading other people's threads and actually enjoy posting up my own. My goal is to reveal my process, warts and all, so anyone who is considering going can see what's involved. For some it might seem daunting cos there is a lot of work/cost involved. For others it might seem easy, cos I'm doing it by myself (not counting all the advice I get on this forum which has been pivotal at times, and encouraging all the time) and in my shed. On that note, my current shed is by far the best I've had ... I've made five other LSR bikes in pretty shitty conditions.

I've done some annealing of aluminium in the past ... with mixed results. On a few occasions I've managed to overheat the aluminium when using the soot method and it seems to have crystallised the metal. I have access to a kiln at work and that has the advantage of being able to control the temperature precisely (365 degrees C from memory). The only issue there is having to take the parts to work every time I want to anneal it.

I was also using a borrowed OxyAccetelene set ... something I need to rectify; heat is so useful!

One thing I did find is that a light misting of soot was enough to do the job for me, and made it less likely to over do it and get the crystallising effect.

Will you be racing? Look forward to meeting you out there.

Stayt'ie, what's FB?

In the last post I said I was going to try a hybrid method, but I've actually used a method developed by Wray Schelin (his metal shaping videos are brilliant on YouTube; see the new series on making an aluminium E-Type bonnet for a great explanation on his method). He calls it a "Flexible Shape Pattern". This is how I used it ...

Step one, make a very simple wireform (taped together welding rod) to make sure I miss what needs to be missed (my gloved hand on the throttle to be precise):

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Step two, cut a half of the shape (this halfves the amount of stretching required thereby reducing the thining that happened in the last attempt ... also placing that thinning in the centre of the part; away from any intended weld seams) bend the aluminium so it captures the basic geometry in 3d:

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Step three, use the stump and mallet to promote some tucking at the perimeter and some stretching in the middle ... it never ceases to amaze me how horrible it looks at this point!

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Step four, but a bit more mallet work on the sand bag and its getting smoother:

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Step five, follow that with some wheeling on the English Wheel and its looking like a bought one. I also added a flange so I won't have to weld in a corner (that's not difficult, it's just hard to smooth out later):

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Step six, this is the cool bit ... cover the part with low tack masking tape (this green stuff is the least tacky tape that Bunnings sells) and then in the other direction with fibreglass reinforced packing tape (I got this from eBay after striking out at Officeworks):

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Step seven, then peel it off and dust down the tape so it loses all its tack ... Wray uses plaster of Paris, I didn't have any so I used organic coconut flower ... I'm not sure it needs to be organic, but that's what I found in the kitchen. It also smells quite nice. The fibreglass tape doesnt stretch, so once you've peeled it off it retains all the shape information ... that's the genius of the method:

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Step eight, I folded it inside out and offered it up to the bottom side of the blister ... it was going to be too big if it was symmetrical from top to bottom, which wasn't necessary, so I moved it up a bit and marked the back side so I knew how large to cut the next piece of aluminium sheet:

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Step nine, hit the new bit of aluminium until it fills out the flexible shape pattern. If there is air between the pattern and the part you need to hit it more in that spot ... it's super intuitive and easy to read what to do. Within minutes I had it blocked out, you can see the bag of walnuts effect at the edges:

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Step ten, here it is rolled, trimmed and with a flange added (which I did with a pair of modified vice grips with smoothed down jaw's) ... it all happened in a fraction of the time required to do the top part:

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Step 11, to start with the long bit at the side I bent the sheet around the argon bottle ... it was the only thing I had close to the right curve, and everybody has to do it at least once aye?

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After lots of pissing around I finally got it to fit the space and the end of the asymmetrical nose of the blister (a sheet roller would have been worth its weight in gold for this part ... the English Wheel did an ok job, but I couldn't get right to the edges as it curled around so much it hit the frame of the machine):

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All up it took about 8 hours spread over two days; so there's no way I could do this for a living and still get the organic coconut flower (Dave).

I recon I could probably do the second side in half that time though, using the patter made on the first side ... just reversed ... I'll let you know.

And advise or comments welcome.

Cheers!
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BONES
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Location: Killara Sydney

Re: theTRUTH

Post by BONES »

Hey Russell
Your panel forming is F'n fantastic.
I'll be up for lessons after SW. I need to learn this skill.
I don't know if I'll make it for a visit before SW

cheers Bones
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