[Flyin 636]

Been riiding/wrenching on bikes for 40 years or so.4 wheelers being a sometimes necessary evil,shop trucks mostly.

At one point was two wheels only for almost 10 years.

Got a big-ole shop with pretty much all the bells N whistles.It didn't come easy......took decades of hard work.Sort of heading twds a turn of the century sheet metal shop,as of the last few years.Old American iron for probably 90% of our equip.But will use a pac rim pce if its all thats availible.

Other than a bunch of welding schools...theres been no formal education.Didn't make it in public schools.Just too many old shop dogs to hang around with,haha.Have made it a lifelong endeavor to educate myself.....built a full-on library here at the house.Spend almost as much on used books as equip.Well,not really...equip costs are really up there.Read/study everything from engineering books to classic Shakespeare.

Lookin fwd to doing a bunch of reading on here.636

 

[Flathead Sarge]

Welcome to the funny farm, 636! So you're an autodidact! From The Engineer's Handbook (a great reference!) to William Shakespeare. That's fantastic in this day! Would love to see your shop and your handiwork. I've been playin' with tools for over 40 years myself and also always learning new things.

Don't be shy, this is a great social club and source of help and advice. What kinds of self-propelled conveyences have you been into in your time? What are you working on now? Welcome!

 

[Flyin 636]

Thanks guys.....got one of those old Whitney sumthin or other handheld sheetmetal hole punch's.Works very well........but,want one thats bench mounted.So,bein as they cost too much...gonna make one.

Got a bunch of reloading "stuff"....and looking at the way a typical reloading press's leverage ratio changes as ram gets close to the top(full length sizing)...I got one on the bench right now.On the new punch am going to duplicate that whole arrangement.Good or bad?Its not like I'm tryin to up the thickness anty....Maybe 16-18 G at most.We do alot of dust collector custom work(personal use,here at the shop),and use rivets....just being lazy on the handheld unit.

For right now will just use the dies from handheld.....but going to try to make it so that future upgrades in punch/dies sets won't require much more than sliding a different holder in place?And will make our own punch/dies......just plain too cheap and broke for anything storebought,haha.

M/C's are a way of life here.......Got almost 100K on my BMW.And 99% of those miles is in the mnts.We don't do much slab riding around here.Freakin economy hit pretty hard...duh.Its a rubber thing,can't afford the tyres.Used to get them off dealers piles,"tourists" coming in here with wore out cntrs,flat spots.Was getting rubber with 2" wide CS's....run them @ race pressures on my 636,get two good w/ends of rd trashin.But heck,even that supply's kinda dwindled?Have rebuilt a bunch of tossed bikes.....do some pretty cool sportbike exhausts.....machined rearsets...general engineering stuff.DON'T do the stunting or posing thing.Think duct taped boots N leathers.....pretty socially,"out there".Only a few friends will ride with me?Oh well.636