man. . . .I paid my welder $60 and his welds looked stellar compared to those. I am not a guru on welding, but I can tell what looks good and what does not.
DPinDet wrote:man. . . .I paid my welder $60 and his welds looked stellar compared to those. I am not a guru on welding, but I can tell what looks good and what does not.
DPinDet
I promoted SH as a work of art on CR 500 commie just to make the head commie himself happy the old stumper but their products are really mediore and for the money ??????? well ?????
Only one offering, MPS will build what ever you want and I am not totally sold on the Gen 4 chasses yett.
And it looks pretty flimsy to me as well but I cannot say??
I could imagine he bought the CR500AFX because all the rest of his time goes on keeping the historic collection going.....just a thought. And yes the machine piece is beautiful, the welding not so much!
BTW: While I agree that the heavier welds at the top of the yoke and the rearmost location of the cradle tubes don't look as good as the single pass (row of dimes) weld beads look, you have to remember that function has to come before form. In this case, you are looking at multi-pass, overlapping welds that yield terrific strength. Unfortunately, sometimes that's what you get if you want to rock it with aluminum.
I guess, ultimately, what matters is if it holds up or not. From what I've heard, Service Honda's bikes have a good reputation for strength.
Also, AJ stands behind his bikes and goes above and beyond what you'd expect when he builds one for you. It's nice to know that, should something go wrong, you have someone with the means and willingness to treat you right in your corner.
Personally, I'm glad that I went with him and can't wait to ride this thing. All I'm lacking is an airbox boot which should be in early next week.
that's not a fair comparo Bob, that part distributes the loads very differently. It is also a dream piece in that the cost to produce that in quantity is very prohibitive. What AJ did was to modularize the parts so they could be made from less expensive billiets and then index them together so he doesn't have to use as much constraining tooling. It's actually a clever idea but yields a less attractive finished product.
the difference is in the lever arm length that is trying to pry the weld apart during a stress event. The SH configuration uses three seperate parts to accomplish what that part does with one. That means there are a few extra weak sections between point A and point Z so to speak. The single part enjoys better rigidity, less natural frequency and less deflection at the weld which has to resist deflection. In this case, there is strength through a relative constant cross section and the resulting stiffness that will resist deflection more efficiently which means a lesser weld will perform as well as a multi-pass weld would with a "floppier" configuration.
Simply put, if you have the time and money, make the piece from billet and carefully configure your attachment points (as discussed previously). But, if you can't choose to do it that way, you logically disect the bridged area into multiple components and then construct them using common practices such as multi-pass welding (code) to ensure it will be strong enough to offer a safety margin.
This isn't a soapbox issue...this is physics and economics.
AlisoBob wrote:S/H makes a big deal that all their parts "index" together. That would place the connections in tension only..
I wouldnt expect to see a weld like that.under those conditions
I would expect something like this. TTWCR500
Shan those are overlapping welds as well and that "Y" is hollow in the top and drilled where it meets the cradle up to where the radius starts in the "Y" and all the parts are registered and indexed and the complete frame is heat treated to a "T6" condition after final assembly and welding. There is no excuse for the welds to look like that none what so ever. If any of the conversions I do looked like that I'd throw it in the barrel with the rest of the scrap because I can't sell that! That's a case of someone not giving a shit about their workmanship and don't get me wrong I'm not bashing SH that applies to anyone in any industry anywhere. The person who ever it is can't sit back and look at his work and say it's bitchen has no pride in what they build what ever it is! I think my welds could be better my son who is 20 who I think is a better welder that me (don't tell him I said that) and has only been welding for a few years would put those welds to shame!
Mike
teem trubble works CR500
(Gen 3 125+CR500 motor)
If I wanted a Yamaha I would have bought a piano!
make no mistake...I am not critiquing your concept, your design or your execution...quite the contrary, I think it is the single nicest conversion I have ever seen. My point was/is that not even SH can duplicate your work (and subsequent pre/post processing) and sell bikes for the same money. There stuff is a bit ugly, but highly functional.
CR500R-G3 wrote:I guess, ultimately, what matters is if it holds up or not. From what I've heard, Service Honda's bikes have a good reputation for strength.
I have two main welders. One did my A/F, the other did Jay's Gen 1.
CR500R-G3 wrote:I guess, ultimately, what matters is if it holds up or not. From what I've heard, Service Honda's bikes have a good reputation for strength.
I have two main welders. One did my A/F, the other did Jay's Gen 1.
That welder has repaired 2 different S/H bikes.
All had the "JUMBO" weld at the "Y"
Both cracked right through it.
It would be interesting to see what caused it. It would also be interesting to see how many cracked versus how many were built (roughly 200 per year).
It may be a "shit happens" sort of thing but I wouldn't know. I heard from an owner that AJ sent him a new frame for a crack that had nothing to do with the conversion (by the tank). I would think he would have fixed/replaced the ones you mentioned as well.
CR500R-G3 wrote:I guess, ultimately, what matters is if it holds up or not. From what I've heard, Service Honda's bikes have a good reputation for strength.
I have two main welders. One did my A/F, the other did Jay's Gen 1.
That welder has repaired 2 different S/H bikes.
All had the "JUMBO" weld at the "Y"
Both cracked right through it.
The real fast guys who jump hard probably have no problem braking them.,I know years ago when I first started building them SH was using 6000 series and mixing it with 7000 series of the Honda frame and all the research i did told me the frame had been compromised doing that.
When I bouhgt my SH i took it to my welder and he said mine that he built was made better than that and the SH was not as strong.
Who am I to say, I am so slow the only thing I break these days is wind but what my guy does is do it like SH or simular but then he welds plate around all the weld joints of the whole entire Y.
I had a freind who builds choppers look at it and he said it looked strong as hell but it agian is mixing 6000 series with 7000 series with no heat treating that is why he told me he used so much plate to compensate.
The only probem is it looks like Dr. Frankenstiens monster.
No it is not that bad, I will post some pictures I just got a DVD video recorder.
ShanMan wrote:make no mistake...I am not critiquing your concept, your design or your execution...quite the contrary, I think it is the single nicest conversion I have ever seen. My point was/is that not even SH can duplicate your work (and subsequent pre/post processing) and sell bikes for the same money. There stuff is a bit ugly, but highly functional.
Shan my post wasn't directed at you! I was on a roll I just started typing well you know... Thanks for the compliments everyone!
If a Builder,Fabricater,Machinist,Land scaper,News paper boy does something 200 times a year they get better at what ever it is that they do. I do agree it is functional but, if I charged you more to do something would any of you accept less for your money because my name is Mike Fachar HELL NO! You'd expect more at least my customers do!
I thought breaking wind was a right of passage for just being a guy like drinking beer or standing up peeing.
Mike
teem trubble works CR500
(Gen 3 125+CR500 motor)
If I wanted a Yamaha I would have bought a piano!