Total Motorcycle Community Forums

VIN plates… part 2

There’s 2 answers to that question… because I don’t know which of 2 questions you’re asking. I used adobe Illustrator to make up the artwork for burning the screen, measured the original tag and tried to match it as best I could…

…As you will see, the font is a bit different but I think I did a pretty decent job of it, and I love the way they turned out.

After the artwork’s done it’s sent off to a screen making shop where they burn the design into a new (or in my case a reclaimed) screen. We do a lot of this kind of stuff here at work, so I just waited until we had artwork going out and piggybacked my stuff onto a screen we were already getting. It’s usually not that expensive to burn a screen though, $20 or so (once you’ve provided them with the actual screen to burn)

Once they’re all screened I need to cut them out. I used my calipers and a straightedge to scribe a line around the outsides.



It doesn’t do a great job but it works for the guide I need. I think the metal I used has a coating on it that inhibits the bond of the ink. I think it will be plenty strong as long as I don’t specifically try to scrape it off. Next time I’ll definitely prep the metal more with a light sanding and polish to clean the surface.

Cut


It’s important to have them taped to a solid block of something before putting them to the band saw, if they were loose the teeth would beat the thin metal all to hell.

Sand



Another great opportunity to ruin a brand new part is when you remove it from the tape… ask me how I know. I douse the part in denatured alcohol to break down the adhesive.


There are a lot of things that denatured will break down so make sure your part’s not made of one of them before you give this a try… I’ve lost more good paint finishes that way when I started doing this stuff.

And there you go


I made a duplicate because I wasn’t sure how one of the screens turned out. One has some fuzz from a paper towel that I dabbed it with embedded in the ink, and the other (the curved one) has a bunch of air bubbles in it, you can make out a few of them around the “lbs” on the right. I’ll decide which I want to use later.

hey i dont know if you ever got my question but have you ever thought about making more seats out of the mould

That's one of my most common questions and the answer is yes. I think about it a lot, I need to redo my mold and get some more material, but some time in the near future I will be doing that... rest assured, the first people to know about it will be the ones who read this forum. When I do make them I will be offering them in both carbon fiber and fiberglass.

thanks i have a cafe seat now but i haveanother 350 i am building thta i would liek to put one of our in so thanks ill be on the look out for it

Excellent description of the process. I like watching this channel

How are your experiments coming along on your efforts to make a new cam chain slipper/tensioner? If this works out, put me down for one. I assume you would also be offering the cam chain guide. It seems to me that your idea should work; the only potential weak spot I can see is at the ends where the tension force is concentrated and the delrin is thinnest. Have you thought of using a spring steel backer similar to that of the original?

By the way, the slipper is still available at http://www.cmsnl.com/products/14520-369 ... 520369000/

not much as far as progress goes on the slipper, I don't yet have a part in hand. I have considered springsteel but dont have a reliable way of liminating the two pieces, I think my better bet woud be to thicken the delrin a bit. I still have a bit of expirimenting to do with that project and not a lot of time to do it in. When the weather wams up and I start riding to work more often I should have more time to work on my projects. Or when we move into our house (although a lot of my time then I know will be dedicated to building/outfitting my garage, and the rest of the house)

Everyone will tell you that the best way to accomplish a goal is to lay out a well orchestrated plan, determine what milestones will be accomplished and when, and stick to the plan. I know this to be true very well… because I never do it.

This is a clear case of do as I say, not as I do. The sane would tell you that If you’re going to spend a bunch of time prepping something and painting it a really nice gloss black, you should round up everything you want to paint so you can do it all in one shot, well that’s not what I did. This is what I did

Start off with a regular worn out 30 year young bucket, It’s nicked, it’s scratched, it’s generally in lousy shape.



…and it’s got ugly stamping numbers molded into it

…or it did


Sand all the ugliness away


This is what too much body filler looks like:


This is what almost enough looks like:

Before painting I made sure to remova all the metal parts... nothing was glued or bolted... just shoved in, so I shoved it out.

Bulldog, it’s like spray mount for paint… I don’t know what this bucket’s made out of and I don’t want my paint to slide off. Two dust coats will do ya, about 12minutes apart.


3 part primer, same stuff I always use 4 parts primer, 1 part catalyst, and 1 part reducer


Lay on a nice heavy coat…

…and sand again

It’s a good idea to mark any of the low spots after sanding, because when you mix up your body filler, you only have so much time to get it to all the spots you need it and you’ll always miss a few if they’re not clearly marked.

With polyester fillers like Bondo the mix isn’t super critical, the more catalyst you put in the faster it will cure. As long as both are there and they’re mixed really well the stuff will cure, it’s just up to you how fast. This is a good place to start though, and go up or down from here.

It’s a lousy pic but you get the idea

One last coat of primer and a light 1000 grit sanding just to knock out any trash in the coat. Really it’s best to go straight from primer to paint without sanding, but that only works if you get a totally clean spray.


Back into the booth for Harley black, I used that because at the same time I shot this bucket, I shot a fender for a friend of mine and it was his paint. The first pass is very light, you can still see a lot of the sanding scratches from the 1000 grit.

…and after just a few seconds (or after you make your rounds of other stuff you’re painting) on goes the second pass of the first coat.


Wait 10 minutes or so (until the part gets a dullness to it) and you can sand out any trash that landed on it while you were spraying it


This sanding stage is very important, you only have to do it once and it needs to be between your basecoat layers. During this, little grey spots will show up where fuzz or dirt landed on the part before you were able to get black down. You need to create a nice smooth mostly black surface so all your sanding from here on out will have a solid color base and you don’t have to worry about punching through to grey.

This step is all about personal preference, all the other guys in the shop here put down a heavy, smooth, glossy coat before shooting clear. Mine on the other hand look like this:

I’ve found that the clear sticks a lot better to a textured surface like this. To get it all you have to do is turn the air up in the gun and dust the part until it’s consistent.

Here’s a rare shot to prove that I actually do the work:


This is that fender I mentioned. I’ve included this shot to show what my first clear pass looks like, the second will be a little heavier, and the third is the one where it starts to stick together and get shiny.


Like this:

…you can see in that shot that the hump in the foreground is dry, I missed it on my first pass, so another is in order.

After a couple more coats for each part they go into the curing room. I left the heat lights off to let them dry as slow as possible which will give the best finish.


Still left to do, both parts will get wet sanded one last time with some 600 to smooth out the clear, followed by another coat then a final buff.

"self portrait with headlight bucket"



It may look chrome in the picture, but it's not, it's black.

Must load the bike with beer and go shanghai mysta into fiddling with my bike.


Awesome. I thought i like the dulled down product under the " Personal preference" portion. The end result is flat just nice work. well done!