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Sweet use of the "milling lathe." I have been trying to get my nerve up to try that. You did it on a table? The only thing I have had reservations about is the carbide edges flying off.

ericheath wrote:Sweet use of the "milling lathe." I have been trying to get my nerve up to try that. You did it on a table? The only thing I have had reservations about is the carbide edges flying off.

One of the jobs I had years ago we did something similar. Made 99% wood products but did the occasional aluminum piece. Like this, only about 1/8" thick or so. Take small bites and the carbide is fine.

Lower speed safer?

ericheath wrote:Lower speed safer?

No, lower speed will make it dig in rather than cut. Keep the bit at the same speed as if you were just cutting wood. You will want to move the piece you are cutting a bit slower. Once you start doing it you'll be able to tell how fast to move the piece.

But remember, you want to cut it down as close as you can to the finished size first.

Eric,

Yes I did it on a "table". Had two sawhorses setup with a chunk of plywood over it, then set this on top:
It is a small router table I bought years ago when I decided to redo the basement trim. This little bugger is about 15" or so high, and pretty lightweight.

At any rate, I took two squeeze clamps and caught the bottom of the sawhorse, and each front corner of the router table. As Robin says, you go a little slower if you plan to cut aluminum. No worry of the bit flying apart, as it was pretty soft stuff. Still wore protective equipment. As my Dad liked to say, "Safety is no accident!"

You let the router go full tilt, and don't bog it down.

I will say, I bought this setup thinking it would be good for what I wanted to do, but now that I dabble in woodworking, I realize how cheesy it is. I will someday upgrade to either a full size table, or mount it on my table saw, and add a better router.

To bring this back into motorcycle territory, I am looking at shocks....found a set of used Koni shocks that I might consider, otherwise thinking I wouldn't go wrong with a set of progressives out back.

Slight bit of progress today...was able to get the heads on the block and tightened down. Using studs seemed way easier!
These also showed up today...bought the springs separate, so I put them together with some PVC pipe and the press.
I also unpacked a box that had this in it...
Now to see if the engine will go in the frame, and then I can clean the engine and paint it and mount it for good!

That's going to be fun. The reason for the studs I guess.

You got it!

Had a little time to play today...spent the last couple going through my 1800 to get it back up to snuff, and decided to play with the hot rod a little.

I pulled the engine off the stand, and did a test fit in the frame. What do you think?

Rear of the stator cover, left side:
Rear from the right side view:
General fitment of front of engine on frame:
Fitment of the front by the frame:
To recap, this is a stock 77 frame, and an 84 1200 block. In the pictures, it is bolted in.

Looks pretty good

I was surprised by how much gap I actually had...knowing this one went way to smooth, the 78 will give me fits!

I guess the 84 engine is shorter then the 86

Being that mine took a hammer to the frame, and grinding part of the stator cover to get 0.030", that's great! But not fair. How can they vary that much?? Maybe the stator covers were bigger starting in 85?

Going to have to think about that a while