'The' Purple Nurple!

[Ty Henderson]

Time to move on to bigger and better things.
The front fork.

Yep! Took today off to get spring cleaning out of the way on my house. I’ll be back in the shop machining my triple trees tomorrow!

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Pistol grip is the best!

 

[Ty Henderson]

Was feeling like crud all last weekend, finally feeling better. That in combination with me being new and slow at programing, I've only got the top tree program finished. Hope to have the bottom programed tomorrow and then I can set up and run in the mill. The first Operation will be milling the profile of both top and bottom tree out of the same 13''x13'' square sheet of stainless. Then I'll ban saw the two tree's out and machine the back side of each separately on custom vice jaws. I'll document the process so it makes more sense...

On a separate side note... the skyway mag's I purchased somehow fell through. The seller still had not shipped the wheels a week after purchase. This was extra frustrating due to the fact that he is adamant about immediate payment in his description. I sent him an email and he said he'll look into it. A day later he responded saying that his ''assistant'' had shipped them but did not acquire a tracking number... and that I had been refunded for my purchase. First of all, that's not what I want... I want the wheels. Second, I still have not received a refund. Without being vulgar, I'm more than upset at this point. I don't think he ever had the wheels in possession to begin with and hopefully I get my money within the next few days. Once I do, there will definitely be a negative review placed and I will report him. NEVER have I had this sort of experience on Ebay. After this I looked into his reviews, and with almost 1,000 near positive reviews I found two negative ones with similar comments about canceling the auction about a week after purchase. This guy is obviously up to shady stuff, and probably selling items before he physically has them. okay end rant.

Today I finished up a little side project:

I was digging the bat holder accessory listings under my 'muscle bike' search on Ebay... but $30 for a repop of a spring seemed sillly:



Figured I could make something. Found a wooden T-ball bat at a thrift shop for $2. Sanded down the black paint that was on it, and added some light pine stain. Painted some lettering, weathered it a bit, and wrapped it in some tape. Fabricated a little holder that mounts off the sissy mount and secured the handle with some chain. Was a fun little project:

 

[Ty Henderson]

'GOOD NIGHT' PERFECT!

No Glock 23 under the banana seat eh?

HAH! Guns are unnecessary...

I hope no one takes me seriously riding a child sized Schwinn around swap meets hahaha.

 

[Ty Henderson]

dude, I ride a childish bikes against road bikes. "How the heck are you keeping up with us with that thing!''

You'll be refunded ebay is good like that. Sucks though when you're expecting an item.

LOL! I know the feeling, riding my daily bikes. love passing a roadie on my heavy SS, or even better on my lame, high end track bike, spinning at an obnoxious cadence

 

[Ty Henderson]

Finally finished my programs today! With some advice from my father, I decided to go with a fixture plate instead of a custom set of vice jaws. It will make for a quicker set up, and instead of two operations, the fixture plate allows me to completely machine the top and bottom tree in one. As far as time efficiency having the trees water jet would be best, but for this first run I wanted to do it myself. If I make these for other bikes in the future, I'll source our water jet supplier. These are my drawings produced using Esprit, which is what I used to create the programs:



The top print is my fixture plate hole pattern, with 1/2-13 thread bolt holes. This will allow me to mill the holes first, and once those are made I can add bolts and washers to secure the stainless to the plate for the final profile cuts.

The bottom print is my program for milling the trees themselves. For material saving purposes they are angled to save as much space as possible. I'll be using a 1/2'' 4FLT endmilll for anyone looking for reference.

I pulled my material, 1.25'' x 6'' x 14'' aluminum fixture plate and 3/16'' x 13.500'' x 13.250'' 304 stainless plate for the trees themselves. Also my tooling for the fixture plate. Just wanted to get everything ready for tomorrow when I start machining them. I'll be making two sets just in case, and because I have enough excess from the same blank:

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Finally finished my programs today! With some advice from my father, I decided to go with a fixture plate instead of a custom set of vice jaws. It will make for a quicker set up, and instead of two operations, the fixture plate allows me to completely machine the top and bottom tree in one. As far as time efficiency having the trees water jet would be best, but for this first run I wanted to do it myself. If I make these for other bikes in the future, I'll source our water jet supplier. These are my drawings produced using Esprit, which is what I used to create the programs:



The top print is my fixture plate hole pattern, with 1/2-13 thread bolt holes. This will allow me to mill the holes first, and once those are made I can add bolts and washers to secure the stainless to the plate for the final profile cuts.

The bottom print is my program for milling the trees themselves. For material saving purposes they are angled to save as much space as possible. I'll be using a 1/2'' 4FLT endmilll for anyone looking for reference.

I pulled my material, 1.25'' x 6'' x 14'' aluminum fixture plate and 3/16'' x 13.500'' x 13.250'' 304 stainless plate for the trees themselves. Also my tooling for the fixture plate. Just wanted to get everything ready for tomorrow when I start machining them. I'll be making two sets just in case, and because I have enough excess from the same blank:

Looking forward to seeing the results!

 

[Ty Henderson]

First set of trees are done: Machined the fork tube holes first:


Once those were cut I bolted down the tree holes to the fixture plate, which allowed me to cut the profile of the trees:


End result:


I made a second set, just in case I mess up with the fabrication later... and If I don't I have a sample to give to the water jet in the future. Next is to weld in my steering tube and mock the tubes / angles. Also have a lot of polishing ahead of me.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Looks awesome!

 

[Ty Henderson]

Semi polished my bottom tree to a finish I'm happy with. Stock chopper motorcycle tree's are usually somewhat dull aluminum so I'm gonna call this good, but shine up the forks much more. I think the contrast will be quite nice... at least that's my excuse

I welded in my steering tube. I'm a crud welder, but the coloration indicates I made good penetration and my beads came out decent.



I'll hit it by hand with some mothers polish (my go to) once I'm done.

 

[RustyGold]

Its a little late now, but, a skim cut would have probably made the polishing a bit easier...304 SS polishes up real nice (though I prefer the luster of 17-4 SS ).

 

[Ty Henderson]

Its a little late now, but, a skim cut would have probably made the polishing a bit easier...304 SS polishes up real nice (though I prefer the luster of 17-4 SS ).

I too thought about that while I was polishing I’ll get it a bit better before I weld in the tubes. I only spent about 30min sanding to 320. I’ll get it up to 1000grit and it will look better.

 

[Ty Henderson]

hi Ty,

Interested in seeing how yours perform. Cross section from leg to leg in front of the steerer is much narrower than the originals. There's noticeable flex in that area which is why I believe plates with more surface area were used for the thin plates. The legs move up and down through the top plate holes slightly. There is a clicking sound when they do. I've added durable polymer sleeves to fill the voids of the top plate holes to reduce movement (noises). Ideally, small metal collars with pinch bolts around the legs beneath the top plate would stop the legs from pushing upwards over bumps. Both bottom and top plates would work together more effectively. It's a feature I'm planing to add to my set. My bottom plate appears to have bent up a small mount in a short time. Albeit, I'm a hard rider.

Good to know! The amount of flex is something I've considered and I too am curious as to how they'll perform. I like the collar idea, and will probably do the same. My tubing is also quite a bit larger than the originals... We'll see how they do! Only on way to find out right

Thanks for the input amigo! Good lookin' out.

 

[Ty Henderson]

Tubing is fine. Adds a bit of spring so there's some give. The bottom plate is doing most of the work.

When you do put it together, make sure the top plate is tightened down good! The legs want to push the plate back to you hard. If it can move, it will cause the bottom plate to flex more than normal. That may have happened to me riding for many miles without checking. Use race nuts and washer with gobs of surface area for more grip.

they ride crazy...but in a good way...I dunno

Makes sense. Definitely don't want that sucker moving around under all that load tension. I'm sure this thing will get ridden more than I'm expecting, but I'm thinking it will be for putting around car / bike shows, the neighborhood, and occasionally to and from the neighborhood market. Probly no real hard miles... but ya never know. Super cool, and I love the bike, but not nearly as practical as my daily bikes hahaha.

 

[Chad T]

Cool build!....So you doing a long fork like the top fuel? Couldn't find what the plan was for the triple trees. Nice work on them plates.

 

[Ty Henderson]

Cool build!....So you doing a long fork like the top fuel? Couldn't find what the plan was for the triple trees. Nice work on them plates.

Yep! That’s the plan!

 

[Ty Henderson]

Makes sense. Definitely don't want that sucker moving around under all that load tension. I'm sure this thing will get ridden more than I'm expecting, but I'm thinking it will be for putting around car / bike shows, the neighborhood, and occasionally to and from the neighborhood market. Probly no real hard miles... but ya never know. Super cool, and I love the bike, but not nearly as practical as my daily bikes hahaha.

When you installed them did you have the top bearing race nut on top or bottom of the plate? From what I can see in pictures, most have the race nut on top of the plate... but this doesn’t make much sense to me

 

[Ty Henderson]

Race nut goes under the top plate.

K cool, that's what made sense to me.

 

[Ty Henderson]

Once installed, bologna cut 2 tubes to slide over the legs to fit between the top and bottom plates for good measure. The pieces can even be decorated. That's a easy way to prevent the legs from pushing up. You'd still be screwed if you came down hard from a wheelie if the top plate is not secured.

That's a good idea.

 

[Ty Henderson]

Cut and bent my tubes, not quite pretty yet but mock up looks kinda cool, I'll bring the seat back to level once I have the fork tubes where I want them. Bike will sit more level once things are adjusted appropriately
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