Another weekend Project

[matteh99]

I had a heck of weekend. Started cutting out pieces for my new motorcycle tank and started to fit them. Went to a crazy party with a ton of drunk red-necks and biker dudes. Replaced the steering head bearings on my old bike. Finished Tig welding the tank together. There is only one small leak in the tank now. It is right between the eyes of the tank. There are eight different pieces that come together there and they didn't line up perfectly

The steps to make the tank were.
1. model it on the computer
2. Flatten it and decide the page layout
3. Print the paper templates
4. Stick the templates on the sheet and cut around them
5. Pick a ridged part of the tank and bend the pieces to fit.
6. Tack some pieces together
7. Bend more to fit in the spaces
8. Bang, pry, tack
9. Pry, Bang, tack
10. tack, tack, tack,
11. Weld weld weld

If I had a sheet metal shear and a real bending break this would have been easier. Oh well.. maybe in the future.

Some of the earlier welds came out a bit off but by the end of the welding I was getting some really nice ones. They still got a bit goofy if I hit a spot were my tack had been to big or sloppy.

Eric

More Pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/erichmatt/Tank2#

[Gadget]

Good looking tank, nice work.
Dan

[KHK]

Very NICE! You should be proud to have this with out a sheer or break!!
The welds look great! The more you TIG the better the welds.
Congrats!!!!

[HerbD]

I really like what you've done with the design of the tank. I like the "look" at this stage, reminds me of scenes from a Mad Max movie (that's a compliment.) I could see polishing the flat faceted surfaces to a light brush finish or something like that and maybe just lightly wire brushing highlights on the welds to keep the light and dark contrasts.

If you plan on putting a color finish I hope you keep it transparent so that the work(manship) shows through and is highlighted.

Please keep the pictures coming, it is an interesting project.

HerbD

[matteh99]

I do have a ghetto bending break that I made a few weeks ago for this project. It works pretty well but I can't get a sharp bend out of it because with the hingeing setup and the top piece is rounded a bit. It is better than nothing but a real break would have made things easier.

I am not sure what I am going to do for paint. My dad suggested making it out of stainless and leaving the welds.. I don't know what I am going to do yet. It does look cool with the blueing from the welds.

Eric

[junes]

did you use a stainless rod? Looks pretty cool. One tip for the future is to tack stainless as little as possible. Always tack at the start and or end of the weld. Stainless just does not like to be welded twice. But looks pretty cool if you get a wire wheel on a grinder you can brighten up everything. I love stainless when you grain it. THe only thing is you get crazy about fingerprints in it lol. Nice job keep us posted on your project.