# First Projects



## Monk (Nov 15, 2014)

When I first started riding motorcycles in the late 60's, I always admired a custom (of sorts) Triumph stored in a room adjacent to one of our local dealerships. The son of the owner had taken on a project that involved turning and replacing all the cadium plated bolts with stainless steel ones. When my father gave me custody of his 1970 Bonneville a few years back, I decided to do the same as a part of the "freshening up" I planned for his well preserved favorite. While two or three suppliers advertised stainless cylinder studs and head bolts, all of them were "out of stock" once I had the heads and cylinders off the bike. I did what any sane person would do: bought a lathe and made my own (after about a year of reading and experimenting). I found that each project led to another, and another, and another. The original bolts were pretty well rusted up, so I turned and threaded four studs and for head bolts. Only three of each are shown here as I stopped to complete another project for my dad (an antique gun oiler grouped with the bolts below).





Next, I replaced the hexagonal engine mounting stud nut, the rear brake rod,  brake adjuster, and stoplight actuator rod with stainless parts.






Then we needed a triple clamp bolt and acorn nut. Then we needed chain adjusters which precipitated the need for a rotary table and mill/drill (covered in another post about 6 months ago). The Bonny seems to be a perpetual project in progress, as does the need for additional machinery (the mill/drill's z axis limitations absolutely forced me to acquire a used Bridgeport ) ). 






The more I learn to do, the more amazed I am at how much more there is to learn (mostly, now, from the folks on this list. Thanks!).


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## dave2176 (Nov 15, 2014)

That is looking really nice. Great work. 
Dave


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## Kroll (Nov 15, 2014)

Nothing better than putting your personnel touch on a project.Stainless steel helps to take it to the next level,very nice----kroll


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## chuckorlando (Nov 15, 2014)

Top notch there man. Nice bike. The thing about this trade/industry/hobby, that appeals to me more then anything... Every single day, for the rest of your life, there is something to learn. Provided a man retains a open mind in lieu of his ego.


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## Bill Gruby (Nov 15, 2014)

chuckorlando said:


> Top notch there man. Nice bike. The thing about this trade/industry/hobby, that appeals to me more then anything... Every single day, for the rest of your life, there is something to learn. Provided a man retains a open mind in lieu of his ego.



 It never stops Chuck, the only thing constant in this world is change, it never stops happening.

 Nice work Monk. There is always a special sense of pride in the first projects you finish.

 "Billy G"


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## Monk (Nov 15, 2014)

Thanks, Bill. Those were the first projects, but they led to a few more. I started looking back through some folders on my computer after getting stalled on a Turner's Cube I'm attempting on my mill (Miller's Cube?), and found some things besides the machinist's vise I posted a while back. I'll post the ball turner this weekend. Thanks again for the kind words everyone.


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## jtwade (Nov 16, 2014)

Nice work on the bike. Learning new and different ways to do things is the best part of machining, whether it is a hobby or a job. One can learn for a lifetime and still have more to go.


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## dogcatcher (Nov 16, 2014)

Beautiful job.


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