Tuesday 17 December 2013

Secrete Santa to Belgium

Finally finished a secret santa gift for a member of the Pinstripers Garage community, off it goes to a bloke in Belgium.  Can't wait to see what's coming my way.

Saturday 7 December 2013

Cabinet project

A few months back I picked up 3 box cabinets that fit inside each other from a 2nd hand store, they caught my eye as ive always liked that styled shape, as far as design goes.
So, here we have another project underway which iam jazzed about as it's taking shape how I visualized it.
The tedious task of laying out and fitting the rivets with its first lick of paint done, now the pinstriping and decorative cogs are grinding away...... watch this space.

Tuesday 26 November 2013

How to bang out free style bash, for beginners of the brush

Thought I would do a couple of demonstration videos for those starting out in signwriting. What prompted me was the amount of questions being asked by members of Pinstripers Garage  https://www.facebook.com/groups/112044882202139/ .
Iam an active member of this 4000+ community which is dedicated to pinstriping and lettering using the traditional methods, the member base ranges from world renowned gurus through to beginners just starting out.
If you've been pushing the brush since day dot or just beginning, click on the above Facebook link  and join up, real cool folk, real cool brush work.

In the below videos iam showing how to form letters by single stroke using a  haydn 200 series brush and One Shot enamel. A common beginners error iam seeing on Pinstripers Garage is not having the correct brush, unless your using a Haydn or the likes, forget about lettering until you get these brushes, I cant stress that enough, they have a chisel / flat tip that holds a consistent width stroke which is the key to attractive lettering, along with consistent stroke angle. 
Practice practice practice until your fingers are bleeding, focus on pulling consistent strokes, how to start and end a stroke along with twisting and reducing pressure, keeping your brush loaded with paint, all these factors put together equal "consistency".
Once you've mastered these basic fundamentals, your now on your way to understanding brush control and "consistency".
And remember Kids, have patience, this will not happen over night. To give you an idea and appreciation for the Craft, in 1985 at age 16 I started my 5 year Signwriting apprenticeship with Design Craft Graphics in New Zealand, at the end of my time I had a good understanding of the trade, developed a personal brush style and was well on my way, yet I had only just started becoming at one with the brush and attractive layout, it takes years to master the art.

Feel free to ask questions if you have any, I will upload some more techniques when time allows.
Hope these clips are of some help, ENJOY!                                      
                                                 
 








Saturday 9 November 2013

latest Bobber pics, Fastback.

Managed a bit more time on the build this week,  chopped out the seat pan section of the Fastback and formed the seat pan it's self.  Nothing terribly tricky, chain drilled the shape out of the cowl, final cut with snips, filed then created a template for the seat pan.
The most important part of this task was the visual aspect, being such a focal point of the bike. After initially cutting out the seat shape and fitting it on frame I thought it was way too high so after an afternoon of pondering I lowered the pan further by about 3/4" .
Iam pretty stoked with the overall out come, will tack the pan in place and Leave it be for a while to see how it grows on me.
One thing I do know is that I need to Get serious about practicing my AC welding!








 

 

 

Friday 8 November 2013

Cheese scone sculpture

This sculpture iam working on clearly represents the termoil of the modern coastal shed dwelling male and his continuous struggle to find cheese scones.

Not really, just a bit of 1 mm steel forming practice, hammer & bag, English Wheel & TIG.
Being a work in progress I can see copper rivets, some brass and a dash of leather lacing getting involved somewhere.




 


 

Wednesday 21 August 2013

Bobber fast back seat

Here's some pics showing the fast back after a few hours trimming, tweaking and putting the radius edge.
Pretty stoked with the out come, next task is cutting out the seat section.




Tuesday 20 August 2013

www.metalmeet.com THANK YOU!

If your well seasoned or just starting out with metal forming then click on over to www.metalmeet.com
A place dedicated to the craft supported by thousands of members all over the world, a site with thousands of threads relating to all things metal.
The link below is a great example of the knowledge available and what lengths the guys go to in helping you solve any questions you might have.
http://www.metalmeet.com/forum/showthread.php?p=112637#post112637

Saturday 17 August 2013

The fast back seat

Finally started to get serious with the Fast back, months of pondering and visualising can be unleashed using the English Wheel, mallets and tin snips, oh, I forgot to mention masking tape and card board! If your thinking of doing something similar and your a newbie like me, take your time in creating a accurate template and studying where stretching and shrinking needs to happen.
Iam not too sure what order the pics will load but you will see, masking tape template which is transferred to card board then cut out, the template sliced to allow it to go from 3 dimensional to 2D so it lays flat on Aluminium and traced around.
Lots of wheeling and fitting to get the overall shape which Iam fairly happy with, still plenty to do and will post pics once I cut out the seat pan and radius the edge.







  


Friday 9 August 2013

Chops Shop

If your looking for some Tastee cheese scone karma, get on down to Chops Shop, 55 Lumley St, Mt Gravatt and support Australian culture artists.


Friday 26 July 2013

Chops co-op & Tastee Wall Art

Brisbane people! if kustom cultures your thing then get on over to the Chop Shops grand opening this Sunday the 28th.
Mix and mingle with like minded folk, enjoy the sausage sizzle and lose yourself inside the shop where you'll find kustom culture and retro art from a handful of select local artists, clothing, Accessories, 
hair and make-up, pin up photoshoots, Lowbrow and Mooneyes cycle and rod parts. DVD and hard to find culture mags.
I could carry on but Iam starting to drool over my keyboard! Come and see it for yourself people and get involved


Tuesday 9 July 2013

Bobber latest pics

Iam liking where this is going.....

Monday 1 July 2013

Bobber brake and trans complete

Made some good progress the last couple of days with completing the assembly and fitting of the braking system plus mounting the gear box.
Even though they were relatively easy tasks this doesn't mean it happened quickly, lots of filling / grinding / assembly / disassembly.
Happy with the out come, everything fits and operates real smooth.

Sunday 30 June 2013

Bobber progress

Managed to get some grinding and fitting done on the frame today, turned up some bushes for the brake cross over tube and assembled the braking system from foot lever through to the drum.

Wednesday 26 June 2013

Breakin down the Bobber

The time has come in the project to do some tweaking to the frame for correct fitting of a bunch of parts just arrived.
Rear brake cross over tube needs reaming and bushed along with brake plate assembly and fitting etc.

Sunday 9 June 2013

Check out my ring

Mind out of the gutter people! Here's a first attempt at making a ring, never used a boring bar on the lathe before so today I gave it a crack.
Used aluminium and brass, bored out internal diameter, put a shoulder on the two pieces with a close tolerance press fit.
Quiet stoked with the out come and look forward to making more, perhaps reducing the outside diameter slightly.

Sunday 12 May 2013

Bobber rear struts lathe practice

Heres some pics showing the fast back struts made out of Copper, Brass and Stainless.
The reason I used the different metals was for lathe practice as turning is a new thing
for me, very interesting how the various metals cut, Brass is sweet due to self lubricating,
no heat and cuts a dream, Copper is nice to but generates and retains a lot of heat and
Stainless is fine with small cuts and plenty of cooling fluid.
Real enjoyable and satisfying making your own shit even though these struts wont be used
on the finished build, its all about learning a new skill at this stage.
Having said that, ive always admired English vintage bikes and the lighter gauge mounting
design they use, similar to the 1/4" stainless rod shown here.