senseamidmadness
Neglected Bike Adopter
I'd like to get some opinions on something I haven't seen much of before.
I recently got a metal lathe; after months of sitting on the bench it's finally together and running well, and I'm looking into what to make for my first few projects.
One thought that occurred to me was making things like bar-end weights and shifter/brake pedal covers out of brass. Brass looks awesome, in my opinion, but I've never seen it used on motorcycles other than some Harley-Davidson accessories here and there (primarily made by Arlen Ness), and a few I found in an Internet search that are made for Royal Enfields. Most companies making accessories like this go with the far more common black paint, anodize their aluminum parts, or make them out of stainless and leave them in the bright.
I plan to use 464 Naval Brass, the most corrosion-resistant of the common brass alloys, which is surprisingly cheaper than some other brass alloys and much cheaper than 360 free machining brass. I think on my R850R I'll make a close dimensional copy of the HVMP bar end weights I have out of brass, and see what other stuff I can do the same for. I've got access to a buffing wheel so I can make them quite shiny. I'm thinking maybe I could make transmission and final drive fill plugs out of brass too, possibly replace a few of the plastic cosmetic caps like the ball joint and Telelever pivots with thin brass ones, and maybe a few non-structural screws like the ones that hold the oil cooler plastics on.
If they look good enough and work alright, who knows, maybe I'll sell a few here and there, but I have no idea whether anybody even wants brass parts.
Anybody got any ideas for motorcycle parts that would look good made from brass and could be made with a small benchtop lathe?
I recently got a metal lathe; after months of sitting on the bench it's finally together and running well, and I'm looking into what to make for my first few projects.
One thought that occurred to me was making things like bar-end weights and shifter/brake pedal covers out of brass. Brass looks awesome, in my opinion, but I've never seen it used on motorcycles other than some Harley-Davidson accessories here and there (primarily made by Arlen Ness), and a few I found in an Internet search that are made for Royal Enfields. Most companies making accessories like this go with the far more common black paint, anodize their aluminum parts, or make them out of stainless and leave them in the bright.
I plan to use 464 Naval Brass, the most corrosion-resistant of the common brass alloys, which is surprisingly cheaper than some other brass alloys and much cheaper than 360 free machining brass. I think on my R850R I'll make a close dimensional copy of the HVMP bar end weights I have out of brass, and see what other stuff I can do the same for. I've got access to a buffing wheel so I can make them quite shiny. I'm thinking maybe I could make transmission and final drive fill plugs out of brass too, possibly replace a few of the plastic cosmetic caps like the ball joint and Telelever pivots with thin brass ones, and maybe a few non-structural screws like the ones that hold the oil cooler plastics on.
If they look good enough and work alright, who knows, maybe I'll sell a few here and there, but I have no idea whether anybody even wants brass parts.
Anybody got any ideas for motorcycle parts that would look good made from brass and could be made with a small benchtop lathe?
