Thinking outside the box...Post your Farkels!

What kinds of color range can one expect to choose from at a powder coating facility?

There are myriads of colors for powder coating, however, it depends on the particular powder coater you visit as to what colors they may have in stock.

Does anyone know about how much I could expect to pay for powdercoating?

Also, not sure if any of you have checked out my trip plans, but I'm past due on my Westward Journey, and want to get this thing hauling stuff in that capacity sooner rather than later. I can always blast oil paint off and coat it later. If I made a hasty powdercoating decision, I would have a much harder time getting that off.

The local powder coater I've been using (AZ Powder Coat) could coat that for $20-30, with about a week turn around. Fairly decent quality

FANTASTIC THREAD!

Gets the ideas flowing - now I need to just quit my job designing industrial crapola which makes money for other people & figure out a niche for designing/fabricating(sourcing) farkles!


Zombie_Stomp - looks great, and powder-coating is definitely the way to go for durability to match the ruggedness of your construction.

I happen to have a can of Safety Red (bought for the calipers on my 300ZX-TT) which I'll use very little of & looks like it might be a reasonably close match.

http://www.caswellplating.com/powder/powder_colors.html

That rack looks like it will fit in my p-c oven with no problem, so if you would like to ship it to me I can hook you up - or, depending on your timing/route/hassle factor to remove-reinstall-repack, if you swung thru Gastonia, NC on the way out I would be happy to pop it in the oven for you (only prep required is to sandblast or scotchbrite & degrease).

What's my special turnaround time? I could pass through on my way out to Asheville, (first stop on the way out west) granted I had a place to stay while it was being coated, and granted it would be a quick turnaround. Otherwise, yeah, I can ship it, heavily insured of course. I have a lot of hand sanding to do first to get all the flapwheel lines out.

Edit: the Fiero parts done by your co. look the closest match, was that "safety red", or "red"?

Edit: Rather than keep bastardizing this fine thread, started a new one:


http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=351652

That's gonna be a good thread about powdercoating, with a great launchpad made of questions right here. I'm already subscribed. Moving back to more on-topic, this device down here is one thing that stood out as "I just gotta build one of those!" It holds a phone and a camera. I want especially to have the camera mount for short videos and riding snaphots. A+, and Cheers to gerhart (see post 186).

this lite weight performance box is available exclusively from Hilti*.
Most likely a one-of-kind application and designed for gloves rather than a helmet but large enough to neatly fold and store a rainsuit or carry a loose 12pack.



*HILTI makes carrying cases for their power tools, this one held a Sawsall.

Hodakaguy & I fabricated a custom headlight brush guard for my 08 KLR650.


Here we are starting the fabrication. In this picture we are heating the ¼” round stock with a torch and bending it around different diameter pieces of pipe to obtain the correct radius.


Here we are sizing up the bottom piece of the frame for the correct angle before welding it in place.


Fitting up the mounts. Here they are in rough form and will be rounded and cleaned up before powdercoating.


Fresh out of Powdercoating and on the bike!


Closeup of the guard on the bike. The guard is mounted to the front fairing via rubber well nuts, the same kind that mount the windshield to the fairing. This provided a solid mount for the guard and makes the guard easily removable for maint.


Here you can see the curves in the guard. It flows with the lines of the fairing.


Front shot.

<BR>You guys just wanted to use your powdercoat machine again

Bitchen work fellas.





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I finished up the Mermite panniers and rack. Not very farkley of me to do so, bu I'm going to let the workhorse pannier rack rust. And I only rattlecanned the rack. One nice thing about not powdercoating is that it is easy to media blast and rework the design later if desired. The reason for not finishing the panner rack is mainly due to my itch to take this tour really soon, I'm way behind my projections as it is, so I'm mainly concerned with function at the moment.
Dig the Jean Prouve`/ Atomic Era modern circle cutout stock I made the pannier rack out of:

(Jean Prouve`):


I also ade one of the PVC toolkit tubes that are apparently all the rage. Anyone ever fear (or acutally have experience) that the hoseclamps break and you run over the tube and crash?:eek1 I hope that doesn't happen. But better than hoping would be making a leash for it.

Note meaning to critisize, but have you strenghthened that sub frame on the XL? Honda's have notoriously soft sub-frames and I have seen many (including my wife's) that crack/break/bend the subframe from normal riding. It seems that all the weight of those panniers are on the subframe.

Constructive criticisms welcome and appreciated. Here's the nitty gritty:

I don't know what to do, I was originally going to make an inner gusset to mirror the outer ones, but realized that that plan still left the straight horizontal bar vulnerable to bending behind the gusset. What do you think, a piece of angle stock welded along side or on the bottom of the horizontal bar? That's all I can think of besides a piece of channel along the side or bottom instead. It's not too late, but as I obsess over details before my big trip, as I've been doing more of than ever, it feels more and more like I'm one of those people who obsessively cleans and detail-checks their house before going to the corner store, you know what I mean?

I gotta admit that looks sharp!!!!

Sorry mate, not sure myself. Perhaps someone else have ideas. I'm a believer in the "rack around rear wheel" type support:

Larger Boot guards and spash shield:

Excuse the Dalton Highway mud on this poser!


.

Finally getting around to posting pics of the tank box I styled for my F650. I used the SW-Motech electrified mount (BTW, does the SW stand for Southwest?) and attached it to a 1200 Pelican Case. I got the idea from Chitown's post and added my own flavor to it. I am pleased with the outcome... here are the features:

Locking lid and locks to mount
All power switched with ignition
SAE plug (internal which connects to through box SAE)
Two USB outlets
Lid lock and mount lock (locks case to bike)
Lock indicator (LED on lid next to lock is three color. Internal circuitry and switches linked to switches; when both locks are locked the LED flashes red, blue when locked to mount but lid is unlocked, solid green when both locks are unlocked, and flashing green when mount is unlocked and lid is locked; yes, I know I am a geek, but I am okay with that) (oh, and the lights run off an internal battery system that charges when the bike is running, and the system is switched so that it only operates while the case is attached to the bike)

It is nice to be able to charge my cell phone and other gadgets while I ride (the cell still connects to the Zumo through the case), and I plan to be able to use the SAE for heated gloves in the winter. Velcro on the top is perfect for attaching a toll transceiver, written directions (in a velcro cover), or the odd bobble head kiwi bird.

Anyway, pictures are better than words:
















and there you have it!

Very Slick!

Jim

Cheap Chain Oiler...



Every couple hundred miles, I just reach down and open the valve for two seconds. That lets about an ounce of oil flow into the vinyl tubing and into the metering valve, which then dribbles the oil drop by drop onto the chain...

The metering valve is a short length of scrap brass round bar stock, cross-drilled and threaded for a stainless steel #10-24 screw, which regulates the oil flow by restricting (or not) the passage inside the brass. The metering valve is secured to the swingarm with a small aluminum bracket under the chain guard bolt


Reservoir of one-inch aluminum tubing (used to be a lawn chair), vented via vinyl tubing to under the rear seat. It holds about four ounces of chain saw bar oil.


I had to buy the valve. McMaster-Carr item # 4793K1
Air-Shutoff Stop Cock Lever Handle, 1/8" NPT Male X 3/8" Barb, Brass, $11.25


The transluscent plastic tubing (polyethylene, I think) is from the trigger sprayer of a spray bottle.