Terri and I head to Japan for a 26 day visit

[SonicVenum]

Keep having fun! Stop getting in trouble!

[jhwalker]

We rode a bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo today. nice, but no biggie. Gion in Kyoto reminded us of San Miguel -- old, preserved. Expensive if not careful.
We loved Kyoto. Tokyo is very different, modern. I'll get used to it I'm sure.

There is some form of protest close to our hotel. loud and a PIA. Angry people

Damn trip is almost over, darn it. We have had a good time together. She makes everything so easy for me... We decided today to NOT extend the trip.

[jhwalker]

Back at the LA house. Good trip home. We are hanging around for the birth of Ryan and Brooke's baby, and going to a friend's wedding in NoCal, and then I go home
Terri is staying for grandmother duty for at least 1 more week. It's her deal...

I might have mentioned that I picked up a couple of tools at Adam's favorite tool store in Okinawa that should help when working on the motorcycles at home. I have always been a horrible mechanic, and with only 1 working arm became even worse. I've get the hots to cancel the sale of the 400E and try to build a custom. Terri's reaction was a more vulgar version of
'you are kidding I hope'. Nope, not kidding.

[SonicVenum]

Glad to hear Japan went great. Enjoy your time in So Cal before head back to the land of the bandito.

[SVTRonDogg]

Japan is definitely on my bucket list, especially with my sushi and video game hobbies.

[jhwalker]

Yes, sushi was our go-to meal. No fancy places, but fresh and good.
I'll be home by myself for a while as Terri plays grandmother here and plan to record some memories while they are fresh.
We did not do the motorcycle museums -- just too many other things going on. But in the cities we were in there was no visible bike culture. The funniest stuff be saw a bit of was the scooter crazies in Okinawa. More on that later...

[xbacksideslider]

Welcome back.

What tools?
I just got a new (to me) one . . .

[jhwalker]

niiice. What's the use plan?

[xbacksideslider]

None but so many times in past, I could have used one but got by with a file or a die grinder or a hack saw or had to delay the work by driving a part to a machine shop and waiting a day or a week.

I've just known . . . but now that you make me think about it -

Things I could have used its mill for - clean up/fly cut MC cylinders and heads, fly cut valve pockets on pistons, bore MC cylinders, precisely raise and widen ports in a two stroke cylinder, in fabrication - cut fish mouths in round tubing and make certain that multiple pieces of steel are the same shape/length, make/enlarge intake and exhaust manifolds and adapters, change their angles to fit bigger carbs or throttle bodies, port four stroke heads - partial boring of the intake and exhaust port to ensure straight and concentric shots to and from the valve.

For the lathe - make intake and exhaust manifold plates and adapters, wheel spacers, re-shape the barrel of pistons, re-create lost or broken shafts or bolts, re-threading, lighten/dress/balance/polish clutch flywheels/surface plates, resurface brake discs/drums, put crank shafts between centers for checking or even lightening/polishing/windage.

First project though is baby steps - repurposing an electric treadmill that someone threw out.

Grabbed it because they have 2 to 4 horse variable speed DC motors. Popular now to replace the 1375 rpm AC motors found in most shop tools with treadmill motors in order to get easy speed adjustment without changing V belt pulley combinations. The treadmill control board buttons/electronics will do it.

Anyway, I plan on cutting the 48" treadmill in half because the best price point on big belts for table sanders is 24" x 18". Why such a big sander? In building large diameter exhausts - turbo car or two stroke expansion chambers, I have learned that a big sanding surface can get that good fit in curved and angled sections that's desired before welding that thin metal.

After I cut the two side rails that carry the treadmill's foot bed and the treadmill's two end rollers, precisely aligning those two tubular side rails will be important, so . . . . instead of clamping and tack welding and hoping and straightening the warp, I will machine a couple of tight fitting steel 6" slugs to press/slide into the inside of the two shortened side sections before welding the two sides back together. The belt I bought is waiting.

[jhwalker]

damn, I was exhausted just reading your plans... Good for you.