Frame Building

And so it all starts again . . . 

The new jigs are working a treat. We can't wait to see the difference in weight and looks of the frame when it's built with the new smaller diameter tubing.

There are three frames lined up for production. If you want one, drop us an email.

Frame Components Arriving

The first of our parts to build some more frames have arrived. Above we have the 1 1/4" tubing along with a whole load of lasercut parts. These arrived this morning and were only ordered on Tuesday. We wern't in a rush for them, just great service!

These are the components before bending that will make up three frames and subframes. There are also some additional parts we had made to try to speed up the assembly & welding process as seen below.

This setup was first seen on a set of Pierobon jigs, where they use lateral jigs to build both sides before final assembly onto the main jig. It looks far easier to hold all the tubing and weld the bosses in place, so following the success of our lasercut swingarm jig and a few hours in Solidworks to model up some jig parts up around our frame, we came up with this setup.

The 1 1/4" tubing drops on perfectly and there are also guides for the smaller diagonals (the red tubes are our old patterns and made to fit 1 3/8 tubing). We look forward to seeing how it goes. Now to await the arrival of the bosses and order some tubing.

SV650 - Swingarm Weld Time

This weekend we sat down with the TIG torch and got to work on welding the new swingarm and although not quite there with it (we've ran out of gas) a lot got done and we're now not far off.

From the previous post, we had the initial lower section tacked together, before test fitting it to the bike to make sure everything cleared. With this all good, we were ready to weld - but there was a change to make first.

The pivot tube made initially was 1 1/2" with a relatively thick wall. The counterbore for the bearing was machined from this, therefore creating the greater tube thickness in the middle of the tube. This created extra unnecessary weight so we changed the plan. Now we have gone with 1 5/8" x 16swg CDS tubing, but have machined bosses that are welded in either end to take the bearings. These are currently undersized, ready to be machined in line on a boring setup we are making on the lathe when the welding process has done with distorting my once straight tube.

With the lower half fully welded (and checked for distortion (the two legs pulled in 9mm!)) and re-positioned to where they should be, the top half of the swingarm could start to be tacked on. Again, it was very much a case of tacking a few bits on and checking on the bike. This was especially important to enure the shock, exhaust and chain cleared all the tubing.

You can see the large cut from the front tube that has been shaped around the shock. There is very little space between the shock and chainline.

Once popped out of the jig, access to the joints became easier to weld and it was all going so well until the Argon ran out. So this is the stage we are at, with a couple more cross braces to add and a few welds to finish off. Then we can look at machining the bores for the bearings and correcting the distortion that has occured on the top tubes where they meet the aluminium block at the the rear.

SV650 - August Update

We had another track day booked at RAF Benson in the middle of the month, so held off stripping the back end of the bike down until this had passed to get on with welding the new swingarm.

These are all of the steel components that will go into the welded part of the swingarm. In addition to the above, there are a number of machined aluminium parts to mount the rear wheel which can be seen below.

The first tacks on the lower half of the swingarm. We thought we'd take it steady and tack a little at a time, then check it on the bike, then tack a little bit more . . . 

 

Here's a shot of the lower half of the swingarm on the bike with some of the CNC machined components loosely bolted in place. It gives a great impression of how its going to end up looking!

SV650 - Swingarm Progress

The jig for the swingarm has started to receive the first set of tubes for swingarm number one. We have had to make a few adjustments to the jig to add some stiffness and some additional stops. Now we have it tacked together whilst we work on and check the prototype swingarm and then we can weld it fully.

There are four tubes in the swingarm design that feature bends, so we have re-familiarised ourselves with the tube bender (once we made a new, suitably fixed stand for it in the new workshop). We went in at the deep end straight away with this 80 degree bend (previously the max bend that we have done with this tubing/bender was 50 degree) and it came out perfectly, with very minimal tube distortion (I see CNC tube benders produce much worse).

A bit more cutting, bending and notching and a swingarm begins to form on the jig. I really enjoy how easy this process is when time has been spent perfecting a lasercut jig, as everything just fits as it should, unlike the jig process we used for the frame.

And we end up with this. After a few evenings, everything is notched and all the tubes are located in place. Now to order some more TIG rod and start to tack/check on bike.

On another note, its not all been hard work in the workshop here, we have been having a bit of fun! Here's a recent picture of our buddy Greg having a test session on the SV at a recent RAF Odiham ARD. 

He liked.

SV650 - Lasercutting, it makes my life easier.

With the entire design process for the swingarm done in CAD, it made sense for us to design the jig alongside it on the computer screen. 

I seem to remember very well spending weeks making the previous jig for the frame and didn't want to endure the same kind of timescale with the swingarm jig. So to avoid this, a very simple structure was designed which could be easily manufactured, consisting of lasercut steel plates, box section steel, stainless steel tie bars and aluminium bosses. 

The key to this simplicity is having the fully designed part and opting for lasercut plates. This means we could send them out, have them cut very accurately with no post processing required and when they return, simply fit them together. The steel box section acts as cross members which are welded in place to make the jig solid and space everything out. Then come the tie bars and aluminium boss, which locate the main fixing points on the swingarm.

Two weeks after sending drawings out, we received the lasercut parts.

Half an hour to cut some steel box section to length and then a few hours to make up some stainless tie bars and everything is mocked up loosely. 

That's as far as we got with it today, all that needs to be done now is to machine the aluminium bosses and weld the box section in place and the jig is good to go.

 Lasercutting, it makes my life easier!

SV650 - Bending Metal

We've been busy bending this week in the workshop to get the fuel tank ready for welding (actually, the bending doesn't take very long at all, as we have markers cut into lasercut blanks and have designed the fuel tank to have very simple bends).

Above we have the main structure of the tank, with the internal baffle doubling up as the welding jig.

This is the lower portion of the tank which sits down the left side of the rear cylinder and contains the bosses for mounting the fuel level sensor and fuel petcock. it also helps to add vital overall capacity to the volume of the tank.

This is the re-designed fuel neck and filler cap flange. This has been changed from four welded bosses to a machined flange - just as quick to machine and requires minimal welding compared to four bosses. Lighter too!

The main structure again showing how the baffle locates into slots and below we have all the parts that go into making a Moto R Design SV650 fuel tank. Now to print off some drawings and send it all on its way to Simon who will be TIG welding it for us.

SV650 - Delivery of Lasercutting

The lasercut aluminium for the fuel tank and battery boxes has just arrived back from FabTech in Crowland. All the blanks in the picture above are now ready to be folded into each section of the fuel tank. Whilst waiting for these to arrive, we have been machining the various bosses, mounts and fuel neck flange ready to send it all off to the welders.

Below we have battery box blanks to make three of the new design. We would like to offer this product to Minitwin racers using the SV650, so if anyone wants to run one then let us know and we can get one on your bike.

SV650 - How To Build A Motorcycle Frame

Happy new year to all. The festivities are now over and its time to get back in the workshop, ready for the warmer weather and a lot more time on track this coming year.

Over the past few months we have been working on drawings for all of the components and we thought we would treat you with a couple of images to show the level of detail that we have gone to throughout the project. 

The two images show the CAD model of the frame, with a handful of dimensions that relate directly to the frame jig we have produced, along with a drawing showing the location of each tube that goes into a frame. The frame tubes all have there own separate drawing and along with all the bosses and brackets, there are over 70 components that go into producing each frame, along with a good few hours of TIG welding.

This year we would like to start to enjoy some of the work we have undertaken, by spending more time on track, but would also like to offer the parts that we have designed to others. We are finalising some costings into the manufacturing costs of the various components but in the meantime would welcome any emails or messages from riders wishing to express an interest.

Have a good year!

SV650 - Battery Box Re-design

So this may not be the most important thing in the world, but it has been bugging me since we built the bike up. 

 

There was nothing wrong with the old design of the battery box, it worked fine when it was on the bike, is proving to be strong enough and is positioned nicely between the front cylinder and fairing, it's just that on the odd occasion when we have needed to remove the battery, its been a pain in the ****.

The old design has the battery removal from the top, which works fine on the computer and workbench, but this space is occupied by a water hose on the bike, meaning the only way to remove it is by removing the mounting bolts and lowering the enitre battery box.

The new design allows the battery to be fitted & removed from the side, by removal of the "A" shaped side plate. Whilst re-designing, we chose to refine the design, to reduce the number of components and speed up manufacture. 

On this new design, only one bolt needs to be removed to remove the battery (opposed to four previously), theres one cross brace (opposed to two previously) and there are fewer welds to construct the main carrier. On the front mounts the rectifier and inside the battery is cushioned with foam.

The drawings have been sent off to be lasercut, so when we get those back we'll get one made and fitted to the bike. This should also fit the standard bike, with a couple of different sized mounting spacers, so we'll check that out to confirm, then if anyone wants one to fit there SV, give us a shout!

SV650 - Front Subframe Part 1

The front subframe - designed to support the headlight and sidelights whilst holding the instrument panel in position, carrying the headlight ballast pack, mounting the lock-stops & mirrors along with supporting the front fairing. That's a lot of functions for such a small lightweight piece, so lets hope we have got the design right.

The subframe has been extensively re-worked in CAD, due to a number of modifications from the very original piece we mocked up. It's mounted lower on the headtube, to clear the ignition barrel and support the lock-stops better, shorter in length and made from 3mm, rather than 2mm sheet aluminium. It also has provision for the sidelight mounting brackets and a simplified design for the uprights to support the top of the front faring. We also decided to go with a two part main structure which will be welded along the centre, just to make it easier to bend during manufacture.

 Lasercut parts returned, so time to bend up each half of the main structure.

Both sides have an interlocking face so they can't possibly be misaligned. This joint will then be TIG welded.

A comparison against the original (modified) subframe.

On the front of the bike with the cross brace fitted to locate the lower mount on the front fairing. We also have the headlight unit fitted. These two elements are key to the structure becoming rigid.

The riders view, with the instrument panel in place. The instrument panel sits on its own mount that is riveted in place and then welded to the two uprights that will come up along either side, where those holes are.

Fairing test fit around the initial parts of the subframe. A little awkard to get everything aligned and where we wanted it. Lock-stops also fitted and limited turning circle achieved!

Next time, we'll get the uprights in place and have this all welded and on the bike with photos.