"Head Steady"

[muskrat]

I was good at it 35 years ago when both eyes worked. Blind in the right and only 70% in the left now. And I'm deaf in the left ear to boot. You too can have a body like mine with 53 years of abuse.

[Greybeard]

The other thing about welding, I hate it when the splatters get between my toes on the best run i'm doing all day....

Ah yes, I remember MIG welding cars on the hoist above me when I was a motor mechanic. A spit would go down the front of my overalls and burn whatever it touched on the way down. Such fun! 

[RichardL]

 You really need to start with Oxy so you learn to master the puddle.
Once you have done that then you have a good feel for how molten metal flows and will find stick welding a lot easier.
[/quote]

Yep. I started with oxy-acetylene and moved on to stick. No shortage of either of those in a pipe-fitter's shop. I could do it, but it's not like I could put two pieces of 8" pipe together that would hold steam. That was before the days of Mig welders. Now I'm almost useless with my cheap no-gas mig welder. In honesty, I don't practice enough to know how good, or bad, my welder is. I do have an auto-darkening hood and I'm sure it's a big part of why my welds work at all.

[On a side note, one thing I loved to do in my dad's shop, when I was about 13, was to play with the large quantity of mercury he kept around for servicing mercury switches in thermostats (and other uses, I suppose). After playing around with that, I was happy to go unload the shipments of transite (asbestos) pipe being delivered to the shop.]

Richard L.

P.S. I understand that one side affect of handling mercury is the lifelong inability to put things into few words.

[Greybeard]

...when I was about 13, was to play with the large quantity of mercury he kept around for servicing mercury switches in thermostats (and other uses, I suppose). After playing around with that, I was happy to go unload the shipments of transite (asbestos) pipe being delivered to the shop.]

I also played with mercury when I was young. Someone had dumped some mercury tilt switches near our house. I cracked open the glass envelopes to get the gorgeous silver stuff out! It feels wonderful in your hand!
Being a motor mechanic between 1969 and 1979 I must have inhaled loads of asbestos dust from blowing out brake drums, including a fleet of AEC lorries.  I'm not dead yet.

[Topdad]

Yes gb and Richard ,health and safety have moved us on abit thank god for some things . One of my neighbours ,a great old guy ex bus fitter succumbed to asbestos about 5 yrs ago same reason blowing out brakes with an airline .I've never mastered welding  ,spoilt really cos all my mates were time served welders courtesy of camell Lairds the shipbuilders they could weld s**t to s**t .Remember once one of them offered to weld up my Jags exhaust asked the local garage if he could use there set to be told by the "knowledgeable" owner that it was specialist gear not for amatuers he cast a quick look over it asked him why it was set up to weld 18"butts then presently gave him a lesson in welding on my box ,the expression on the bosses face was wonderful,really do wish I'd learnt now ,regards BobH

[Pim]

Hey guys,

sorry for hijacking this thread, but I was always wondering what that mounting bracket on the engine was for. Obviously I linked them to the slot on the frame but lacking a u shaped mounting piece for it i thought nothing of it at the time. Now you got me a bit scared in retrospect(if that's possible) because I've ridden the thing without it.

I have two questions, was the bike originally sold with the engine mounted at to top to the frame with a rigid mount?
and if so is the flex produced by the heat of the engine absorbed by the mount because it's fitted under quite an angle?

Below a pic of my lack of mount, looks like one of the bolts go trough into the cylinder so that should prevent leakage by vibration? (big emphasis on should )

[kiwipom]

hi guys, yeah used Mercury in the not so old days in a`U` Tube manometer to measure gas pressure still got some in a container, now we use a digital manometer which is a lot more user friendly,cheers

[duTch]

 Hey Pim, if it's any consolation I never had anything connected to mine on my first A10 RR either. That was in the seventies, is that retro enough...??
 Mind you my life revolved around keeping it going so I could earn a dollar to keep it going....

 Also, I know the photo title says 'don't ask'..... so I won't......... but if you don't explain the plastic bottle, don't check the mail either....

[Pim]

It's Spa water dutch, very curing.

Actually I'm trying to pick fruits of labor, hard labor. This was at the time when I just had the frame powder coated, and bolted all the bare essentials on to the frame. So the bottle is acting as an fuel tank while the original one was drying it's paint I believe. This day was the first time I started the bike after doing lots of work before even knowing if it would run. And it did . Fruits picked i could go back to work adding other parts with renewed enthusiasm.

But in general the motor is fixed to the frame there? I'll have to weld me an mount than
 
Cheers.

[chaterlea25]

Hi Pim,

I have two questions, was the bike originally sold with the engine mounted at to top to the frame with a rigid mount?
and if so is the flex produced by the heat of the engine absorbed by the mount because it's fitted under quite an angle?

Yes and Yes,
The original mounting is two flat strips and a spacing tube between the brackets on the rockerbox
Other ends of the strips are boled to the lug under the top tube

But in general the motor is fixed to the frame there? I'll have to weld me an mount than

Not sure what you are on about?????

John

[morris]

Below a pic of my lack of mount

Pim, your mount isn't missing. It's right there underneath the "Spa" bottle on the underside of the top tube.
The head steady is basically two strips of metal running up and backwards from the rocker box brackets to the frame.
Peter's got a kit on his website; http://pcb.shopfactory.com/contents/nl/d62.html#p959
Here's a pic of mine;

[Pim]

Hey John, sorry for the gibberish,  it's  my dutch trying to get trough:)

What i meant was that that in general the engine (in dutch engine = motor) is fixed to the frame with the rockerbox mount.

And morris thank you, clear as ever.
I do like the idea of some sort of shockabsorber/stress reliever with the expantion of the cylinder head and all. Because technically when the engine expands en retracts after every heat cycle, it has the potential of unscrewing the bolts, or it puts force on the rockerboxes. Id rather prevent both.

[chaterlea25]

HI Pim,

it has the potential of unscrewing the bolts, or it puts force on the rockerboxes. Id rather prevent both.

My original reason for making the "flexible mounting" was to reduce or eliminate those issues and  oil leaks
12 years on, and many km's//miles no issues with it on my bike or several more that I did the same to 

Apparently, with "Gold Star" models they give more power and less problems if the head steady is not fitted ???

My Ariel all alloy single HT5 which is set up for road use vibrates a lot at higher rpm, I have often considered adding a similar head steady to see if it would help 
So many projects and not enough time 

John