Where do I even begin today? Got a bit of a late start because we wanted to tweak the shift lever on dirty gurl. It had been hitting me under the thigh and popping into neutral at the most inopportune times. Lots of near accidents for me and I got …

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Small shops that do a variety of work in sheet metal have frequent use for circle cutters of the type that can be driven by a drill press. Home craftsmen also find use for these cutters in toymaking and ornamental metalwork. Pictured are two designs, one made from aluminum alloy especially for light work in wood, hardboard, plastics and soft metals, the other for the heavy-duty jobs in metals. The latter type, shown in Fig. 1 and pictured in use in Fig. 2, is fully detailed in Fig. 6. The shank is machined with a No. 2 Morse taper to fit a drill-press spindle, or sleeve, and it also is turned with an integral pilot. The lightweight job detailed in Figs. 3 and 5 and pictured in operation in Fig. 4, clamps directly to the taper spindle of the drill press into which the pilot drill, of the tapered-shank type, is fitted.

Although the best workmanship would require that the square holes in the shank and tool-holder arm, Fig. 6, be broached, it is possible to drill holes and square them with a file with sufficient accuracy. However, the tool-holder arm must be a smooth, sliding fit in the squared hole in the shank to prevent chattering in heavy cuts. The tool-holder arm, Figs. 1 and 6. is threaded its full length and flats are milled on the four sides, bringing the dimension across the flats to 5/8 in. The length of the arm gives a maximum radius adjustment of approximately 5 in. The lightweight cutter, Figs. 3. 4 and 5, does an exceptionally smooth, clean job on a variety of materials. When carefully made, it is practically chatterproof. Both the cutting tool and the tool-holder arm are held in place with binding clamps of special design and these two parts are attached to the taper sleeve with a binding clamp of sufficient length to hold the parts in exact alignment. Note that the cutting bit is supported in a groove milled across the face of the binding-clamp seat and that the groove is slightly less than 1/4 in. deep, Fig. 3. This allowance is necessary to permit the clamp to seat the bit firmly. The upper details in Fig. 5 show how to grind the bit for cutting holes and blanks in thin material. When ground for hole cutting, the bit leaves the outer edge smooth. When ground for blank cutting, the inner edge of the cut is smooth. For work in metals, the speed of the cutter should not exceed 100 r.p.m.

Click images to enlarge.

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This clip deserves an incredible amount of ,likes, shares and comments.

Please forward to and post on your pages, sites and all your mates.

Cheers

Mac

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The boys & girls at the Australian Traffic Accident Commission, TAC, have been making some nicely done motorcycle safety and awareness videos. Here’s their latest, and IMHO, best safety advertisement.

The graphics are very well done, as is the message. You’ll see a motorcycle accident in slow-motion and in reverse. The tag line is “Slow speed will not kill you”.

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Minor Things Become Big Things…….
If you have little things that need to be done to your bike like headlight adjustments, windshield change or even worn tread on a tire; get them fixed.  You would do it anyway and in the middle of a 1,000 mile ride in the middle of the night is not the right time to think about this kind of stuff.  Not to mention if I knew I had a worn tire, I would be thinking about it the whole time and not thinking about the ride or what I was doing – who wants to ride like that?  Or how about the headlight that is pointed only 20 feet in front of your ride and not further down the road?  These little things can be really big safety ticket items and if taken care of can keep you, your buddies safe and make for a more enjoyable ride.

Major Adjustmens or Biker Changes…….
I would not recommend taking a bike that was just upgraded from a 96 to a 103 on Friday and hit the road at 4:00 AM for a 1,000 miles on Saturday.  The two words “Break In” come to mind, not to mention it may require adjustments that aren’t readily available while 100 miles from anything other than a turkey buzzard smiling at you.  Hey, I am with you… I like to trust my mechanic or even myself but……. you get BikerMonkey’s vibe here.

Scheduled Maintenance…….
My rule is quite simple, if my scooter is within 500 miles of a scheduled routine maintenance, I am going to get it done before doing the ride.  Personally, I wouldn’t do it right before the ride or pick it up the day before I ride though.  I would want to do the maintenance about a week before hand so I can work out any kinks that may occur from the work I have done.

Like I said, it’s common sense stuff but sometimes we try to squeek by to save time and / or money but this isn’t worth messing around with in my opinion.  Only three more weeks until the Extreme Riding for Extreme Cancer Research ride, have you got your kitchen pass yet?  Ride Safe…….BikerMonkey Out!

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Recently, on the roads, there are a new breed of annoying hazards. They are… Cyclists! you guessed it. The “trend” these past few times, are for people to buy stupid peddle bicycles, and peddle them around with their friends on public roads, BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT SAID ITS ALRIGHT.

Let me get this straightened out, I do not have a problem with people cycling on the roads, I have a problem with people cycling on the roads in an annoying fashion. I understand its a healthy lifestyle activity and it is good to pick up. Please, though, do learn some road safety before you actually ride out. You are sharing the roads with vehicles, so please keep in mind that you should ride responsibly, and not expect people to cut you slack.

The main annoying thing that cyclists like to do is: Take up an entire lane, sometimes even taking up a RIGHT TURN POCKET. It is a Saturday afternoon, cloudy, perfect weather, I am riding along a nice stretch of road, which is a single lane dual carriageway. Suddenly I am faced with a group of people peddling their bicycles blocking up the whole lane. Do I overtake on the outside, which is on opposing traffic? Some people on their bicycles, even take up the right turn pockets. In a country that is right-hand drive, we make right turns across the opposing traffic and you have the audacity to block up the traffic behind?

As a cyclist, do you know why you should give way to cars, motorcycles and other vehicles on the roads?

The main reason, you do not pay road tax/Congestion Tax (ERP)/Certificate of Entitlement (COE). A bicycle is not a motor vehicle, you do not pay road tax, you do not contribute to the construction of the roads and their maintenance. Yet, you are contributing to the congestion that occurs on everyday roads. Safe to say, a bicycle takes up almost as much space in terms of length and width as a small motorcycle. So, before you say anything else to the driver that you are in an argument with, think of this.

Is it legal to horn/honk at cyclists who cycle on the road if they take up a whole lane? Is it legal to cycle on the road?

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According to CSIAM, the French Association of International Vehicle Manufacturers, the sales of new motorcycles during the 1st quarter of 2012 in France was pretty bad.

Last year during the same time frame, 61,504 motorcycles were sold, this time this year it dropped by 7.8% down to 56,711 motorcycles.

Strangely enough, it’s the 125cc market that has suffered the most, with a drop of -19.4%, while the best increase was that of three wheelers (MP3 etc) by +25.6%. Motorcycles and scooters over 125cc stayed stable, only increasing by +0.08%.

Click on the headline to continue reading this story for a brand by brand breakdown…….

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