Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Learning to sew

Finally had a slower day at work today, so I ran out and picked up some goat skin, about 7g(3mm thick). and after some thinking and browsing the web, I decided that I would try and tackle the sewing of the leather. Mind you I haven't successfully used a sewing machine since middle school(required class). for some reason any time after that class every sewing machine I  touched would break within seconds, and then work again if anyone else started to use it. So tonight, with that in mind, I cracked some beers one for me, one for the machine. starting off on a good foot.
















Anyway, looking at what I have again. Its been so long I almost forgot where I was and what I have done.


Not sure where all my trace paper went ... so paper towels it is. Just a nice fat marker along the bend in the seat and look at that, we have a plan.



Looks like I forgot to take a photo here. But I have a layer of muslin, foam, and leather. I then put a small stitch in all four corners so that shit would move around on me. (one stitch shown below)


Layers stuck together. Muslin, Foam, Leather.




Flipping it over, and jumping right in to it. I cut out my pattern, and then traced it with a chalk pen on the leather. This shows where my initial stitch will be.


See, follow the powder line.




A complete circle...ish. Starting to look like a seat of sorts.


Now to bust out that chalk pen again. 




After sewing.


Flip the piece over, and cut off the extra muslin and foam. We don need that shit.




After I removed the extra foam, I realized that I wouldn't actually be able to attach this to the seat pan. I don't have clearance because of the mounting bolts on the pan. So ill have to wait, hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to drop it off at my shoe guy and he will be able to rock it out. 

So I made a new wallet with some left over leather scraps. no big deal.



Things I would do differently if I go about this again;
I would get a thicker leather (though if I did that I doubt my ladies sewing machine would be able to handle it.) and it would probably be of the deer, elk, or cow variety. It would get a lighter leather(untreated), so I could dye it. 
The thread would be a different color than the leather, just for some pop. 
I would use a different type of foam for the ribs. The type I got wasn't very dense at all, and bunched up awkwardly in the middle. I bought 1in low density, I would go .5in high density next time.

Thats if next time I do it myself.

But if I didn't try it, I wouldn't know if could do it or not. 

Friday, February 22, 2013

Busy Busy Busy


I haven't seen a weekend since January. This seriously sets back my build. hopefully, next weekend I'll be able to get something done. But thats what I said last weekend, and the one before that.

(except my screen is just a bit more exciting that this, and my coffee is always filled to the brim)

Saturday, February 9, 2013

New things!

What nice things you have.

picked up some sweet shit from biltwell, couldn't resist.
Thanks biltwell, and an unnamed friend for the sweet hookup.



Friday, February 8, 2013

Fender, screaming yellow

The new fender came in by surprise. Shipping said it would be in sometime next week, so i had a little treat when I dropped my daily rider off at the garage for protection from this winter storm.

The fender seems a little big and sticks out back a bit more than I would like. So its gonna meet my friend the angle grinder pretty soon. Last night was just a bit to premature for that.

Here are a few shots of it tossed on. (yellow is not permeant, though it is pretty funky)




























And here are both of my machines just hanging out.

due to my dirty mind, after parking the Triumph over the Ironhead, I could only think that the Triumph was about to have its way with the striped down Ironhead. They would make a good looking bike.




Monday, February 4, 2013

Metal bending

the sheet metal has transformed almost fully in to a seat pan. Still needs some final touches.















don't know why its upside down


same here






Saturday, February 2, 2013

Seat pan

I absolutely hated the seat that I liked enough to buy. It was just a monster on the bike. So I you want the seat in the previous post let me know! (limited time offer)

I went to lowes and picked up some 16 gauge steel and started to mock up the seat pan that will take the place of that monster. I realized at the end of mocking this up, that I left my jigsaw at home, and the garage didn't have a device suitable for cutting this out. I'll be holding off, until tomorrow to cut this pan out and bend it in to place.

















Seat pan sketched out.