Model A - Wheels

 It's half term and the kids are at a loose end, there's nothing much open and the weather's not very nice so I'm thinking "let's give them something useful to do" . Number Two is an enthusiastic maker and fiddler like his dad and me and he might like to get to grips with something mechanical.

The Model A needs its wheels building - what could possibly go wrong? 

The first step - putting the spokes in the brakes side of the front wheel. No problem there:

Getting those threaded into the rim is quite straightforward and we can put the nipples on. I've got lots of reference pictures to help me get the spoke pattern right:

Next up spoking the non-brake side.

That's pretty easy and the keyholes help you get the spokes in - though they fall out just as easily when they have no tension on. Once again Devon Rim provided excellent parts that go together easily.

This is the first time I have assembled an Ariel wheel of this type and I'm surprised to find the spoke heads are not sitting happily in the brake drum. Wheels of this vintage have the spoke heads on the outside of the brake drum, hidden by a trim piece on the brake plate. Later wheels have spokes alternately inside and outside the flange.

The spoke heads settle down quite well as the spoke tension is increased assisted by a small dead weight hammer. 

Onto the rear and again something a little unusual - as has been mentioned before in the blog all the spoke heads on the brakes side at the rear go in from inside the brake drum and are covered with a little protective ring retained with three screws. Once again the wheel goes together very easily. 

These are Devon's Valtru rims and I've asked for them to be powder coated gloss black. Eventually the spokes and nipples will be painted as well.

Here's the non-brake side coming together:

I've decided to do the truing operation in the bike as I will be able to accurately centre the rim between the forks.

It's difficult to get the runout fixed by eye. An option would be to rig up some way of mounting a dial test indicator, but you would have to do that for both the axial and radial runout. I came up with this simple solution using two Tufnol sprung loaded needles:

Realising that there was no necessity to measure axial run out in two places I modified the design so that the rig would display axial and radial run out at the same time.

FH - oil burning problems

I seem to spend a lot of my time thinking about mechanical problems on my bikes and of course the oil burning that's currently happening periodically on the Huntmaster is a case in point.

I'm pretty sure that this is a valve guide problem but one thing I have learned and didn't check - because I didn't know - is "Are the rings upside down?" 

There is a forum post about it here:

https://forum.arielownersmcc.com/viewtopic.php?t=13532

This is what it says:

The IMD letters and size marked on both compression rings go to the top. The darker coloured ring is the second down and the tiny recess on the OD faces downwards, this surprised me when I first unpacked the rings I thought it was a ridge dodger top ring which we used to get years ago.

The lighter coloured ring (chrome plated) is the top ring and the tiny chamfer on the ID is at the top which creates some form of twist to give a better seal.

This is the drive side piston, as fitted. At least the rings are the right way round with the darker coloured one on the bottom. I think I can see letters on the top of the top ring?

Both pistons (drive side in foreground) after 550 miles. Again I think we can see that the darker coloured ring is on the bottom, but who knows if they're the right way around.

I guess that if I go to the trouble of pulling the head off to change the valve guides, I may as well take the barrel off and look at the rings properly.

Charlie's Shed - recovering threads

 OK, so this is a commonly available AJS/Matchless frame stud, used under the seat nose to unite the front and rear frames. I can get a replacement very easily if I want to, but what if it's a unique part? 

The object of this blog post is to illustrate how to recover a part like this in the workshop. This stud has obviously been loose at some point in its life as the thread is worn away beneath the frame tubes where the rear frame fits over the stud.

Start by stripping it out and cleaning it on the wire wheel. We are going to be welding some overlay into that worn area and we don't want anything contaminating the weld. When you have it clean, use a thread gauge and a micrometer to make sure of the pitch and diameter - it's quite easy to mix up thread pitches, and you will even get the wrong nut on a thread for a few turns: something you don't want to do with a thread cutting die.

It would be nice if we had some sort of facility for rotating parts like this whilst welding, but if you work towards yourself it is quite easy to do a quarter or a third of the diameter at a time: 

A few minutes on the lathe reduces the welding to a plain shank suitable for thread cutting. Since there's a little bit of the original thread remaining on the stud, it's easy to start the die to recut the thread.

A few minutes later and the stud is good as new.

AJS Model 30 - swinging arm spindle

 Tom gave me the AJS swinging arm spindle to look at - it's had an engagement with Mjollnir or one of his brethren at some stage and will not enter the bushes.

The micrometer shows the diameter of the shaft at the damaged end is around 1.005", up from the 1.000" specified diameter. The areas where the bushes bear are around 0.998".

It's far too hard to turn, even using a carbide tool, so I have set up the tool post grinder to repair it.

I've added a small chamfer at the damaged end.

Next step is to send it home for testing.

Charlie's Shed - USB charging port

 Lately I have been using my Beeline motorcycle sat nav which I won in a competition (Do you remember I told you about it a while ago?) and I have been worrying that it will flatten my phone batteries - consequently I've decided to fit the same USB charger as I have on the W/NG to the Huntmaster.

I buy these from eBay for about £15 - they are very nicely made.

The eBay description says:

• Square Dual USB Super Fast Charge + Voltmeter
• Input voltage: DC12V
• Monitorable voltage range: 6-30V
• Product material: ABS high and low temperature resistant flame retardant environmental protection material
• Qualcomm 3.0 quick charging standard
• Output voltage: 5V3.4A/9V2.5A /12V2A

I found that they seem to work perfectly well coupled to a six volt battery because of course I'm only looking for a five volt output from the USB ports. The voltmeter is quite useful if you can actually see it - but you use it for diagnostics not when you are riding your bike!

You have the option to fit these things with a bracket or a handlebar clip and they come with a length of cable and a fuse holder.

I wanted to fit the charger inside my left knee above the battery and in front of the toolbox and I made a stainless steel bracket to bolt underneath the dynamo regulator.

As you can see in the picture it's too low and you can't get the battery back in. I might modify this bracket or make a new one to give it higher and further in board to allow it to stay in this position:

Nevertheless I can wire it up and show it working:

Until I get around to making another bracket, for which I really need to remove either the seat or the toolbox or both, I will use the handlebar mount and fit the charger above the Monimoto, behind the toolbox.

A couple of weeks later I have managed to find 20 minutes to modify the bracket. The charger is mounted slightly higher, and I can get the batter lid on and off:

I'll remove this again and reduce the bracket, re-route the cable & wire it in. I'd like to have it so the current to the USB charges registers on the bike's ammeter.

AJS Model 30 - the 'what bits are missing' dry build

 A few days after the Model 30 kit arrived in Norfolk, it's outside in the street for a degreasing session which will help us understand what we have, what we don't have and how it goes together.

The main frame parts are all there and most of the big studs as well.

Some of them are not in great shape and will need replacing or building up with weld and the threads recutting. And option would be to buy a complete new set at vast expense but we are not there yet!

The centre stand, it's bushes, stud and spacer are all there:

Footrest bars, footrests and side stand are also there as is the spindle for the swinging arm – but the cotter pins appear to be missing:

We have two sets of fork yokes but unfortunately the steering head races are a bit worn. We will see if they need replacing later on: