Metal is an important material used when creating motorcycles, so it made sense for me experiment with it. As I have practised welding during my time at the garage it would be a perfect opportunity to see what I had learnt. I wanted to design and weld a motorcycle frame. After I completed my simple drawing, I cut a metal rod into pieces using a hack saw. I originally did use a saw but it too long and made the metal hot. So, using the hack saw would a much simpler and easier method of cutting the metal. I then used the welder to join the pieced of metal together. This was difficult for me as the pieces would move before I welded them together but with a bit of patience, I was able to put them together. I then put the frame between a clap and used filed to smooth the welds down. Unfortunately, the welds broke numerous times, so I welded them back together and filed a few joints. The reason I didn’t file them all down is to not have the frame break again. I also used hammarite paint to see what the frame would look like painted. After it had dried, I was happy with the finish of the paint, but I wasn’t happy with the welds and the frame had bent as it had to weld it together multiple times.
Continuing with experimenting with metal, I wanted to create a swing arm part. I did this by using a metal saw to cut a square rod of metal into smaller pieces. After this I shaped the pieces by putting with in a vice and filling them down. Next, I welded them together and filed the welds down. Again, like my previous experiment the welds kept breaking resulting in my having to weld them together. Learning from my past mistakes I didn’t file the welds completely flat as I felt this was the problem that caused the welds to break. Finally, I painted the swing arm with the same brand of paint but with a hammered effect and left it to dry.
Overall, I find that I have improved my metal working skills vastly. The reason I think this is because I have worked with two different types of metal forms and created models the way I planned them to be. As well as this, I learnt how to file the welds down to a point where they won’t break which is useful as a broken model isn’t a successful model.
Manifesto Project 