Friday, March 8, 2013

License Plate and Tail Light Mount

On a random side-note. I think Harry Potter got buried in my yard that last snow storm.

Been shopping around for a Tail Light/License Plate mounting-thing-a-ma-jig for the bike. All the ones I saw that I liked were $150 plus. In hindsight I now know why. But the hell with it. Was a fun project to undertake. Okay, so lets start by buying the trailer tail-light from VIP down the road a piece.


First thing first. Cut off that ugly ass trailer mount that came with it. Done.


Next, buy some 16ga. steel from Home Depot, make a card board template and trace it onto said steel. Done.


Next, cut out said template with a jig saw. Make sure you AT LEAST get two metal splinters from the 100's of thousands that were created during the process. If you didn't then you're freaking doing it wrong. Done.


Next spend more minutes than you wanted to using various grinders and files to make that shape a finished product without sharp edges. Done


Drill all appropriate holes in the template and the trailer stop light. Then bend the top piece to a 30 degree angle and mount everything to see how it turned out so far. Done.


Find a random piece of 10ga. steel lieing around the shop and using poor man's lay out die (read that as Sharpie), various washers, rulers, scratch out the template for the bracket that will stiffen and mount the template previous cut out. Done.


Go at this new piece with the jig saw and make sure you get a least a few more metal splinters. Like the previous part, if you don't get a few you're doing it wrong. Drill some holes. Done. 


Take a block of steel, a vice, and a BFG (read big fucking hammer) and process to beat the ever loving piss out of the bracket until the two ears are bent 90 degrees. Done


Alright, at this point I got a little excited and forgot to take some photos. Needless to say you now need to spend a lot of time welding the two previous parts together, filling in any holes or craters created during welding (damn TIG welding can get frustrating at times to a novice), and sandblasting the part pretty and this is what you come out with. Done, Done, and Done.



Now, mount the brake light and license plate to the bracket. Then spend several frustrating minutes disassembling the rear wheel for the 1098172340987154290761209387523rd time during the build process and put it all back together for the 1098172340987154290761209387523rd time. Crack a beer, sit back, take a couple of photos, and enjoy your handy work. Done. Peace!!!!





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