|  | Topic : Plate frame snapped |  |
| | | brackforce | | Set |  |  | | Reg. Date | : | 25/04/2010 | | Posts | : | 123 | | Location | : | Fayetteville, NC, United States |
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| | Posted : 02 Oct 2012 - 21:37 Post title : Plate frame snapped | | | My homemade plate frame broke on me on the way home today. I think it must have happened shortly before I got home because it was still hanging by the two running light wires. My little plate bag got chewed up pretty bad so I'll have to get a new one. Luckily the actual license plate is fine, but the light I took off of the old set-up didn't survive. The frame broke where it was connected to the fender so all of the vibration must have eventually taken it's toll. The bottom line is that now I have to make a new one before I can ride since there's no way to display my license plate. I think I'll try a slightly different approach this time and find a better way to secure it so that I don't loose another one. I'm looking into pre-made frames with built in lights and if I find one that works then I'll just fabricate the bracket. I'm not sure how I'm going to attack it this time, but I'll post pics of the finished product when I finally get a chance to actually do the work. I think it might have messed up the powder coat on my rim, but I can't really tell at this point because I rode in some rain this morning and the bike is filthy. It could have been much worse, I guess. At least there's no major damage to the bike and I still have my license plate! 
| "Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules."
2010 Black and Blue Haze 1700
2006 Bobbed-out Royal Enfield Bullet Sixty-5
1976 Panzer Grey CJ750 with Sidecar
| | Post edited by brackforce on 02 Oct 2012 - 21:40 |
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| | | davetac1 | | Thunderbird | | | Reg. Date | : | 06/09/2010 | | Posts | : | 8,379 | | Location | : | Haverhill, Ma., United States |
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| | Posted : 02 Oct 2012 - 22:21 Post title : Re: Plate frame snapped (Re: brackforce) | | | Just in case you're interested, ya could mount that bracket using rubber grommets where the bolts pass thru it.That would elliminate most of,if not all of,the vibration so ya don't have a repeat performance. Make sense?? Dave!!!
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| | | brackforce | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 25/04/2010 | | Posts | : | 123 | | Location | : | Fayetteville, NC, United States |
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| | Posted : 02 Oct 2012 - 22:54 Post title : Re: Plate frame snapped (Re: davetac1) | | | Yea, it does make sense, Dave. I actually used homemade rubber washers from an old tire tube in between the contact points and figured that would help protect the paint and dampen vibrations. It guess it wasn't enough. I ordered a new plate frame with LED lights built in so I'll just make a bracket and figure out a better way to attach it. I might use two bolts instead of one this time. Also, I went out to the garage and checked the damage. It actually scuffed the paint on my rim and the rotor. As far as I can tell the rotor damage is only superficial. I hope it didn't warp it. The little bag took the vast majority of the damage, which is good, but the metal frame did have a bunch of scuffs so I know there was metal to metal contact at some point.
| "Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules."
2010 Black and Blue Haze 1700
2006 Bobbed-out Royal Enfield Bullet Sixty-5
1976 Panzer Grey CJ750 with Sidecar
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| | | davetac1 | | Thunderbird | | | Reg. Date | : | 06/09/2010 | | Posts | : | 8,379 | | Location | : | Haverhill, Ma., United States |
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| | Posted : 02 Oct 2012 - 23:05 Post title : Re: Plate frame snapped (Re: brackforce) | | | Use a piece of fine sand paper to dress the damaged area of the rotor.That should do the trick. Just don't get carried away. And use rubber grommets inserted into the bracket,so the bolts pass thru them,and not rubber washers between the bracket and its' mounting point.You'll discover your light[s] will also last longer.I learned that aloooooooooong time ago after I fucked up a nice expensive chrome accessory that I installed on one of my scooters. Most embarrassing. Dave!!!
| | Post edited by davetac1 on 02 Oct 2012 - 23:14 |
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| | | brackforce | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 25/04/2010 | | Posts | : | 123 | | Location | : | Fayetteville, NC, United States |
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| | Posted : 02 Oct 2012 - 23:44 Post title : Re: Plate frame snapped (Re: davetac1) | | | Haha. Okay, I'll definitely do that. Thanks! I like to learn from other people's mistakes when I can.
What's gonna suck is taking the time to 1.) measure out and make the bracket, 2.) grind, sand, etc to make it pretty, then 3.) paint the damn thing and let it cure before installing it. My parts will be here Thursday so maybe I'll be able to get it cranked out by the weekend (won't be able to work much over the weekend since the wife is coming home (she goes to school in another state). If I can have something together and painted by next week then I'll be happy. This time I'll do my best to make it more heavy duty, more professional, and flow with the bike better. The last one didn't look bad at all, but I'm sure I can come up with something much better....oh, and it did a number on my tire, too. It scraped around the edge quite a bit, but didn't fully erase the wording on the sidewalls. Hopefully it wasn't hanging for too long.
| "Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules."
2010 Black and Blue Haze 1700
2006 Bobbed-out Royal Enfield Bullet Sixty-5
1976 Panzer Grey CJ750 with Sidecar
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| | | brackforce | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 25/04/2010 | | Posts | : | 123 | | Location | : | Fayetteville, NC, United States |
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| | Posted : 06 Oct 2012 - 01:33 Post title : Re: Plate frame snapped (Re: brackforce) | | | I spent the day in the garage and made a new plate frame. I actually made two, but the first one was way too complicated and didn't get finished. The more I messed with it the more I realized that I was making it too fancy and all I really needed was a simple L shaped bracket so that's what I ended up with. This time I used a much thicker U-bolt for the main bracket, took Dave's advice and put a rubber grommet where the bolt goes through, and added an adhesive felt stripping to the side that contacts the fender to protect the paint as well as make it tight. This one doesn't move at all. There's no play or wiggle like the last one had. I cut a piece of metal for the actual plate and welded it to the bracket then painted everything. This time I used a plate frame with built in LED lights and decided to continue the plate bag set-up I had going before. That bag really comes in handy for carrying registration, extra sunglasses, etc plus it cleans up the back side of the license plate. The one thing I didn't do, which I should have, is put it all together before painting just to make sure my measurements were all right. Once I added the bag it became a really tight fit. I can't open it all the way or it will touch the fender mounts, but it's not a huge problem and I can still get in and out of the bag without much hassle. I just can't open it all the way straight up. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. You can barely see any part of the actual bracket I made and the wires are totally hidden. It's much closer to the bike now so it doesn't stick out as much and looks more finished than the last one did. It also seems to be much more sturdy and tight plus it's not nearly as heavy and bulky as the first one was. Hopefully this one stays put where it belongs. It's dark out and my bird is mostly black so its hard to see the details of the bracket in the pics, but you get the idea.
| "Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules."
2010 Black and Blue Haze 1700
2006 Bobbed-out Royal Enfield Bullet Sixty-5
1976 Panzer Grey CJ750 with Sidecar
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| | | mjgt | | Thor | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 16/09/2011 | | Posts | : | 2,201 | | Location | : | North Somerset, United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 06 Oct 2012 - 07:36 Post title : Re: Plate frame snapped (Re: brackforce) | | | Now that you have "fixed" it don't forgrt to give it the tap test every now and then. Tap it with something metal and if it dings it's OK, if it dongs find out why.
| Mick . . .  Keep the rubber side down!!
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| | | davetac1 | | Thunderbird | | | Reg. Date | : | 06/09/2010 | | Posts | : | 8,379 | | Location | : | Haverhill, Ma., United States |
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| | Posted : 06 Oct 2012 - 19:06 Post title : Re: Plate frame snapped (Re: mjgt) | | | Are ya sure the bracket you made to support the plate and bag is strong enough??In the position you have it mounted,the plate plus the bag will grab wind when goin down the road,especially at speed,and will tax that bracket big time.After viewing your picture, I not so sure that it was vibration as much as wind resistance that broke your original bracket.Ya just wanna be sure so it doesn't happen again. Follow me?? So make it strong! Dave!!!
| | Post edited by davetac1 on 06 Oct 2012 - 19:10 |
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| | | brackforce | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 25/04/2010 | | Posts | : | 123 | | Location | : | Fayetteville, NC, United States |
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| | Posted : 06 Oct 2012 - 20:40 Post title : Re: Plate frame snapped (Re: davetac1) | | | Dave, I think this one will be okay. Of course I will check in on a regular basis to make sure its holding up, but it's a lot more sturdy than the first one plus it weighs far less and doesn't catch as much wind. If I had to guess, I'd say that first frame probably weighed 5 or more pounds, but this one is most likely 1 or 2. I'm not sure if you saw pictures of the first one I made, but it stuck out more and was lower to the ground. It had a lot more bulk to it and moved quite a bit in the wind. This one is much closer to the fender and my leg/body should block a good bit of wind that the other one caught. Like I said, the u-bolt I used is a lot bigger than the first one which is the only piece that broke on the original. My weld seems very solid and I made sure to weld all the way around. I almost made it in a way where it attached to two bolts on the fender mount, but decided to stick with this set-up. If it starts to weaken then I'll make a third that attaches in more than one place. The metal I used this time is pretty light compared to the original and is as close to aluminum as I could find. I know that will help with weight, but I'm not sure if it will bend in the wind. Plus, the grommet and felt set-up I ended up using made this mount very tight to the frame unlike the other. I tugged on it pretty hard from multiple directions once I got it installed and it barely budged. Of course I can pull on it hard enough to bend it if I really want to , but I don't think the wind will put that much force on it. Let's hope I'm right, anyway.
You're probably right, too. I bet the wind is really what did that other one in, but I think if it had been more secured and less able to bend then it might not have broken as quickly. It snapped directly around the bolt that attached it. This time the bolt area is the most secure position.
| "Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules."
2010 Black and Blue Haze 1700
2006 Bobbed-out Royal Enfield Bullet Sixty-5
1976 Panzer Grey CJ750 with Sidecar
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| | | davetac1 | | Thunderbird | | | Reg. Date | : | 06/09/2010 | | Posts | : | 8,379 | | Location | : | Haverhill, Ma., United States |
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| | Posted : 06 Oct 2012 - 21:20 Post title : Re: Plate frame snapped (Re: brackforce) | | | Good deal brack!Let's hope you're right! Dave!!!
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| | | brackforce | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 25/04/2010 | | Posts | : | 123 | | Location | : | Fayetteville, NC, United States |
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| | Posted : 06 Oct 2012 - 22:48 Post title : Re: Plate frame snapped (Re: davetac1) | | | Haha...yea, let's hope! I'll be sure to let you guys know if I have issues with it. The funny thing is, once you decide to get rid of the original plate frame there's no going back. As soon as I saw my contraction broken I knew I would have to spend a day fabricating before I could ride since I had no other way to display the plate. I'm happy with it though, cause I really despised that factory bracket and I'm digging the unique custom aspect of it. It was worth the trouble.
| "Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules."
2010 Black and Blue Haze 1700
2006 Bobbed-out Royal Enfield Bullet Sixty-5
1976 Panzer Grey CJ750 with Sidecar
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