hello fron the suncoast of Fl
 

Hello all,

My name is Greg, after 30 years in the Army as a helicopter pilot I am now retired and living in Sarasota Fl. I am not new to metal shaping but I am not very experienced either. I took Airframe repair in collage and had worked in a body shop before that. I was a maintenance officer for many years and have lent a hand holding a bucking bar on several occasions ;).

I have restored several cars in the past and am currently building a 1966 Norton Dominator Cafe bike. I am taking machining at the local trade school and have come here in hopes of learning how to better use my planishing hammer and make some fenders and fuel tanks.

Welcome Greg, pretty new here myself but I'm just up the road from you in St Pete Bch. I just started an Ewheel build last week, only have the frame parts cut so far, not enough pics to start a thread here yet. You're welcome to come up and squeeze some metal through it when its done.

Hi and welcome Greg!:D

Hi Greg!
Looking forward to see some of your work in the future :)

Hi Greg welcome to allmetalshaping, I am just old enough to remember the original ton-up boys here in the UK when I was a kid.

David

Thanks guys,

Ill try to post a pick for you.

My first attempt at the phammer, fender stays had to compound curv to fit the fender and radius the inside to clear the fork gaiter. they started out pretty ugly, but I do know how to buff and polish pretty well.

http://www.tonupcafe.com/tonupcafe.c...s/DSC05726.jpg
http://www.tonupcafe.com/tonupcafe.c...s/DSC05751.jpg


The rest of my Dominator
http://www.tonupcafe.com/tonupcafe.c...s/DSC05761.jpg

Sounds like fun, I want to build one also. Im working on a bender now and after that Ill be working on a set of dies for the phammer, then it will be on to the ewheel.

If you need some machining done let me know.

Have a mill ,but thanks for the offer. On another note from your intro, I'm also a private pilot. Looked into getting my fling-wing rating but Silver State Helicopters shut down right about the time I was going to do it. Kind of dropped it after that, besides, my dad (also pilot) always said don't fly anything that has a wing that goes faster than the fuselage. :lol:

Oh, if you need anything powder coated, I have an oven that is 4'x4'x8' inside!

Yea but I always wondered who wants to be a PLAIN Pilot. :lol:

Sure do, I have lots,,,,, I was looking for a bread proofing oven to convert they are real sweet and big as a fridge ( perfect for motorcycle frames).

Chip in for some propane and buy some powder(I can give you supplier names) and you can do stuff at my place. I make a few bucks here and there with it but I mainly got into it for my own projects.

Welcome Greg to this fabulous forum,
Be sure to thank whoever put you on to it!

I've never seen any NORTON as good looking as the one in this string - WoW!

I came to the US as a direct result of being befriended by a group of US ARMY Helicopter pilots (328th TRANS CO HCPTR H-19, H-34) Nellingen Kaserne, Germany, - a loooong time ago, as in early 1950's. Together we were homebuilding fixed wing airplanes when not repairing L-4. L-5 etc . Everything but metalshaping so I have a lot of catching up to do.

I belong to EAA Chapter 66 in Ft Myers, too but live in Minnesota.

Look forward to seeing more of your project(s)

Hans

Thanks Hans, I love the Nortons even though you dont see very many and if you do its probably a 750 Atlas, this is an authentic 650SS Dominator and I have not seen another one in person. Of course most of the available parts in the catalog say (all except 650SS):(

I was stationed in Illisheim (Stork Barack s) for almost 5 years and absolutely loved living in Germany.

OH I do have many projects lined up, several tools and 3 motorcycles.

Sounds like a deal to me I can keep the toaster oven for small jobs and use the space from the big oven for a Ewheel:)