I've pressed the go button and took the patterns i got from Merlin to the pattern makers that Merlin use for them to give them the once over and get cast for me in LM25.
They (the pattern makers) were very helpful and had worked on some very interesting projects. They had made over forty patterns for the cycle/carbs parts for the Six cylinder Honda replicas. Manx norton cylinder heads, racing carburetors, fork legs sliders for norton forks (the pattern is up there on one of those shelves, they said), dunstall alloy barrels ( also on the shelf somewhere) etc etc.
When i told them the tale of how i came by the merlin patterns and drawings, one of the owners toddled off into a corner of the workshop and came back with a couple of very grubby cylinder heads. My next reaction was to exclaim 'you dont have the pattern for these do you?' 'No' was the answer. For some reason they never got the pattern done, ( cost presumably) the standard head is quite a complex casting, involving a lot of cores etc (I repeat what i said earlier, the Fullauto head is very good value for the money)
Apart from the JAP engine castings that they hold the patterns for, they also had a pile of G45 Matchless heads and barrels that they had cast, in a pile in the corner, presumably awaiting someone to buy them.
All in all a very interesting couple of hours chatting mostly about the classic bike scene and how much bullshit is talked and the lack of credit given when someone says ' I've built this' and the excuses given when they were having to chase money owed for work done.
I've yet to make a start on drawing the head up in Autocad. Got the current project to finish first.
Regards
Peter
They (the pattern makers) were very helpful and had worked on some very interesting projects. They had made over forty patterns for the cycle/carbs parts for the Six cylinder Honda replicas. Manx norton cylinder heads, racing carburetors, fork legs sliders for norton forks (the pattern is up there on one of those shelves, they said), dunstall alloy barrels ( also on the shelf somewhere) etc etc.
When i told them the tale of how i came by the merlin patterns and drawings, one of the owners toddled off into a corner of the workshop and came back with a couple of very grubby cylinder heads. My next reaction was to exclaim 'you dont have the pattern for these do you?' 'No' was the answer. For some reason they never got the pattern done, ( cost presumably) the standard head is quite a complex casting, involving a lot of cores etc (I repeat what i said earlier, the Fullauto head is very good value for the money)
Apart from the JAP engine castings that they hold the patterns for, they also had a pile of G45 Matchless heads and barrels that they had cast, in a pile in the corner, presumably awaiting someone to buy them.
All in all a very interesting couple of hours chatting mostly about the classic bike scene and how much bullshit is talked and the lack of credit given when someone says ' I've built this' and the excuses given when they were having to chase money owed for work done.
I've yet to make a start on drawing the head up in Autocad. Got the current project to finish first.
Regards
Peter
