It’s been a while since I’ve posted a free e-book for you cats to download, so it’s time to start that tradition back up again. I’ve got my greasy paws on a handful of “new” old books for you guys to dig into. Not sure about you, but I love reading through this old stuff. Not only to pick up tips and tricks from days of yore, but also to get a better understanding and sense of history into these crafts - from welding to machining to general metal work and casting - evolved through time. A great way to get the most of out these books is to print them out, then three hole punch them and put them in a 3-ring binder. Then you can carry it with ya whenever you know your going to have some down time (waiting at an airport, sitting on the can, going to the in-laws house… etc). Reading them on the computer kind of blows, to really get the most out of the books, I think printing them is the way to go.

For this installment I’ve got the Metal Turners Handy Book by P.N. Hasluck. This one is all about different types of lathes, the accompanying tooling, uses, etc. Tons of pics and stacks of info and generally an easy read.

To download the PDF file, click the following link: The Metal Turner’s Handybook

To learn more about our free ebook series, go here
And to see other free eBooks that have been posted, go here

Technical guru Mark Haycock delves into the mysterious world of ignition systems, and reveals why getting it back to front is sometimes quite OK.

I had a letter recently from one of our readers, Mr A Birch, raising questions about the
workings of an ignition coil so I thought it might be an idea to take a closer look, in particular at
the principle of the ‘wasted spark’.

What we call an ignition coil is actually an example of a so-called induction coil. It is
merely a specialised electrical transformer, the purpose being to greatly increase the voltage
provided by the battery. Despite its name, like any other simple transformer it actually
contains two coils of wire, or windings, one for the low-voltage side (the primary) and the other for the high-voltage (the secondary).

The windings are concentric, and wrapped around a central core made from laminations
(thin sheets) of iron. The core is usually not visible, but in old-style Honda coils it extends
out of the enclosing plastic case (Picture 1). Incidentally, the word ‘voltage’ is sometimes
replaced by ‘tension’ when dealing with ignition coils.

There are considerably more turns in the secondary windings than the primary, and it is
this that leads to the increase in voltage. What causes the output of high tension is a
change in the flow of current through the low-tension windings, with that change traditionally
being brought about by the contact breaker. The aim is to reduce the current to zero as
rapidly as possible. This ‘induces’ a high voltage in the secondary windings, which is fed to the spark plug.
To read the rest of the article,
click the image below to download it as a PDF

Setscew or bolt? Stainless or zinc plate? Technical boffin Mark Haycock gets to grips with screws, bolts and nuts; and advises what you should be using, where and why.

To read the whole article, download the pdf: Screws & Fasteners 101

Setting carb float levels is still considered a black art – but getting it right can make a significant difference to your bike’s economy and performance. Rod Gibson explains all.
So what is a float level, and why does it matter? Deep within the confines of your carburettors lurk a number of jets, whose job it is to draw in fuel, mix it with the air and send it to the engine to be burned. Those jets need to have a readily available reservoir of petrol, so each carb has a chamber fitted at its lower end that is fed with petrol from the fuel tank.
The amount of fuel in the chamber has to be controlled – too much and the surplus fuel will run out of the overflows, too little and the jets will only have air to suck in, and the engine won’t run. So far so simple, but it’s actually a bit more subtle than that, for if there’s insufficient fuel in the float chamber the bike can run weak at full throttle when there’s not enough petrol in the carb to keep up with the demands of the main jet. Conversely, having too much petrol in the chamber can make the bike run rich – but an excess of petrol usually leads to flooding problems.
To read the rest of this article, download the pdf: Setting Carb Float Levels

I have always farmed out wheel re-spoking to a specialist, and since discovering the talents of Paul Jackson (01422 378100) many years ago, have always been more than happy to keep turning up at his workshop, drop my hubs and rims in a pile on the floor (with a note of offsets, of course), and call back a couple of weeks later to collect the shiny results. But having had a go at almost every other aspect of bike spannering over the years, I was aware that actually re-spoking a wheel was scary new territory, and it was about time I had a go.

To read the rest of this article, download the pdf: Re-spoking Wheels PDF

I’ll be posting a whole bunch of these short videos of Fay Butler; metalworker extraordinaire and Massachusetts resident, dropping knowledge and showing you how it’s done. This one is all about laying out a pattern and cutting a blank on some sheet metal. More to come soon.

Our pal cole sent in these pics and a real simple run down of what’s going on with this project he’s kicking around his shop. I dig seeing this stuff in progress, figure you will too. Here’s some notes and pics from Cole…

• Found some junk in my carb (I’ll just put a tank liner in….)
• Might as well shave the left fuel cap….
• I looked in the hole and see that it has a tank liner and it’s peeling badly
• I cut out bottom of tank to scrape out old liner
• While I’m at it, might as well section 2 1/2 inches out the middle of the tank….

Stay tuned for a possible rib down the center of the tank, a hand made tunnel, and a custom made petcock bung at rear of tank!

A typical bike engine contains around three litres of oil, and one of the biggest challenges to engineers over the years has been to keep that oil where it should be.

There are many joints between the various engine castings, and nearly every one needs some means of preventing fluids from escaping. In an ideal world, every joint face would be perfectly flat, smooth and perfectly aligned with its opposite number. Furthermore, when the bolts were tightened no distortion of the joint would take place and they would remain perfectly tightened throughout the life of the bike. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world and this is where gaskets come in.

The aim of a gasket is to provide a little elasticity to absorb the imperfections found at the joint surfaces. Typically, gaskets are made from a mixture of fibres, such as paper or asbestos, held within synthetic rubber such as nitrile. Nowadays asbestos is no longer favoured and more use is made from up-todate materials such as carbon fibre, PTFE and Kevlar.

To read the rest of the article, download the pdf: Motorcycle Gaskets 101 PDF

This latest free ebook - The American Machinist Handbook & Dictionary - is so dense with info, I had to break it into 3 files. This is the 3rd and last installment, the other installments can be found here

Click the link to download: American Machinist Handbook & Dictionary

To learn more about our free ebook series, go here