[Kawasakian]

Actually, we don't differ much on anything. I understand and agree with virtually everything you have posted. I just project myself into that situation, then I understand. I value time as money, machine, or my mine. I think any 3D printer should be able to do Nylon. That gives you the ability to make gears, and very long lasting products. I don't think the call for an Eliminator air box would be worth the trouble. Did you visit the link to the Mikuni Flat Slides I posted. There is incredible info on that page.. I will be installing Flat Slides on my Yoshima CB400 (458)F Honda. Kaz Yoshima redid the carbs, but flat slides weren't available back then. I think we're on the same page. I am extremely pragmatic though. I am older than I wish and with time running out, I want to enjoy as much as I can. I haven't built a 3D printer because of the time involved. On my forum I teach CAD as a way to pass on knowledge, and have a staff that does the same. We use paper models. I would have made that air box out of 110 lb. card stock, and one the pattern established, then transferred the pattern to aluminum flashing or steel (18 ga.).

I learned with the Mercedes Benz's that you really have to be careful with what you spend your precious time and money on. Life is just so really really short.

 

[WFO-KZ]

Building a 3D printer would be an interesting challenge. I just went and bought one. They are not that expensive and it has paid for itself many times over. Here is the one I bought which is $549 USD. I can print a wide variety of materials including some that Creality does not list, like carbon fibre and this one has a huge space for large objects.

Ender-6 3D Printer

Creality New cubic Ender-6 3d printer with higher precision and quick printing speed, printing size of 250*250*400mm, interested in know more details, check here.

www.creality.com

We differ on the concept of personal time = money. If I considered my time as money then every restoration project I have ever undertaken would be a huge financial loss. Consider your MG/Mercedes and other projects you work on. How many hours went into those? At a fair shop rate, I doubt you could ever get your money out of those projects, but if you can, I congratulate and salute you.

Me and I think many who restore old cars and motorcycles, do it as a labour of love and don't look to get a return on their labour. The pure enjoyment of tinkering and repairing something is the reward I get. It is more than enough of a return for me when I rescue what would otherwise end up as scrap and return it to its former glory.

I have not yet looked at your carb link but will do so. For me they are too pricey as long as I have workable carbs. If the carbs were missing and not easily sourced, then I would be very interested.

 

[Kawasakian]

I made money on the Mercedes Benz's I restored. I am a ruthless person to buy or sell to. On the other hand, everybody I sold a Benz to got the best example of that car they could get. I make paper models too though. I have a 32" ship model that took me 2 months to build. It had a full interior. You cannot recover your money from paper modeling, even though I have a forum of around 52K people doing it. We do it for fun. I have a few paper models gifted to me that I had to sign a signature of non disclosure with Ghibli Studios. Only 4 people in the world have these planes, from the Anime, "Porco Rosso". 24" Wingspan, I was gifted the book and the CAD files for the model. No way to make money on the models I design, so I teach others how to do it.

Battlestar Galactica Stealthstar I designed, made from paper (intended):

The 3D printer I wish to make would have a work space of 3' x 3' x 3'. We're talking big, with double lead ball screws on each axis. I have a small milling machine I could convert to CNC then 3D (it would be both. That has about a 24" by 24" by 14" work area. I'd rather start from scratch. There's a lot of GNU software for controlling these things out there. If you build a machine, you have something you probably could not afford to purchase, but you have to own the machines to make the parts, which I do. I'm running out of time though, and have to choose projects carefully. My severe Spinal Cord injury has put the kibosh on everything though. This Summer has been dedicated to building my shed. Two walls are made of French door panels. It will be for my M.G. and bikes, and select tools. It will also open up space in my Barn, as the M.G. is in there now and it takes up too much room.

You should check out the link, those carbs aren't that expensive, and really give you an incredible performance increase. It doesn't cost anything to look. I picked up a set(2) of 40mm DCOE Weber carbs at a tag sale for $75 dollars. The person selling them didn't know they cost $700 bucks a piece new. One of those carbs ended up on my M.G. Midget. It's good to look at these things in case you run across them, and can score them cheaply.

Flat slides have been around a long time, as have Eliminator motorcycles. I'm sure he could find a used set of carbs to work on that bike. He hasn't posted anymore. I wonder what he ends up doing?

 

[WFO-KZ]

I congratulate and salute you for making money on your Mercedes. I guess for some very rare cars, if you buy at a sweetheart price and don't put too many hours in, you can make money.

As stated, I am not in it for the money. It is my hobby and I enjoy it. On my ZN if I considered my labour was worth $30/hr there is no way I can get just my labour cost out of a sale. These bikes sell for $2000-$2600 and if I count every minute of time I spent on it, including time spent on the internet searching for parts or figuring out stuff, I would have at least 100 hours into it so that alone is $3000 in labour. I bought it for $500 and spent $1500 for all the parts it needed. So I can likely get my costs out of it when I eventually go to sell it. But I will never recover my labour.

 

[Kawasakian]

I wouldn't do bikes for money. I help out so many people, and never consider charging them a thing. i had thought of making a steampunk styled Bobber, out of an XS650 twin Yamaha, but time just keeps slipping through my hands. My son is 21, but he is suffering from a rare illness, and is not able to do things that we both like for now. I don't like to work commercially anymore. Recently a person I knew really pushed me and I told him $100 an hour. I would tell him what I think it would cost, that's the first $100, then if he agreed, it would be $100 an hour, with the $100 he first gave me applied. It was a $8000 generator. It took me around 6 hrs. to go through the whole thing, and he paid me $600 bucks. Any place else would have charged him a couple of grand. He was more than happy, and to be honest, I did take a lot of stuff apart, and replaced a few solenoids, so I sound like I charge a lot, but in the end, I'm always cheaper than the alternatives.

I don't have anyone to ride with, and a lot of the bikers I knew just have lifestyles that I don't want to be around. I have a wife and son, and my faith. The bar scene makes no sense to me, I don't drink anyways, not regularly. I like a shot of really good whiskey a couple of times a year, but I won't get drunk. I used to know so many people, but they have either disappeared, stopped riding or we've just changed too much.

A lot of haters around here. I can't go that route. I ride alone now 100% of the time. I have 2 neighbors on my little dirt road that ride. I helped them both fix their bikes. One won't wear a helmet, and I tend to ride in N.Y. state a lot, the border is 300 feet from my house, so he sticks in Connecticut with his 1200 Harley Chopper. The other one was give a Kawai 750 Vulcan, in mint condition, from his brother. He said to me "it's a girls"s bike". I told him I could help him make the bike much more to his tastes for not much money, but he is so cheap. I wish I had been given that bike. It looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor. Not my style, but when I was done with it, it would have looked like a Bobber, and Steve McQueen just got off of it!

I have labors of love. I have an extensive tube amplifier collection and very collectible speakers. I recone them, fix the foam surrounds, that kind of stuff, I also design speakers. I don't know any audiiophiles though, and I used to belong to a forum for that, but it wasn't for me. It seems when you get older, you become more isolated. Some people see my tools and machinery, sidle into my life so I can fix their car. Then they disappear. No more of that.

I wish the OP of this thread would chime in on what he is doing. It's hard to post on topic.

 

[WFO-KZ]

Actually the OP has not been seen in a couple of years. Eliminator97 tagged onto the OP's thread causing the normal kind of confusion. But yeah, it would be good to get an update from Eliminator97.

 

[Kawasakian]

I'm losing it, I can feel it.