SP-1/SP-2 Hybrid Header

Today was a good day, I finally fully welded my hybrid header project for the RC51. Read, “Matching Shapes” to catch yourself up to speed or if you’ve forgotten.

This is the thinnest metal I have ever welded. 1.0 mm in thickness. I finally settled on 27 amps. Casey Stoner likes that amperage, lol. It seems to me that the thinner the metal, the finer the line you walk between too hot and too cold of a weld. Too hot and you are burning a hole in the metal. Too cold and you have blobs of metal sitting on top of the metal. Since too hot evaporates the metal before your eyes, I started on the too cold side; then worked my way up. In the TIG welding world, if you have good welds, they call it, “stacking dimes”. Since I don’t get to weld as often as I’d like, it takes me some time to get into the groove. Working from the too cold side, it’s more like, “stacking boogers”, lol. With plenty of boogers around the pipe, I went back around the welds again without any filler rod, and melted the boogers down. I don’t know if this is a good practice, but it seems to be working for me for this project. I don’t normally weld this way. It’s kinda like a corner weld, where sometimes you don’t need filler material, and you melt the two pieces together. I have taken a welding class at the local technical college (thank you, IAM Union of Boeing). Although this doesn’t make me a professional.

Reference Points:

• Newsletter #7 has been edited. Nothing to update at this time.

• MotoAmerica at Barber, April 4th - 6th.

• World Superbike at Assen, April 11th - 13th.

• MotoGP under the lights at Qatar, April 11th - 13th.

• MotoGP at Jerez, April 25th -27th.