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Showing posts from April, 2014

Rust Removal with Muriatic Acid

Hydrochloric acid aka muriatic acid, is very useful for removing rust and I bet most of you people trying to restore bikes, engines etc. have come across this issue at some point. There are several chemicals out there doing similar jobs with rust but muriatic acid is my most common choise as it needs to be in the lab for other issues as well e.g check the post for   ...removing piston deposits from Nikasil Cylinders Here is an example of some gears from a lathe that I bought a few days back. Normally it takes about half an hour up to 2 hours to have the rust completely removed but this depends on how strong the acid is and rust scale. Do not omit to clean the parts thoroughly after removing them from the bath of acid. In a different pan, use plenty of water and baking soda. Soda neutralizes the acid and the process stops. Clean them out and oil the parts as soon as possible. And voila...!

Arduino

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.  It actually is a single-board microcontroller designed around an Atmega328 with an USB interface, 6 analog inputs, as well as 14 digital I/O pins which allow to attach various extension boards or applications. The integrated development environment (IDE) is open source and allows to write programs for Arduino using Processing language. Of course, right from the first experiments, blending Arduino with two stroke motorcycles was inevitable. Lots of people have constructed a lot of useful staff, from shift lights and data loggers up to complete CDI units...!

Valex Tornio BV20

I've just bought a new toy for the workshop, an Italian mini lathe made by Valex. It features some modifications like a bigger 125mm four jaw chuck and a better toolpost. Max swing over bed is 200mm and distance between centers at 520mm. I'll soon start stripping and cleaning parts but maybe it ends up to a complete restoration along with a brand new paint theme.

Massimo Tamburini, 1943 – 2014

Sakis Vasilopoulos @ NOLA

Sakis V. managed to win the 2nd place at GP200 without attending the practice and at a wet track. I wish all the best to him for this year, he currently has the third place at the championship with only a few score points away from the 2nd place.