Sunday, May 28 2017
A discussion on the AdvRider dr650 thread about removing the saddle brought up the idea of using some kind of screw with a knob instead of the cross head screws that come from the factory. I went out to the garage and made some screws for the side covers. I’ll look at replacing the screws for the saddle, later.
m6 x 1.0 threads
Knurled handle
Joined with retaining compound
Installed on bike
The job would have been a lot easier if I’d had some 6mm x 1.0 pitch all thread on hand. Instead I turned down some drill rod to 6 mm. It was the closest thing on hand to the desired 6mm. I then used a die to create about 20 mm of threads. Ends are chamfered. This was done twice for the two screws.
Next I turned down some brass to 20 mm in diameter to make the screw heads. A 6 mm x 1.0 hole was drilled and tapped about 6 mm deep into the 8 mm thick screw. The surface was knurled. I didn’t have my bump knurler adjusted correctly for one of the screws so have a diaganal pattern from only using one of the knurling wheels. Good enough.
I used loctite retaining compound (638) to permanently attach the brass head to the steel screw. It works great on the left side of the bike (pictured). I should have made the screw head thicker on the right side as the plastic partially blocks access to the full depth of the screw head.
Still, I like this better than having to break open the tool kit to remove the covers.
See this page for the second part of this project.