{"id":49820,"date":"2018-01-13T14:12:34","date_gmt":"2018-01-13T05:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/?p=49820"},"modified":"2026-09-24T13:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T04:45:10","slug":"starting-from-the-frame-kz1000-kz1000mk2-z1r-titanium-electrical-plate-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/20180113\/decoboco-cars\/kz1000\/starting-from-the-frame-kz1000-kz1000mk2-z1r-titanium-electrical-plate-part-2","title":{"rendered":"Starting from the Frame: KZ1000\/KZ1000MK2\/Z1R. Titanium Electrical System Plate Fabrication and More, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nI’d love to dedicate a solid 2\u20133 days to it like a New Year’s holiday. That’s hard to pull off. The best I can manage is 1\u20132 hours in between other things. <\/div>\n
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\nThis is the material I cut the other day. A shearing machine is really convenient. If the settings are dialed in right, it cuts pretty straight for bike parts.<\/p>\n

Our workflow used to be: Level 1 is contour saw, then belt sander. Level 2 is hand shear, then belt sander. Since we started using SUS304 stainless, I’ve really felt the limitations of my hand tools.<\/p>\n

Cutting with a contour saw is loud and leaves a rough edge.
\nBelt sanding causes burn marks and discoloration, and it’s hard to keep all four sides to dimension.
\nDrilling with my old drill bits is difficult.<\/p>\n

Aluminum is light and easy to machine, so it’s definitely a beloved material.
\nBut it needs surface treatment like anodizing.
\nAnd compared to steel, it needs thicker walls.<\/p>\n

When you’re doing a lot of small-part fabrication like we do, you end up reaching for stainless steel.<\/p>\n

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\nWith a back gauge, all your bends come out identical.<\/p>\n

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\nWith a die, chamfering is instant, identical, and leaves no burn marks.<\/p>\n

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\nDrilling is done with a punch, so even tiny parts are easy to finish. Burring is a breeze.<\/p>\n

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\nMy fabrication and machining are mostly self-taught, so when I watch a master at work, I think, “Ah, I see!” and realize that if you’re going to repeat the same task, the right tools are essential.<\/p>\n

You can do one or two by hand, but when you get to 20 or 100, it’s not realistic.<\/p>\n

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No machinery (equipment investment needed) = more labor = higher time cost<\/p>\n

Machinery available (no equipment investment) = less labor = lower time cost
\nWhen the same person makes something under these two different conditions, which one comes out cleaner and more reliable? That’s what I think about. We don’t do fabrication we can’t do well.<\/p>\n

If it costs a lot, takes forever, and the finish is disappointing, nobody wins\u2014not the worker, not the owner.
\nIt’s really hard for customers to gauge a shop’s skill and equipment, so this is a tough issue.<\/p>\n

That’s why Decoboco basically tells people we can’t do custom work or fabrication. Keep this in mind when you’re looking for a shop to do work for you.<\/p>\n

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\nSo the titanium is done\u2014well, 85% done anyway\u2026<\/p>\n

The second one definitely came out cleaner. There’s so much you don’t know until you build it, which means there are lots of failures along the way.<\/p>\n

For custom work and fabrication, please reach out to a custom shop or fabrication specialist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’d love to dedicate a solid 2\u20133 days to it like a New Year’s holiday. That’s hard to pull off. The best I can manage is 1\u20132 hours in between other things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49810,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pochipp_cv_data":"","swell_btn_cv_data":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[157,166,193,115],"class_list":["post-49820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kz1000","tag-customization","tag-production","tag-starting-with-the-frame-kz1000-kz1000mk2-z1r","tag-z-aircooled"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}