lightbar from scrap metal

lightbar VTX1300c from sCRAP

"Please Read The Disclaimer"

Before you start , I made a headlight extension with a 1/4" AL plate to bring it out 2.5", this lightbar works great with what i have.

I priced lightbars and found out that i was going to have to make my own .

list of parts
1 1/2" hot rolled steel bar 20" long ( do not use cold rolled it is to hard to bend )
1 3"x5" x1/8" steel plate
2 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x1/8" steel plate

after cutting the parts to size grind all sharp edges and round the rod ends

( note: when bending it helps to have a vice, a 2 ft long 3/4" pipe, and a big hammer)

mark the 1/2" rod with soapstone as in fig B

from center out 4" place in vice and bend to about 30 degree , turn over and from center out 4" place in vice and bend to about 30 degree make sure thay are both bent in the same way , now go 2" more place in vice and bend back , then the other end, see fig C




now mark in from the end 1 1/2" and back 90 degrees , now the other end. see fig D





(note: If you have a bike other then a vtx1300c check the spacing of the holes in the mount plate)
with a 5/16" drill bit mark and drill the 1/8" plates as shown in fig E and F
grind a good 1/2" corner off end tab and a little off the opposite corner, see fig E

now measure the mount 1.25" in from the side with the holes and mark , bend only 15 degrees, see fig F



now you are ready to weld... tack weld end tabs , the 1/2" ground corner toward the corner of the rod, check for flush then weld . before you weld mount plate check your angles then check your angles spot weld the mount let cool bolt it on , check your angles again , then if everything looks good then remove and weld center of mount to center of rod as far fwd as you can. see photo

Very nicely done!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looks awesome. Thanks for the mod and great write up on how to do it.


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nice drawings! The light bar could be smoothed and chromed easily! Nice work!

Excellent write up, now to rethink my light bar build, I was gonna do something with flat bar but I really like the looks of this bar a lot better.

Thanks for the write up

See you out there
Smokey

i wanted to get this chromed but it is not available in this area ,, do any of you know of a place ?


if not then i am going to parkerize it with some of my gun parts.