Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

eartland hand-load ed into fram e jigs th a t loc ale th e pi eces wi th a com bina tion o f hand and hydrauli c clamps. Th en th e j oin ts are m ad e with hand-held auto matic wire-feed l\IlG weld ers . Th e fram e is buil t up in three m ain s tages. First th e steering he ad and cen tr al backbone are built up. Th en sep ara te righ I and left side l oop assemblies are built up . Fin ally the three m ain bui ldi ng blocks are join ed a lo ng with necessary c ross-b raci n g. gussetin g and mounting brackets. With IWO lines working in parallel. cycle tim e at each work station is p robabl y abou t nine minutes to support production o f 100 units a day . . Com p ie le d fra mes are p laced in a comp lex align ing fixtu re which chec ks the frame and th en "tweaks" it in to align men t - using so me two doze n hydrau lic pressure poin ts un der control of a skill ed operator. The steerin g head is th en align -bored and Voila! another fra me is ready 10 hang on the pain t line's overhead convey o r. The pain I line c om es closest to being an " automated" process line. with so me 15 clean ing an d pretreatment operations for tan ks, frames. and other hardware . Pain t is applied as the parts are carried past electrostatic sp ray di scs. The pain I is given (say) a p ositive char ge as it leaves th e spi nning di sc. while the part to be pain ted carries a negative charge. Result. the cloud of charged spray droplets lit erall y wraps it self ar ound th e part and se t tles in while th e operator watch e s. Ne at, The tanks st art life as stac ks of steel stam pings (ven do r supp lied) whi ch are sea m-w el de d on roll in g-elem ent res istan ce weldin g m achin es. The cen ter seam alon g th e to p of the tank is ground flush and is totally invisible even befo re th e tank is painted. Th e back of th e seam . inside the ta n k. can just barely be felt with th e lin gers. It's class . and the guys who ma ke t hem know it. On the wheel line. hubs arc ch uc ked on sem i-automatic lacing mach ines wi th three out of four ro ws o f spokes pre- loaded. 'The rim is held concentric to th e hub and both arc fre e to ro tate. The opera to r hand loads the remain ing nine spo kes. an d laces the wheel by han d-guiding each of the 36 total to its proper ho le. th en tripp in g a footswit ch . The mach ine grabs a nip pl e from a magazine feed and sp ins it o n to a pre-set cutoff point. leaving ea ch spoke ab o ut linger tigh t. At the next station . an air tool wi th pre-set cutoff to rque tightens ea ch sp o ke. At a thi rd station. the wh eel ge ts a fin al truing by hand. Cy cle time is ab o u t a minute and a half at each st ation . A huge semi- automatic tire ma chine installs tire and tube. then the wheel slides do wn a co nvey o r to an au to ma tic wheel balancer. Things final ly come to gether on the three-branch powered assem bly line: the fram e line. front en d line. and fina l trim line. Semi-complete fo rk as sem blies are clam pe d in to a 360-degree ro tating fixture . ni pped up sid e-d own whil e a fro n t fender an d wheel are dropped in. Then thin gs are ni pped rightside-up for final installation. On th e fram e lin e. p ainted fr am es arc pulled off. a hanging st orage ban k (li ke those thin gs that whisk yo ur suits to the co un ter at the dry clean er ) pre-kitted with steering head ra ces and ID plate . t hen clamped to a hanging fixture on an overhead co nvey o r. As it creeps down the line . seat loc k, side and cen ter stands. and hom are assem b led. Th en the engi ne is sw ung in from a traversin g chain hoist and ins talled. les s carbs. Carbs and airbox come next . ki ttcd wit h th e thro tt le ca b les. Now it's ti me for battery box and wirin g harn ess to be neatly hung and tied. Chain. ignition co ils. rear mudguard. swingarm , fo otpegs fol low in more o r less that order . alo ng with a lot of stuff we fo rg ot, To m at e with the front end, the centers ta nd is drop ped an d a hy d ru alic Hand controls (those knobs that loo k like floorshift leversl actuate hydraulic clamps on final assembly frame jig. Just load the pieces, clamp them up, and weld. Lots of homework went into this setup before it was right. Where it all beg ins to come together. Frame line jo ins front end line on th is powered lift table. Wind- in-the-face realism during dyno run. Gets to be a regular indoo r short track between dyno and packing line come Fr iday afternoon . Ready to roll. platform brought up under it. The front en d is swung in from the side. and the frame lowered down over the spindle. With everything snugged up. the bike can now rest on its front wheel and stand . so it's unhooked from its overhead carriage (wh ich disappears to ward the ceiling on the co n vey or return run ) and rests on a floor co nvey o r to go down th e final trim line . There it receives tank , seat, rear shoc ks, rear wheel and brake assembly , owners manuals. headlight, handlebars, controls, instruments, rear fender, taillight, gas , oil, a few loving pats and Voila! a comp le te ready- to-run motorcycle. It takes 23 people to ru n the asse mbly line at t he 100-a-

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