Turbo Twister

Correct Fish, although we use 110v on building sites for safety reasons. 220-240v for everything household. It's strange that this particular machine came with a round 3 pin blue 220v plug, so I had to buy 2 additional parts, a socket to receive this plug and a standard 3 pin plug to plug into our normal wall socket. A bit of a pain but I have the know how. Picture for reference only..

My cousins 500 was fixed on the spot and back working the same evening. Wish I could say the same for my 300!🤔 I finally got back to doing some more work on the trailer this evening, but only because I cleared out a load of timber yesterday to make some room! I purchased an air compressed plasma cutter from my local Lidl after work today, and although I've never used one before, I'm impressed. I was going through 2x 5inch grinder blades per 4ft cut of 2.5mm thick aluminium checker plate, this thing ripped through the same distance in about 30 seconds, it's far quieter and makes very little mess. For €110 it was a no brainer, and it has a 3 year warranty too. I only had the energy to cut 2 side panels for the trailer but must say I'm a happy camper with the results ( I need to experiment on a few offcuts to get the settings dialed in, but like all men and new toys, you always have to have a go ASAP!)😂

Sounds like we've all had some battle scars so! I never came off a bike but I did fall from a height when topping trees for my boss.. cracked 2 vertebrae t8 and t10, out of work for 22 weeks with a lot of physio just to get my back working again.

Ouch! Glad you're ok now!

My cousin was back in with his trx500 this morning, it's not engaging 4wd so it's being repaired under warranty.. mine is still in some form or shape of a bike!

Just on the cardboard Fish! My mother would be on my case otherwise!

I got this table finished, on to the next one shortly, which I have already started. Very pleased with how it has turned out.

Update today from Ed! He has ordered a new loom, which is due within 2 weeks from the USA..so I SHOULD have my bike back by the end of the month.. HOPEFULLY!

I thought I struggled for space when re building mine last year! 😂Are you going to repair the frame or swap it out for another? Some of the guys here told me I was overkill with the amount of repairs I did to my frame but it turned out sweet in the end!

So, to update you all.. I rang the shop and they are waiting on a few parts to come in, hoping to get them tomorrow or the next day. Then they will repair the engine and fit the new loom (if that is the issue). I also asked them to fit a new plug for a sprayer or light etc if I ever need one down the line.. hope to have it back 2 weekends time. As for the trailer, I'm waiting for the weather to get a bit warmer as it's too cold to paint here at the moment! Then I can fit the aluminium sides and put it to use!

Fish, he is also fixing the oil leaks on the engine top. The deal was he would fix the bike in between other projects they have when he has 30 mins here or 15 mins there etc.. so I don't get burned pockets from their hourly rate! I will be calling in the morning to see what's going on as I'm getting a little impatient that they've had the bike nearly a month. I have so much work to catch up on but cant do without the bike.

Hi all, just an update for you on the bike.. I haven't heard anything back yet from the guy who has it torn apart, I will probably call him on Monday afternoon to rattle his brain on it again😁 I assume that he has ordered a new loom for the bike and it's just a matter of time until it gets delivered.. anywho, keep ya'll posted!

It will still be warmer than Ireland so I'm good with that!😁

This is my current site! Digging ourselves into a hole!🙃 I'm project managing the job from start to finish, then heading to Australia for a bit of different work and some warm weather! (Itll be late August before I go there)

Fish, if you have a milling chain, it flies through end grain like a got knife through butter! I tend to have to resharpen after about 15 linear metres of cuts though as its the hardest pressured cut on a chainsaw. I have 3 chains total so I just swap them out on site and resharpen them at home the next day. It's very satisfying work.

Fish, that was me in the photo. I have a Stihl MS661 and had a 30 inch bar on it with a 10° milling chain. It took about 20 minutes of flat out run time to cut that log about 16ft long. It was about 25 inches at the widest part. We cut 2 trunks to get 4 bridges.

A follow on from Blue's post.. the round table was my first real go at using clear coat epoxy. I added a glow powder to both coats and ots amazing how it glows in the dark! I'm almost finished the colourful square one Blue posted above, then I have a slightly bigger one to make up for my best friend who got married last year (yes, a late wedding present but the wait will be worth it for them)! Here's a few snaps of the other tables I did..the rectangle shaped one is Evergreen Holm Oak, with 3x dovetail keys to stop a crack from opening that was initially non existent before it left the garage! The heat in the house opened it up, so I filled the crack with epoxy then lightly stained the top with linseed oil. The final few photos show me milling a Douglas fir that blew down in a storm some years ago. 2 years later we needed to replace some long foot bridges and so i split them down the middle to get 2 out of 1. The short milling piece was a chestnut tree that was dangerously overhanging an old garden wall, my climber friend helped me safely take it down over 2 days and I got some planks for all our effort!

Fish, in relation to the light bar and LED head lights, what sort of brightness do you get from all that? Any pics of it in the dark? The stock bulbs I have on mine are fine for my current use but I'm interested to see what output something like your outfit can give?

Thanks @Melatv! it has been enjoyable all beit a bit frustrating at times! I hope to have it ready before I get my bike back from the mechanic, they haven't look further into it yet as they have an open weekend to showcase the 2020 honda quads at an event, so hopefully I hear back sometime next week.

Got really stuck into the trailer today. I had planned to go hunting with my dad but work got in the way! So when I got back I made up the second triangle shaped bracket for infront of the wheels. I welded both on at 65mm infront of the tyres. I also got the 3rd side fit and came up with a brain fart on how to beef up all 4 sides. Dad purchased a threaded riveter a few months ago, so I drilled through the tail gate x4 and through one skin of the rear of the side parts, fixing a threaded rivet to the ends of each side. Then I bolted the back on to the sides using 4x M8 bolts. I also did this on the front piece either end at the top to tighten all 4 sides against eachother. As a result of the above, I shouldn't need to pin the front or sides to the main frame, meaning assembly/unassembly time is reduced.. but a trip on rough terrain will answer that question! I just have to cut the checker plate now and paint everything before fixing it permanently to the sides and floor.

The tyres on mine are quite narrow, I might be able to get slightly wider ones to fit the rims on it. I'll keep the steel a minimum of 50mm infront of the tyre so. Is your hitch attached to a pipe inside a pipe? I went with square box iron but I have several holes drilled on the inside tube so I can adjust the length of the drawbar when towing. There is no left to right wiggle with it. The max weight I will have in the trailer is about 150-200kg. The sides are only 300mm (12inches) high deliberately, so I don't overload for the bike. It's to carry chainsaws, milling equipment, a passenger on rare occasion and some planks or firewood.

I got stuck into the 3rd side of the trailer this evening and when I had welded the 3 outer bars on, I decided to take a break from that and work on a triangular piece for in front of the wheels (Thanks @Melatvfor that idea!). Here's what I came up with.. I only had time to make up 1 prototype but I'm quite happy with it as I just cut out a 30° angle in opposite directions meeting at a point on some 40mm box iron, bent the steel to close the gap and then welded the joint together. Im not a fan of open ended steel where water and mud can sit inside and rot the steel so what I have come up with should avoid those issues.. The outer most point of the triangle is about 15mm proud of the outer edge of the tyre so it should avoid any trees or obstacles I come across.. Hope to make up the other one tomorrow before welding them in situ. How much clearance would you guys recommend leaving between the front of the tyre and back of the triangle? I was thinking about 50mm/2inches max?

No word on the status of the bike yet, I will contact them soon for an update. You guys sure know a lot about sensors and electronics! It's not my forte! I finally got around to the trailer again this evening.. I sparked an idea in my head to fit an adjustable stump so I can have the trailer hitch off the ground when I'm working on it (axle stands are a pain when the object they are holding/balancing is too light), so this helped with steadying the trailer big time! I'll cut the leg to height when its hitched to the bike so it's not sitting on the ground when attached, making it easier to adjust. (Don't have the bike to check the heights anyway). I got a side welded on this evening and had enough so I'll hopefully jump into it again tomorrow evening and get the sides finished..

Hi all, I had everything typed out and lost my internet connection so I'll do the short version of my story this time incase I lose it again!! I was advised to go to a Honda quad dealer in central Cork so i took the advise and brought my bike in. I was getting annoyed that the fan unit hasn't worked and we couldn't figure out why. Ed (the recommended mechanic) did a voltage test first. He found that the regulator was faulty and was drawing more than 15volts when the bike was running, so he went and searched for a new one which luckily he had 1 in stock. A quick change of this and your voltage dropped to 14.72volts at full rev. The second test he did, he removed a small metal side cover on the right bottom side of the engine, revealing a blue wire. He earthed this wire back to the negative of the battery and turned on the ignition. He said if the fan was correctly wired it would come on with the oil temperature light beside the neutral green light on the dash, unfortunately it didn't. The 3rd test required removing the front bumper and plastics, the front fenders and lights to access the cdi and wiring below the front of the handlebars. Ed replaced the cdi on my bike with a different one, he said the cdi I have didn't have a power supply for a fan unit (which it didn't). The next issue was trying to find the correct wires to connect the loom of the cdi to the fan. Not going into detail here as I was a bit confused about what Ed was doing, we called my dad to ask for a wiring diagram and a link to a parts breakdown diagram. After pulling out the exploded diagram for the wiring loom, we agreed between us that the loom on my bike is not the correct loom for the fan and it will need to be replaced in order for the fan to work properly. I have left the bike with Ed for the next 2 weeks and hope he can fix the electronic problems aswell as the kill switch that also never worked. I offered to pay for his time done to date and he refused, so I gave him a €40 tip to drown his sorrows with beer for the hassle I brought on him😂 He is genuinely interested in fixing the bike but more importantly he knows what he is doing. He also said once all the repairs are done, providing an annual service is done the bike will easily last 15-20 years more. So far what has happened with parts: New regulator. New cdi box that has a proper feed for a fan. Will require a new loom for the bike. Oil leaks will be repaired whole bike is dismantled. The second photo is a honda 500 4wd that my cousin bought yesterday from the same guy who is fixing my bike.