GKM ISSUE16

Irish Rich Column

Very Interesting Article

mid-'30s　から45年間ハーレーのフレーム製造部門で

働いていた"Josef Stanchinski"氏の語るフレーム製造に

関する非常に興味深い記事です。

I asked Josef about the Knuckle frames that I had seen that were half furnace brazed, and half electric welded.

He told me that with all the technology that had come out of  Harley's involvement in the war effort(WWII), Harley had decided to do away with their furnace brazing, and assemble all their frames - starting with the '48 Panhead models (then on the drawing boards) - using the latest electric welding methods.

He said that starting around mid- '46, Harley started phasing in electric welders on the frame assembly, But because they couldn't shut the entire frame department down to re-train all workers at once, Harley sent some of their crew to weld school, and when they were finished, another group would go.

So, some of the men were trained and some weren't.

The welders would electric-weld part of the frame, and the brasers  would still furnace-braze the axle plates, neck forging and seat crossover tube, until all the men had rotated through welding training.

Josef said after mid-'47, every frame was totally electric welded, except for some Servicar frames.