Steel or aluminum

Hey everybody, I am making my own brackets for auxiliary lights that attach under the fairing, much like Dennis B.'s light fixture. I find the aluminium stock is cheaper and also shipped for free from eBay. My only concern is the suitability of aluminium in this application. I am planning on using bars :1/4 or 3/8 thickness, 1 inch width and about 8 inches in length. If you know of any contraindications to this I'd like to know. This is my winter project, but if I don't get my a** in gear soon, it will be next winter's project. Thanks.

I would go with a 3/16 " X 1 1/2' flat bar  ,a 1" wide flat bar with a 5/16" drill hold might cause stress cracks with the wait of the light fixture at the other end of the bar.{ IMO } Your Call. 

Thanks, tinman. Any opinion re. steel v/s aluminium ?. If aluminium is totally unsuitable, I'll go with steel.

Either way I would go with a coating of some sort.
Small parts like this can be powder coated extremely inexpensively by local shops.

Or

Hardware stores often sell a bottle of liquid rubber designed for you to dip tool handles into.
The rubber coats the tool handle to insulate you from shock.

The same stuff would make a nice weather resistant coating for your item.

I'll let those with more metallurgical knowledge discuss aluminum vs steel vs stainless steel.

Dan

With the steel you can go to a 1/8' X 1"to 1 1/2' is good. Stainless steel ,20 or 18 gauge by 1  1/4 '' with a 3/8" bend on the sides. 3/16" by 1 1/2" aluminum flat bar  or a piece of aluminum1/8" checker plate  will also work . a thin piece of rubber can help in between the bar and body if you are concern for damage to the body.

Sounds good, thanks for your input, guys. I think the aluminium will do if treated properly. The price is also right.

I am just going to put in a vote for Dennis. I have his mounting bracket on my 2005 and it has been on now for several thousand miles with no problems. He did a fantastic job on it and I don't see how you can improve on it. Thank you Dennis.

DaveR wrote:

I am just going to put in a vote for Dennis.   I have his mounting bracket on my 2005 and it has been on now for several thousand miles with no problems.  He did a fantastic job on it and I don't see how you can improve on it.  Thank you Dennis.

+1  

I know Dennis' equipment is top notch and is done in an outstanding fashion...  but you can't eliminate the "tinker" factor completely. I bought a couple metal strips to 'play' with for the same reason. Now... if I can only find them...  

DickO nailed it. I'm not knocking DennisB's products. I bought the spotlight connector from him and I'm very happy with it. I'm not at all electrically savvy . I'm not that mechanically savvy either, but I do like to tinker. I made the brackets for my spotlights from the round cover of an electrical junction box. It took me a while, but I got the design down in 2 tries and did the fine tuning.
It holds the reflector and carries the spotlight on top, all in one piece. I'm rather proud of my work. It would have cost $2.00 Can., but I had left over covers from work in my house.
My current projects are handguards and the auxiliary lights that mount beside the headlight. I'm also looking at a pair of crashbar shields to keep the wing off my feet on my 2000 ACE. I have it up for sale, but in the winter I am "thinking" about MY design for the shields.
There are products on the market that will do just fine, but I would rather use my own design, and piece these extras myself. My ACE has a license plate holder that was once the side tray on a Sears BBQ. Nobody would know unless I pointed it out to them. My motto: If any material is already paid for, why not use it in some other fashion rather than just toss it aside or send it to the landfill. If you are wondering about the gas BBQ, I gutted it and adapted it for charcoal grilling. It lasted another 5 years. I cannibalized the sidetray when my ACE license plate started cracking. There was no plate holder.
I do, however, value the opinions of more expert and knowledgeable tinkerers from various forums like this one.

316SS for everything. make it,fit it, forget it.

There is nothing wrong with what you are doing. It is good to make it if indeed that is what you want to do. I just wanted to put a plug in for Dennis. This is why this country has been so great. People come up with their own ideas. It has been a free market. I am very thankful we have remained a free and prosperous nation. We have been very blessed! Keep on keeping on. . .