| Author | Message | ||
     Djkaplan |
... my horn mount, that is. Years of shaking finally work hardened the steel to a point where it fractured. The horn stayed with the bike because the wires kept it from hitting the pavement. I thought it would be a simple procedure to make a sturdier mount out of aluminum. I looked at the failure of the original steel mount and used that as a guide to design my own much stronger, and better horn mount... ahem. A few things confused me at first. Why was the original mount made of two very thin (less than a 1/16" thick) steel flatbars sandwiched together? I chalked it up to a mistake by material control from Buell or the mount supplier... "who ordered this crap?", and went ahead and fabbed up some .190 aluminum sheet thusly...  Drilling two holes was simple and getting back on was a breeze.  Problem solved.... right? Wrong. Oh so very wrong. Unbeknownst to me... this type of horn needs to resonate in a very narrow range of amplitude before it can reach maximum volume. I assume (now) there's some kind of electro-magnet inside that does this against some kind of resonating plate. The zoot-capri extra smart-ass horn mount I fabbed was apparently quelling the resonance to a point where it was as loud as a very sick goose on it's last gasp (it's a fitting description, btw). The two very thin steel flat bars sandwiched together were obviously carefully designed and selected to let the horn resonate like a mofo. Chalk one up for proper engineering... chalk one down for thinking you know better. My only recourse was to shorten the aluminum as much as I could and re-using what was left of the flatbars. It fits fine, but it's not nearly as loud as it once was. Not exactly back to square one... but this ain't fixed the way it should be. No need for a pic of that. Who woulda' thunk horn mounts even needed fancy thinkin' and cipherin'? Not me... obviously. | ||
| Stevem123 |
I could be mistaken but I think the mounting screw on the horn also doubles as a jack-screw to adjust the diaphram (sound-level) of the horn. The nut doubles as a jamb-nut to secure the adjustment screw. It has nothing to do with the mount itself. Again I could be wrong on this but there is some sort of adjustment screw to optimize the sound level. I've never seen one that doesn't have one. Find it and you should be able to make it sound good again. BC Steve | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
If it's the same as mine, the adjustment screw is caked in with silicone. Mine stopped working at some point and I tweaked my screw to wake it up. look for a small-ish round depression filled with silicone. I'm pretty sure that these horns don't care how they are bolted onto the bike. Though mine does fill with water from time to time  | ||
| Djkaplan |
If there is an adjusting screw, it hasn't been tampered with. The horn was working fine on the original mount, but not on the aluminum mount. I blares pretty loud like it supposed to in my hand, too. I'm pretty sure that these horns don't care how they are bolted onto the bike. I have empirical evidence that it does, but you can find out yourself and get back with me. Seems odd that Buell would go to the trouble of using two thin steel flatbars as a horn mount if it wasn't of any importance - a thicker single one would have been cheaper and more durable. | ||
| Djkaplan |
I just did a cursory google on the subject and apparently I'm not the only one who's stumbled onto this same issue. Resonating-type horns are very dependent on the mounting bracket used. What we need is the Anonymi of horn-tech to chime in... | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
So I guess you will have to tamper with it to get it to work? (by the way, that mount does look tasty) | ||
| Chasespeed |
Seems odd that Buell would go to the trouble of using two thin steel flatbars as a horn mount if it wasn't of any importance - a thicker single one would have been cheaper and more durable. My horn is held on with a single thicker piece of steel.... and its PLENTY loud... its a Hella 500Hz from the parts store... Only time it sounds weak, is when its wet... Chase} | ||
| Wile_ecoyote |
zoot-capri extra smartass mount. That term alone beats careful design every time! I've experienced what your saying. I think the reason for sandwiched plates was that the two would make it stronger than the one. (like those tools you see) Ha! Broke those babies before too. |
