Where have I been??? + my Donzi in a Mag

[clayman]

Hey Everybody, I know, I have been missing for a while. well, add two more babies to the list. Jennifer and I had two beautiful twins last November that have been keeping us very busy along with Mackenzie, now almost 2! She loves the Donzi, and cheers and laughs when we are running. The twins are named Allison and Gavin, yeah a boy and a girl ( thank god) . I have also been very busy with the Motorcycle business. I just bought a CNC mill! anyone need some Donzi parts CNC? Well, anyway the real reason I am on the board tonight is to let you guys know that my Donzi is in the current issue of Boating Life magazine. page 81-3. Pretty funny picture of me on the bow. If someone reminds me how to upload pictures, I will post the article.
When is the Mount Dora thing? did I miss it?

Later
James Spiroff
Deviant Design/Echelon motorcycles :smileybo:

[Dr. Dan]

:bonk: Clayman.....Great to see ya here again...I was just watching the Florida Owners Rally Video from 2002 and saw you guys in there....

On Pics....got to Reply...type your text, scroll down lower and go the the Additional Options Box...you will see manage attachments, this now connects ya directly to your browser........just make sure its in the right format.

Say Hi to Jennifer...congrats again...any pics of the Kids?

Doc & Liz :wavey:

[ChromeGorilla]

I was wondering if you were a board member. I saw you and the boat in the mag...

Congrats on the twins and the article!

Mt Dora was in March. :(

I look forward to meeting you, I'm up the road in Jax.

[RedDog]

Glad to hear from you Clayman. Not to long ago I was wondering what happened to you. You sure have 1 fine 18 - you should post some more pics of your pretty ride - many new folks here haven't seen it

[pmreed]

Hey James, missed you at Mt Dora. We talked about you and wondered what was up. Congratulations on the twins. Glad you and Jennifer are doing well. Tell us more when you've got the time.

Phil

[Cuda]

Clayman, I've moved close to you. I'm in Deland now. Let's run the river this summer.

[Fish boy]

Congrats on the new additions James. Hoepfully we will see you at the hometown rally if not before. If you can't get the pics worked out, email them to me and Iwll post them for you.

fish
makulaf@mindspring.com

[knots2u]

What brand and travels of CNC mill? I worked for Mori Seiki for 5 years......if you need any help just email.

[Lenny]

I will have to go look for it today. :)

http://www2.worldpub.net/images/BL_May05_cover_200x264.jpg

[Tidbart]

Hey James, good to hear from you. Figured you were busy with the motorcycles, who knew you were so busy otherwise. Glad everyone is well.
We missed you at Mt Dora. I take it the 18 is running well.
Ranya says hello to you and Jen. Hope to see you soon.

Bob

[McGary911]

CM, welcome back and congrats on getting some ink for that nice 18 of yours. If i recall you have a nice website for your pottery....have one for your bikes yet? or at least a pic or 2? a good friend of mine does customs. http://rodsandracers.com/

And congrats on the twins too!

[pmreed]

Here you guys go:
Clayman's Motorcycle site (http://www.echelonmotorcycles.com/index_high.php)

Phil

[clayman]

It is nice to hear from everybody. Sucks we missed Mt Dora, how about the exotic car show? The boat is running great, no overheating since the install of those stupid little teflon balls in the thermostat housing. We will be at the hown town rally this fall. Here is a pic of the twins. twins.jpg
here is the article. I am not crazy about the pictures they chose considering the photograher took about 200 shots including running shots where we used my friends boat to ride along next to me, those were cool. I am tring to get a copy of the cd from them.
Anyway it was fun. boatinglifepage onesmall.jpg boatinglifepage twosmall.jpg

[clayman]

I forgot to put a link to my website for the restoration pictures. There are some good ones of Jessica and Paula (Donzi girls) http://www.clayman.com/jimmyscustom/donzi/index.htm

[RedDog]

too cool!

great babies!

[clayman]

I noticed that too, what is a VXO??? To answer the CNC question I bought a Bed mill proto trak 3 axis mill. It is a glorified vertical mill, I can use it completely manual , or full cnc, or anything in between , it is pretty neat. I don't really use it for production runs of anything over maybe 10-20 pieces. I send out the big jobs. I mostly use it for prototyping and one -off parts.
James

[Last Tango]

Great to have you back on the board, James. We missed you the last couple years at the events. Everytime the SEADOGs get together, somebody always asks, "Anyone seen or heard from Clayman?"

Check out the SEADOGs Calendar of events in the events section.

[joseph m. hahnl]

I noticed that too, what is a VXO??? To answer the CNC question I bought a Bed mill proto trak 3 axis mill. It is a glorified vertical mill, I can use it completely manual , or full cnc, or anything in between , it is pretty neat. I don't really use it for production runs of anything over maybe 10-20 pieces. I send out the big jobs. I mostly use it for prototyping and one -off parts.
James
Proto traks are great! real user friendly. congrates on the the two future donzi members. i'm sure they'll be wanting those keys to the 18 be fore you know it. better start working on a new one. kids have a way of wrecking your stuff!!! ha, ha, you know thats the truth.

[Speed-Racer]

James, congrats on everything man! Hope to see you, the family, and the 18 at some events....

I remeber when Dad and I came over and it was a shell with parts eveywhere!

[Just Say N20]

Thanks for posting a link to the restoration pictures. Fantastic Job! You are a meticulous and patient guy to complete this project. Awesome. You must also have a very special wife to "share you" with a project of such magnitude.:biggrin:

[clayman]

It is nice hearing from everybody. Jen and I are looking forward to some boating this summer. We are planning on taking the boat to Michigan this summer , last week in july-first week Aug. My Mom lives on Lake Fenton, and the second week we will be at my family cottage on Stag Island, in the St. Clair river. Any one Run the river??? I would love to hook up with some other Donzi owners. :beer: :canada:

[Rootsy]

I noticed that too, what is a VXO??? To answer the CNC question I bought a Bed mill proto trak 3 axis mill. It is a glorified vertical mill, I can use it completely manual , or full cnc, or anything in between , it is pretty neat. I don't really use it for production runs of anything over maybe 10-20 pieces. I send out the big jobs. I mostly use it for prototyping and one -off parts.
James


Good equipment, Have 2 Prototrak SM's and one AGE 3 on the floor doing the bulk of our milling... No history of trouble except for the X travel gearbox on the table of our newest machine...

JR

[Dr. Dan]

:beer: My Practice Wifes Family lived in Fenton in the 70's....I used to love to eat at "Bills" all you can eat smelt and serious battered Fresh Water Pearch! Used to sell the smelt by the Kilo!

Nice area....

I grew up in Howell, Michigan...then got parolled sometime in the late 70's...I have been on permanent "Work Release" since! I go back on Holidays...sometimes! :cool!:

Doc :spongebob

[clayman]

I grew up in Milford, near the Gm Proving grounds. I went to college at NMU in Marquette in da UP der eh? Hey rootsy, what do you do? What type of machining? I am just learning. It is really cool. I love designing something and going out there and making it. I will post some pictures of my new motorcycle frames I am making. I actually make my parts, and frames, unlike 99% of most "bike builders"
James

[Rootsy]

I grew up in Milford, near the Gm Proving grounds. I went to college at NMU in Marquette in da UP der eh? Hey rootsy, what do you do? What type of machining? I am just learning. It is really cool. I love designing something and going out there and making it. I will post some pictures of my new motorcycle frames I am making. I actually make my parts, and frames, unlike 99% of most "bike builders"
James

I am a mechical design engineer for a custom machining / fab shop. We are fairly small, less than 20 employees. we do custom machining, machine builds, design, assembly, small production runs, custom fabrication, you name it.

the majority of the machining we do with our prototraks is 2D in nature... any profiling that we do of complex shapes i will generate a DXF file for and pull it into the traks and run the toolpaths... i also use bobCAD-CAM and EdgeCAM for complex 3D stuff... though i am still learning EdgeCAM and such...

We design with Solidworks 2005 and autoCAD (SUX) when required....

BTW, i went to school at Michigan Tech in Houghton, also in Da UP Eh...

JR

[olredalert]

James,

------Tons of us all up and down the river and just south around Harsens. We rarely need an excuse to party but you showing up would be a hell of a catalyst for the bunch of us deadbeats. Look forward to seeing you guys!...........Bill S