Drilling and Safety Wiring

I had been thinking about drilling the front brake rotor on the Yamaha for some time now, and finally got around to doing it. I considered it to be ugly in its blank, original form.

I printed off a drill pattern I downloaded from the Yamaha xs650 Forum and taped it all together. After trimming it down, I glued it to the rotor and commenced center-punching the hole locations. I had several 1/4" drill bits, but none that I felt were good enough to drill 72 nice holes, so I decided to get a couple new cobalt bits from the Amazonians.

The original style tab things that you fold over the heads of the bolts after tightening them were overused and basically shot. Half the tabs were broken off because they're only meant to be used once or twice at the most. I had ordered some new ones off Ebay, but when they arrived I changed my mind. 

I decided to go the safety wire route for something different. I already had safety wire pliers (they followed me home from work in my lunch box many years ago), so I added some safety wire and some drilled stainless steel bolts to my Amazon order.

 

 

The new drill bits worked fantastic, and I ended up only having to use one bit for all the holes, and it still seems as sharp as it did new. I guess using plenty of cutting oil and going at the right speed works wonders.

  

After the drilling was done and the holes deburred, I got to try my hand at safety wiring! It took me a few tries with the first one before I was satisfied, but it was actually pretty easy once you get going.

 

I like the look a lot better than the factory blank rotor: