Plasma Cut Motorcycle Shapes - Some History

In late 1979, Bill Kunz developed a pantograph machine for cutting shapes from steel plate.   He started out working out of his garage shop.  Over the years, his company, Torchmate, went on to become a leading manufacturer of CNC plasma cutting machines.  He sold the company in 2011 and retired.

Upon retiring, Bill focused on his long-term interest in vintage motorcycles.   He noticed that the only plasma or laser cut motorcycle shapes on the market were simplistic, cartoon-like shapes.  It was obvious to him that most of these designs were created by people who were non-bikers, or artists with no practical shape cutting experience.  Bill set about designing a series of bike cut-outs with as much detail as possible within a reasonably sized piece.

Rather than using clip art or other shortcuts, Bill traced over the significant lines and contours of actual motorcycle photographs.  Since it is impossible for a plasma torch to capture all the detail in an actual bike, he picked the parts that he believed gave each manufacturer’s models their unique individuality.

The laser cut pieces were farmed out to a laser cutting service for the purpose of seeing just how small his designs could be cut without the limitation of a .050″ wide kerf.