Thursday, November 29, 2012

The eyelets are on.
 Here is the chainstay fender mount bridge.  I spaced it so I can run a 28 mm tire if need be.  It was fashioned out of a piece of 4130 3/8" scrap tubing left over from Ians seatstays.
I almost forgot the rear derailleur cable stop.  This is a beauty from Paragon Machine Works.  It's stainless, I don't know if I will paint or polish it.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

 I cut and faced the head tube.  The top lug was cut down to have a 16 mm point to match the lower point.
I ground a  little pocket for the fender stay eyelet to sit in to give it a little more contact area.  And it will look better too.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

I glued and screwed some exterior plywood together and routed a groove to bend the 3/8" 4130 for the fender mount.  Looks real good.

 This will be the only location for the rear fender stay mount.  I'm going to run some hammered aluminum fenders that only require one stay.
I'm thinking that this radius is a little too tight visually and I might open it up a little.  I'll cut and fit it and then decide.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

 I got a job in on this fine old Rivendell with a dented top tube.  The nature of the dent wouldn't allow it to be just filled with bondo because of high spots in the deformation.
 So I took the appropriate precision tube block from Paragon Machine Works (not related) and slowly clamped it down after applying some grease.  I would tighten, rotate and repeat a number of times.
This pulled down the high spots and removed all but about .010" of the dent.
 Then, I laid down a puddle of 56% silver at very low heat.
 A little filing and sanding and it is as good as new.  Ready for powder coat.
The goats were benevolent and I will be replacing the bar end shifters on the new rain bike with these Retro-Shift (again, not related) units.  IMHO they are the ideal rain shifter.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Both seat stays are now on and look great.  Next, I need to fab a mandrel to bend the 3/8" X .028 wall tubing I have for the fender bridges.  

 I finally got a couple of pics of Dougs finished bike.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Even though I obsessively measure, check angles, and other frame alignment metrics, I always do a visual fit up.  I gotta see it before the second seat stay goes on..

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The final shape of the seat stay at the seat tube junction is close.  I'll finish it up today when the ambient light is better.  So far, the rough weight of the frame is 3 lbs. 8 oz. which is lighter than I originally predicted.

Monday, November 5, 2012

The company is gone and most of the repair work is done, so back to frame building.  Here, I'm fitting up the seat stays to the dropouts.