Framed!

riddle_nicholas' photostream

2011-12-07T22:00:00.001-08:00

Frames and other things in progress.

The Shadley - revisited...

2011-11-05T14:27:00.000-07:00

I took a ton of pics of the Shadley's build process and have neglected to follow up on posting here. Of most interest to the framebuilder will be the front rack, which is an adaptation of cantilevered racks seen on omafiets, such as on my wife's Azor, which we got from Clever Cycles in Portland.
This was my first attempt at this rack. Well, when I say first, it was in actuality, many small attempts, working out jigs for the rack tubes, holding the rack mount peices together, etc etc. Lots of little mistakes discarded along the way. I probably should have documented these moments a little later, but is difficult to keep this in mind when faced with the frustrating barrier of a failed piece. Will do better next time.
Here's some pics of the Shadley completed along with links to the flickr and the Shape Field Office page.

The wife's custom roadie...

2011-11-05T14:09:00.000-07:00

Morning all,
Keeping on my agenda to get back onto posting on a regular basis, (following my surprising discovery that I'm linked on Richard Sach's website,) I'll be taking you through the building of a road frame for my wife.
We sat down at the table to discuss her desires in a road bike. She wanted something classic yet contemporary, clean with no fussiness or excess metalwork, a sloping crown fork, stable geometry and she wanted it to ride just like her Colnago. The one we sold 10 years ago.
Ok.
So, using some CONI geometry magic, looking at Colnago's current thinking about geometry and comparing that with my old Grandis, I came up with some angles and dangles that I think will accomodate her. I put the seattube back at 73' to give her a little more uppper body and to put the weight back over the rear wheel to aid in climbing. [The terrain is very steep around here and have some weight back to push the pedels feels alot better than being over the BB.]
I chose a nice noodly tubeset, Colubus SLX which has generous wall thicknesses for my skill level. While my skills are progressing, I must be honest with myself about what I can handle. I'm not at the stage of sticking a .6mm tube onto a BB shell - I need a few more years and a lot more torch time for that. For now, an 8/5/8 tube will be just fine, have plenty of rigidity and matches my skill level.
This frame will also have an internal brake cable, stainless tidbits and Paragon's wright dropouts. Nice and clean.
This was the first frame to put into the new Anvil Jig - man, what a difference. Do yourself a favor - if you're working on a homemade jig, stop messing about. Call Don and order one. It will revolutionize how you work. Seriously. It is worth the investment on frame one.
Enough commercializing - now onto some pics. To be honest, I've done a miserable job of documenting this process but will share what I have.
You can see more of the process on my flickr page here.

long time, new post and new thoughts on design....

2011-10-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

I've build another frame since the last you've seen along with a truss fork front end. However, I've been working on the big question of what it is that I'm contributing to the craft of framebuilding. Sure, each frame has its own little peculiarities, but at the risk of being an assembler of other's parts - what's the significant contribution that I'm working towards? While each of my frames has been a test of skills or an experimentation in handling, these have all been building upon the fundamentals, not ncessarily pushing the craft.
So, while this is far from being resolved at the time of this writing, I would like to encourage others to think about this as well: what is it that we're contributing the the larger body of knowledge? Of particular interest to me are novel applications of the bike, reinvention of old technology, (know where 'clinchers' comes from?) and the marriage of high-tech techniques with ancient ones.
So, subsequent frames posted here will be not only developing my fundamental knowledge, but will also be attempts to reconcile my desire to push the craft with new influences. While its a bit of a solipsistic folly to assume that one might reinvent/break the paradigm/or think out of the box in this regard, I think we can all apply our own passions to give it a little nudge.

Another video...

2010-10-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

Yoni, a student in the Film program here at CCA, did up this quick little video - I like the spunkier editing. Anyone need a filmmaker? I can put you in touch with Yoni, he's got the touch.

Out on the ride....

2010-10-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

Put a good ride in last week on the new singlespeed road, belt-drive bike. (From now on, called, the road bike.) I went from San Francisco, across the bridge, down through the hellish tourist enclave of Sausalito, then along the bike freeway that skirts just along the water's edge, and up into Mill Valley. From there, I followed the bike routes and paralleled, just briefly, highway 101 and watched the suckers in their cars. Yeah, they are a necessary evil, but still...what a sucker punch. The whole thing.
Anyway, from there continued on through Corte Madera, rolled along the well-apointed streets of Ross, through the adorable bungalows of San Anselmo and then into Fairfax, a happy, hippy rolly-polly town nestled in the golden hills crowned with victorious boughs of manzanita and redwoods. What a lovely place - I loved it. But, feeling full of myself, I pedaled onward up, up the long grinding climb northward. Till finally, I could take it no longer. One gear was getting to be too much. Not trying to kill myself, I thought it best to wander back into town, which took far less time in a tuck along the woefully paved roads, dodging gaping holes and cracks. Once into town, I sought out the local coffee shop with a view and happened upon Fairfax Coffee Roastery - jackpot! I decent cuppa and have something sweet to get recharged. To be honest - it was an ok cup of coffee. Despite the fact that they roast there, or at least have the appearance of one, what with bags of beans stacked on the floor, acting as an ad hoc bench/play structure, it was a disappointing up. Pumped with no dignity out of a standard issues food-service carafe into a paper cup, even though its obvious I'm not going to go ride with it, I sat with my bitter cup watching the town move about. (Coffee hint: if the wand on the espresso machine hasn't been cleaned since 1989, then its probably a crap joint. ) If they had just brewed them one cup at a time, it would have made all the difference in the world in the quality and the presentation. Oh well, plenty of room for a saavy expert to move in and steal the show.
After my coffee and oatbar, it was back on the bike for a liesurely stroll back into San Francisco. Hopped on the back wheel of a well-kitted out guy that must have been in his 60's, but he was sticking the rubber down like a hopped up teenager. That guy could go! Thankfully, he pulled my pathetic, art-school butt all the way to the bridge. From there, it was a trifle to make it up on through the Presidio and then home, where I could rest my weary legs and then watch a race on tv. Not a bad Saturday.

Video....

2010-10-10T10:52:00.001-07:00

A video from Tim, one of the students in the Summer 2010 class at California College of the Arts.

The Shadley....

2010-10-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

Started work on another frame - I've actually been working on this one for a while now, but work, classes and other stuff getting in the way. Finally, yesterday got all the tubes mitered at once - a first. Usually, something comes up, an interuption, something breaks, cat explodes all over the carpet, etc. But yesterday was smooth as silk and untroubled. Need more work days like that.
This will be a lightweight porter, (porteur for you francophiles,) based on an old Cinelli frameset. The rack will be an adaptation of those found on Dutch city bikes, such as the Azor in our own fleet. It will be a tricky build for sure, and I will be sure to keep you posted as I think the rack has great potential.
(pictured above: A Rene Hearse Porteur)

Road Single Speed with a Belt-Drive...

2010-10-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

I call it - Spinksy and Crutch.
Its geared rather comfortably for a solo ride, manageable on the hills and steady on the flat. Overall, not a bad gear. The belt drive has been a taxing learning curve - thank goodness this is a prototype and not a client's frame! However, learned some hard lessons as this is the second back-end on this frame. Next time I think it will be faster to just build a whole new bike.
Some notes on this frame:
Dedaccai cyclocross tubeset from Nova- .9/.7/09 DT, for example. Heavier tubing which has made for an incredibly stiff ride. Both myself and the nice folks at Gates, (which sponsored the drivetrain) were concerned about frame flex. I also wanted to use this bike offroad to explore the myriad of fireroads up in Marin. So, stiff is what I got.
Paragon Machine Works Sliding dropouts - I purchased the stainless set, which means that I used silver to join the stays to the dropouts - a tricky and controversial proposition. I'll be testing this out. Furthermore, I left the end of the stays open to monitor the long-term durability of these joints. Using Fred Parr's System 48 silver, I flowed lovely little fillets on the outside and insides of the tubes. Awesome stuff. The dropouts themselves come with rather stocky steel bolts, which I replaced with Ti for lightweight, (minimal) and greater friction, (less likely to come unthreaded.) The aluminum portion of the dropout is rather boxy and unattractive, but as there's ton's of material, feel free to carve and shape to your heart's content. Plus, the folks at Paragon are as nice and honest as you could ask. Salt of the earth.
Cyclocross crown and disk brakes - Used a cyclocross crown from Nova with offset in the crown so that I can run straight blades. Remember those straight steel blades that Colnago use to do? Man, just loved those. Not a day goes by that I don't kick myself for selling my Colnago Super. Anyway, the straight blades created a bit of a problem for the front disk brake. I also got a Willit's style front disc brake tab from Paragon, which seems to be shaped for a bent fork, not a straight blade. Consequently, I cut most of it off. We'll see how this holds up in the long run. Keep the brass running and made nice smooth transitions with minimal heat.
Gates Belt Drive - so far it is awesome. But be forwarned - its not as simple as chain drive. With a chain, you have much wider tolerances for chainline being off, in any direction. With the belt, you must be very particular about your axles being inline. Also, tensioning the belt becomes a very precise adjustment in that you can easily put the rear axle out of parallel with the BB axis, which causes the belt to wander off the cog. This is why they recommended the Paragon's or something similar. Standard track dropouts would be a nightmare. Crank offset, (q-factor) is also an issue. Partway through my build, I changed cranks. Mistake. These cranks had reduced q-factor and meant that I was dimpling tubes after I had it built. Not impossible, but time consuming and best avoided. And frankly, I'm not that impressed with outboard bearings - ugly as hell. Call me old and grouchy, but I'll take a Phil Wood Square taper anyday. Of course, unless Chris King floats me one of his external BB sets.

Have a look at the flickr pool - its got a better catalog of the process.

Belt Drives...

2010-10-02T03:15:00.000-07:00

Got to ride a lot of belt drive bikes out at Interbike this year. The folks at Gates are killing it, man. They have curated an incredible collection of bikes with belt drives. If you haven't ridden one, got find one. You know how a nice, fresh chain feels - so snappy and silent and fast? Its like that, but better and happens every ride.
Loved it so much I'm building a road SS with a belt drive. Will have pics up of the finished frame. Used Paragon's Sliders with disc tabs as well as their nice neat little seatstay splitter. Got both of them in stainless so they're polished up real pretty.
Brazage fillets and also used Fred's new System 48 silver on the stainless. Man, oh man, this stuff is great. I think he's calling this Fillet Pro, but if you ask him for System 48, he'll know what you're talking about. Buttery, fills nice, easy to control. Love it. And on lugs, such as fork crowns, it pulls so beautifully and makes the nicest little internal fillets. Its the stuff to have. Get it.
Nova OS Road tubeset on this one. It also has disc brake tabs, just in case I want to SS cross this monster or go get in some Marin Headlands dirt, which is largely fireroads. What a suffer-fest that will be.

Mountain Frame...

2010-10-02T03:01:00.000-07:00

This is a frame I built this summer, OS Mtn tubeset from Nova - inexpensive and works damn fine. Based on a shore-style aluminum frame - it actually rides better. Maybe its just the novelty of a new material, but I'm diggin' it. Its also my daily commuter for now.
More pics on my flickr pool.
There's a set on there for the summer and a new Road SS I'm building currently.
This particular frame, (the mtn bike) was fillet brazed using Fred Parr's Brazeage rod and flux - I love the way it flows. I know the old pro's like Welco Type B and I have some of this stuff. And honestly, its pretty good in my limited scope of knowledge. The standard rod from Airgas does alright, although the quality can be spotty at times. But, I like Fred and his work, so I continue to use his products. The real benefit is that it flows better. I can use less heat if I'm using brass on lugs and I can also run brass right around a corner or pull it to the inside of the tube. I love it and can't keep enough on hand. He's now making it in bigger sizes, which makes honking fillets easier.
Paint was a new one for me on this one. We've got a wonderful paint facility and spray booth at CCA and so I did a pro job on this one, (remember, I've spent 4 years there learning to make models, casting, painting, filling, routing, woodworking, glass working and casting, you name it.) Self-etching primer, spray a light coat of brown and then a automotive clear coat. Basically, between the primer and the clear coat, you can put anything. I'll experiment with this more later.

Lots of new frames....

2010-10-02T02:45:00.000-07:00

So, this has been a long time with no posting and no updating. Given its proximity to the top of the Google search engine, I'd better rectify this.
Last summer, Summer of 2010, I taught a framebuilding class at California College of the Arts. How's this, you ask? Long story short, I started on my undergrad degree in Industrial Design at CCA back in 2006, loved the place, loved the program, graduated in May of 2010 and proposed a framebuilding class that summer. It got approved and off we went!
Now, since framebuilding is just my hobby, but design is my profession, I taught the class as part of a design practice - how to prototype a vehicle and how craft is important in the integrity of this prototype. I did not, and was not trying to train people to be welders. This class focused on gaining an understanding of how a bike 'feels', how to interpret this feel into numbers and how these numbers change with the type and character of a bike. With that, 6 students designed their frames, drew them out full-scale by hand and we ordered some steel to start building our prototypes.
Welding instruction was handled by two Bay Area pro's - Paul Sadoff and Curtis Ingliss - both of whom are absolute and consumate professionals. Both of them are excellent teachers, with patience and fantastic stories. I honestly couldn't keep them around long enough. After their visits, everyone's welding doubled, tripled in quality, (if one could measure such a thing.) In the welding studio, there was a true competitive environment, in the classical meaning of the word, and everyone benefited and grew stronger as a result.
As steel was joined, everyone was able to self-diagnose their joins and determine, although not pretty, if its integrity was substantial enough to be safe and long-lasting. Like I said, I'm not training welders, but I am training them in craftsmanship, honesty in their work and a key understanding of what is correct in technique and what is not working -even if their skill level isn't there - it can be identified. That being said - everyone killed it. Their joints were pretty damn impressive considering the time spent behind the torch.
Anyway, this short story has become long. To cut to the chase - that class was so successful, we're now running three more next summer here in San Francisco as well as an interesting class this spring that will generate some challenging forms and techniques. Stay tuned...

Back into it!

2010-03-21T18:29:00.001-07:00

Long time, no post.
I'll be getting back into framebuilding this summer and I'm looking forward to it. First on the list:
Another pixie!
stay tuned....

Finally finished city bike!!

2007-08-01T12:46:00.001-07:00

I finally finished the city bike! Fenders, Brooks saddle and some fine Nitto bars. It also features a SRAM Spectro 7 internal hub. I think on future bikes, I'll spec the Shimano Nexus hub with roller brakes. Much cleaner and no rim brake dirtiness. Other than that, the bike turned out well. It should make a good commuter for San Francisco.

Long time, no post....

2007-03-10T12:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the delay in posting. Its been a long time. But, I've quit my job and have been going to school full time at California College of the Arts in San Francisco studying industrial design. What an amazing place. I'll try to post some of my bike related work here once in a while.
In the meantime, here's a little frame I finished up this winter. I handcut the dropouts from 4130 3/8 plate steel. The headbadge is cut from stainless, i forget which alloy. It cut easily anway. Its bolted into the headbadge with these wee little socket head cap screws.
More to come this summer when I have some time to work on more frames. Untill then, I'll try to catch up on some pics I have in folders that show some more process work.
Another interesting note on this frame. I left the back end of this frame unpainted to try a little something out. I finished the tubes with Fred Parr's Altife Pro and it hasn't rusted yet!! And I live right by the ocean with plenty of salt air and rain. Fine stuff, Mr. Parr.

More lessons than I can shake a stick at....

2006-06-10T21:43:00.000-07:00

I've been getting in lots of practice sessions working on my fillet joints. Instead of posting on a regular basis, I've been just spending time with the torch. Fred Parr has been helping me a ton getting everything set-up right. Do yourself a favor: call him. He is incredibly knowledgable. His new Al-Tife metal pre-treatment is incredible. The LFB I've been using just flow's like mad. Wets out on crappy steel like hot butter on a skillet. Its so effective, I've been having to re-learn how to pull a fillet around the joint. (pics to come.)
I've also got some tubes on order as well as some silver. We're getting close, folks.
Frame #1 will be a pixie bike for my buddy, Derek. Something easy to start with, nice small frame, short tubes, strength requirements are pretty minimal.
In the meantime, I'll get some pics posted of my progress. Its not pretty, but its progress.

Go with the Flow....

2006-04-05T13:07:00.000-07:00

You'll remember that I got some lugs from Rivendell a while back. These are labelled as "practice" lugs and are sold as seconds at $2 each. Right in my price range.
So, I've been working with these things and they are great!
I start with taking my flexible shaft tool and using a sanding drum, work it around the ID of the lugs to open them up to the proper clearance. You want to open it up just enough so that the tube slides in. This is quite different than needing to force it in. It should just slide in. This tells you that you have .003-.005 clearance. This is important for the capillary action of the molten filler metal.
Once everything is sanded and cleaned up and your tubes are mitered, I fixture it up in my vice and get the torch going. Heating is crucial. However, its pretty easy as the flame does all the work. Your job is to keep your patience and wait. Once the metal is the right color, (depending on your filler, of course,) just drag the rod/wire around the lug edge and imagine using the flame to brush it in.
That's it. Seriously. Its pretty easy.
After cutting a few lugs apart, its amazing to see how the molten filler, (in this case, bronze,) flows right in, and even creates a little internal fillet between the two mitered tubes. Just amazing.
I think my first frame will be lugged.

Stay away from hydrochloric acid!!!!

2006-03-23T09:34:00.000-08:00

I received an e-mail from Fred Parr this morning. He's been sending me volumes of advice as I blunder my way through the learning curve of fillet brazing. He's been working with me to help me refine my prep process for the tubes. This is critical and the large part of your time is dedicated tocleaning and preparation. If the prep's not done properly, no amount of welding charm and skill will save you.
His #1 point of advice is: DO NOT use hydrochloric acid to clean your tubes. Hydrochloric acid is found in many cleaners and degreasers. Mr. Parr states that the hydrochloric acid never stops eating the steel. This will ultimately compromise your hard work.
Ok. No hydrochloric acid. Got it.
So, looking around the house and the stores, I found a phosphoric acid cleaner normally used for cleaning the lime and mineral buildup out of coffee pots and humidifiers. So, I made up a weak solution to apply to the mitered ends of my joints. A test peice showed some bubbles, indicating that some sort of reaction was taking place. About 5 minutes in the solution and voila: A nice clean tube, inside and out.
Fred says that this is fine with regard to joint strength and longevity. HOWEVER, phosphoric acid, when heated, creates a nerve agent. Uh-oh. Not good. Now, I had been cleaning this off with a light soap solution. But still, history tells me nerve agents are not good.
So, we're back to the citric acid cleaner and elbow grease. There's just no way around it folks. Steel and its oxides are hard, so get in there and scrub!
Fred Parr has some new metal cleaners and preservatives called Al-Tife. I highly recommend you give him a call. Its far more complicated than just a cleaner and will apparently change the way you fillet braze! I can't wait to give it a try.

New dropouts!

2006-03-21T09:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, I spent the past week working on another dropout as well as some more fillets and a lugged joint.
The dropout I did in the usual manner: layout on paper, then stick to metal and start drilling and sawing and filing. This one didn't take as long. About 4 hours start to finish. Still, that's a lot of time with a jeweller's saw. I spoke with Chuck Schlesinger at the NAHBS show in San Jose and he told me to try e-machineshop.com. He said he got his laser cut for about $8 each. Not bad. Once I have a design I like, I'm going straight there.
Speaking of which, the NAHBS show was incredible. I tried taking some pictures, but to tell you the truth, I'm no photographer. It really didn't do it justice. Just google it and I'm sure you'll come up with a better selection. In fact, cyclingnews.com had a nice 3 part photo report on it.
I also had a chance to speak with JP Weigel who had some great advice on fillet brazing. He was very excited and encouraging to hear that so many are trying to build frames. Great guy, I recommend you look him up.
Let me know what you think of this dropout. Sorry the photo is so bad. I'll take some better ones later and repost.

Fillets!

2006-02-23T09:26:00.000-08:00

Had a great time this weekend creating fillet joints. With some coaching, proper set-up, fluxes and rods, I'm feeling better and better with each pass. The nervous hand-shake is gone, I'm working through the points on the mitered tube better and overall, I think I'm having about 90% success. I'll post some photo's of work later on, but in the meantime, here's the down-low on my set-up and tips:
1. Use a good flux- this is key. I'm using Fred Parr's Saf-T-9 of which you apply a very thin coat.
2. The tube miters need to be good, really good. If you've used a hole-saw to rough it, clean it up with a file and get rid of inconsistencies. At the temperature which brass flows, it will flow right through any gaps to the ID of the tube.
3. Clean the tubes well. In fact, I don't think they can be too clean. I use emery cloth, then a degreaser such as Mira-Chem, (don't use any cleaners with hydrochloric acid,) then liberal, aggressive brushing with stainless brushes on the OD and ID. I don't know what the stainless is doing, maybe some sort of passivation, but it works.
4. Get it hot but not too hot! The tinning run after tacking is very important in forming that internal fillet. I'm still too conservative when tinning, but I find you actually have to run a little hotter than you think you do. Cool off the flame by backing off the oxygen a little then proceed with your fillet run with a larger rod. Keep the puddle moving, gently filling the puddle to avoid voids and watch the shoreline for temperature indication. If the shoreline is getting too wide, you've got too much heat in the tube. Back the torch off a little and keep moving away from the hot area. Do not dwell too long trying to fix it!
5. Use a bath or pot of hot water to get the flux off the tubes onces they've cooled. Water between 140 and 160 degree will get must of the flux off within 60 seconds. Flux remaining that's heavy with oxides might take a minute or two longer.
6. One more note, if you're practicing and you know its not your best work, move on. Spending an hour filing and sanding won't make it better. In fact, the better your fillet, the less you'll spend on sanding and filling.
Hope this helps. These were some hard-learned lessons for me. Here's an example from Dave Bohm of Bohemian Cycles of what you're shooting for.

Fork Drop-out Study....

2006-02-13T11:16:00.000-08:00

I like dropouts. Its one of the few bits of real estate on a frame, (beside the paint and decals,) to show some creative work. I've been playing around with the concept of a straight blade fork with plate DO's that create the offset for rake. Here, the drop-out was cut from 4130 cold rolled plate. [4130 is a bugger to cut by saw.]
Finish work is poor here, just wanted to see how it looked.

Real joints!

2006-02-13T11:10:00.000-08:00

Made a lot of progress this week on fillet joints. Greg Gardner of Patrick Bikes was kind enough to have me over to his workshop to show me how he does fillet joints. [Greg will be showing at NAHBS in March.] He has a great workshop that his granfather built by hand out of redwood. Super cool.
While there, I did some of the best fillets I've done yet. I'm not sure what the discoloration is and I only had it on my joints. We experimented with using the Gasflux brand flux for LFB and also Fred Parr's Saf-T-9 flux. Both performed well, with the Saf-T-9 allowing the LFB to flow better. However, the clear appearance of the Gasflux brand was appreciated if you like to have a clear view of the joint.
Greg runs a Victor torch with a zero tip, 5 psi gas and 10 psi oxy pressures. This produces a smaller, hotter flame than I normally run. I had better luck with his, so I'll have to try those pressure settings on my Victor with a #2 tip.
More to come this week....

The Miter....

2006-02-06T21:59:00.000-08:00

Miter-ing a joint between two tubes seems easy enough. I use the tubemiter.exe program available an a few places online. [You can try Damon Rinard's website.]
Once I've printed this out, trimmed it and taped it around a tube, I can reuse this template many times. I mark the tube with a DyKem pen and start sawing and filing. I have two half-round files that work great: a swiss cut 2 and 3.
Although the paper is accurate, between the pen and eyeballing the filing, its best to have your protractor there to verify you have the correct angle.
Minimize any gaps. The larger the gap you have in places, the more brass that will flow into the inside of the joint. Normally, (at least in my limited experience,) when the heat is just right, a little brass flows into the small space between the two tubes and forms a little fillet on the ID of the joint. Pretty cool, huh? What's not cool is when I've left an irregular spot in the joint, (thinking, "it'll be ok,") and then I can't figure out why the brass is NOT creating a nice large fillet on the OD. That's because its pooled up on the inside of the tube! [I've got a great example of this. I'll try to post a photo later.]

Frame jigs and fixtures...

2006-02-03T14:55:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot of talk lately about frame jigs and fixures, especially among those of us just starting out. Lots of confusion between which one is better, which one is best for this, best for that. Let me put these two cents on the sidewalk: a frame jig is not going to make the bike for you.
Someone at sometime had a great tour of Rene Herse's workshop. And you should have seen his frame jig. Just a few bits of angle iron. That's all. Additionally, there's plenty of people that don't use jigs at all, just a few bits of wood and maybe a vice. If you're following Tim Paterek's book, (which will answer alot of questions you may have in your head,) he gets most of the frame done by laying it out on paper and then slipping a bit of steel plate between the frame and the paper!
So, save the money for something simple that will allow you to work at your pace. I'm making my own jig as I need it from scraps of metal here and there. Largely, its just an excercise on my part because I like making chips back on the mill and the lathe, (no, I don't own a mill and a lathe. I'm just borrowing them.)
The point is this: Keep it simple, focus on the basics. You'll know when your equipment is holding you back. For me, I've got a long way to go!

Recycled materials....

2006-02-02T13:34:00.000-08:00

A lot of material that I work with when practicing is straight out of the recycling bins here at work. Steel tubes in a variety of steel types, aluminum for fixtures, steel angle for tools. The other day, I found the forged aluminum tubes with a closed end. In an effort to improve my ability to create from "trash" I made as set of salt and pepper shakers. Although a bit tricky, I shaped the pepper one by using aluminum files on the lathe. Little sandpaper and some Mother's and they're ready for the table.
Its amazing what businesses throw out. I've even taken to dumpster diving behind other places to find materials. But, most often, if you ask, local places are happy to get rid of their "recycling."

Know your flux!

2006-02-01T10:25:00.000-08:00

I'm discovering alot about fluxes. Namely, how important it is in regards to filler melt temperatures, what's going on with the steel at that temperature and what the flux is doing. I've been using a white paste flux from Otto Frei, which is fine for hard soldering and will possibly be fine when using silver to join lugged joints. However, for brass fillet work, I've got about a 100-degree window between the maximum temperature the flux can work and the melting point of the brass. Not much of a window for an amatuer.
So, I've ordered some Safe-T-9, a proper flux from Fred Parr.
If you'd like some advice perhaps this logic in setting up your work will help:
1. Determine what filler material for your joint.
2. Find the melting temp of your filler material.
3. Find appropriate flux whose active temperature brackets the filler melting temperature.
4. Follow the directions on the can/jar of flux!! If it says use at 140-160-degrees, then its probably for a good reason.
All in all, this should reduce the amount of head-scratching.

Practice Lugs!!

2006-01-31T07:52:00.000-08:00

I found out from that Rivendell, ( http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/ ) sells their lugs that didn't make it through the inspection process as seconds, or practice lugs. At $2 each, this is a great resource for practice lugs. I bought 20 lugs and can't wait to start letting the silver flow and then cutting them apart.
Blame it on impatience, but I already started carving up one. And yes, all the pro's are right: they're hard to hold onto!
Want to see some cool lug carving? Have a look at Bob Brown's work: http://www.bobbrowncycles.com/custom.htm
The man must have the patience of a saint.

Kona Bike Town Project

2006-01-31T07:42:00.000-08:00

This is worth reading. Kona has started the Kona Bike Town project to supply aid workers in Africa bicycles for transportation. This will allow more remote communities access to health care. While this kind of project might be a bit daunting for the average man, there's no reason it can't serve as a template for a local project. For example, one could obtain the bikes that the local police pick up or confiscate, (usually you have to contact the city finance office,) and then make these ridable for the needy, homeless, less fortunate or even make them public bikes.
Just a thought as it got my mind going as to how we can all make things better by using what we know.
http://www.konabiketown.com/

Inside....

2006-01-30T11:41:00.000-08:00

Here's the inside of the dropout, which would be the view from the hub outwards. I tried a little different finishing on the joint with the "seat stay." Personally, I like it. I'm going to work on some more like this. Obviously, it depends on a hole being there. This was very easy to do and has a nice clean look to it.
The "chainstay" is finished off the same way as the outside. On the far left, you can see the hole drilled as a vent. I've read that these can be closed up with a little silver. This saves the painter a lot of trouble in cleaning the frame as liquid is tricky to get out.
[One point to note in regards to painting: I have no idea as to the level of finishing required to get a good paint job. It can't be a polished surface as the paint needs some "tooth" on which to stick. It can't be too rough or it will be seen through the paint.]

Fish Mouth!

2006-01-30T11:29:00.000-08:00

This is a capped fish mouth as you might see on the curved frame stays on a cruiser bike. [Check out RetroTec bikes by Curtis Inglis.]
If you look closely, you can see a little pinhole. I'm still not happy with my flux selection. This may be causing the holes or just my lack of filler control. Mr. Freddy Parr is helping me with some fluxes.

Points!

2006-01-30T11:22:00.000-08:00

Here, you can see a detail of the dropout / tube joint. I've filed the dropout tangs to points after brazing. The remainder of the squared joint remains inside the tube. Although it looks trick, this isn't that hard to clean up and looks great.
We'll have to see how it looks with paint on it. I imagine that details need to be larger than you anticipate due to paint buildup.

Some Reading....

2006-01-30T11:16:00.000-08:00

I highly recommend getting Tim Paterek's book. You can find it here:
http://www.timpaterek.com/
or here:
http://www.amazon.com
or at the Henry James link just on the left. Your left, not my left.

Mock Track Dropout

2006-01-30T11:13:00.000-08:00

This is a mocked-up track dropout. I cut the dropout from .250" 4130 steel plate with a jeweler's saw. The two stays are brass brazed onto the dropout. I've capped both stays off in a slightly different style: the "seat stay" with the typical half-round cap and the "chainstay" with a filled fish-mouth.

Practice, practice, practice

2006-01-30T10:45:00.000-08:00

I'm a long way from building a bike frame. A long, long way. However, I've been starting with the basics, getting better torch control, learning how to cover up my mistakes. I'll be sharing all these with you, the good joints and the bad.