Rear stays and a bump in the road...

Hey folks,

I got an early start in the shop today after dropping the kids off for school, boy was it chilly. The thermometer said 10 degrees outside, but once I got in the shop I turned up the dial, started the mill, and got to work. Once moving, everything was warm and toasty!

I began the day by scallop cutting the chainstays and seatstays for Roy's bike. Once the scallop was cut, it was on to the bb and seat tube miters. I got a smoking deal on some Anvil fixtures a ways back but have not really been using them as I kind of fall under the old dog, new tricks pardigm. Regardless, gotta learn sometime :^) Set up on the chainstay fixture was a breeze. I measured the distance from axel to bottom bracket centerline and made one smooth cut...perfect fit!

Things were going smoothly, until I got to the seatstays.

The issue became quickly apparent. The fixture is designed to auto locate the dropout end of the stay on a conical post, so that each stay is symetrical with it's mate. The posts, however, are designed for the typical tapered stay with a small terminal end, not for the larger .75" diameter piece, thus the problem. The stay was looser than ____________ (put in your favorite analogy here).

The fun thing about framebuilding is having the tools to overcome such problems. I made up some new locating pieces for the Anvil fixture out of 304 stainless steel to accomodate the larger stays. First I turned down the od of the locating piece to match the id of the stay tubing. Then I parted off the two pieces, trued the ends and center drilled them for the fixing bolt that will hold them on the fixture axel with a 5mm allen bolt. Then it was off to the mill to drill the axel hole.

Center drill, then a few increasing drill bits, and finally finished off with a .624 end mill.

A little action with a 5mm tap and whalaa!

Now I have a more versatile piece and am ready to get back to the seatstays next day in the shop.

Had a few folks stop by today to talk custom work, Christi came down and we walked down to Muddy Waters for some hot chocolate, and before I knew it 10 hours had past me by.

Til next day,

rody