Monday, April 15, 2013

Back from vacation and at it...

Thanks to all for your patience while I took some time off.  As of today, I'm officially back in the shop and trying to get caught up and will be sorting through the voice and emails.

So, with the beautiful beach sunset in the rearview mirror, this is what's been shaking...

...amidst all the office stuff, I did a quick frame prep for a local shop.  Ya know, ream and face the head tube, chase and face the bottom bracket, and install the pieces parts.  I took some time to make a tool that I've been needing, but had not made the time to this point.

With the changing "standards" in headsets, bottom brackets, axles, etc... shops constantly need to update their tool inventory, and that gets spendy.  Since I'm cheap, I tend to make a lot of the tools I need, that way when the next "standard" comes out and the previous year's hottie goes into the back of the tool chest, I don't feel so bad.

So here's todays tool...a 1.500" fork crown setter.


This started off as a couple of pieces of chromoly tube and a 8.00" x 8.000" x .375" plate.  The square plate was cut to size, welded to the tube and then thrown into the lathe where it was turned, faced, and then bored and relieved to match the spec of the Chris King base plates.



The fork plate sits snugly on the bottom face of the press...

while on top a solid piece of 6061 aluminum was turned to allow a press fit into the top of the tube for a solid surface to hammer against.

I'll throw it into the queue for a little ceramic finishing to keep it looking nice and fresh.

cheers,

rody

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