One good thing is that Cubby welcomed the UPS man who was carrying a lovely brown package...what could be inside?
Ok, not much suspense, it's getting too late for much of that. The materials for the Ti Luv Handles landed, some yummy 3/2.5 Ti just begging to be massaged up into some cycling bliss.
On the fabrication front, got some work done on Eric's stem. Picked up a couple new hole saws and got to mitering :)
Normally, I build almost all my pieces in a fixture, unfortunately, this P12.5 is quite a bit longer than my jig will accommodate so I'm taking extra time in the mitering set up to insure that every thing is spot on and then relying on the precision of the miters to insure pre-weld alignment. This first shot shows the rise the stem affords...now imagine it with dirt drops ;)
I tack the stem in 8 different spots sequentially to insure that the alignment stays put with the input of heat. This shot shows the tightness of the miter as well as the small tack weld.
Once tacked, I weld up the piece in quarters and ta-da, it's looking like a stem!
A closer look at the bead...
Next, the pinch bolt is positioned and silver brazed in place. I was running WAY low on flux (like scraping the sides and spitting on it to get it wet) so I concentrated it on the area I needed the silver to flow and went for it. You can see the silver flowed in nice at the joint and got pretty toasty on top where it was more liquid than substance.
Folks really don't understand just how long custom items take. Take for instance the bolt cap for the top of the quill. Seems like a small item, but there are 10 steps in the process to making this little guy, but it's a necessary part for the complete stem. See why most custom builders live pretty meager lives ;) ... it's a lot more passion than the market will economically sustain.
After an hour, the rough finished piece...
and the final polished top cap :)
Gotta spin up the wedge piece and then source a longer stem bolt than I have in stock and it'll be off to it's new home.
FYI...Steve Garro of Coconino Cycles turned the big 40 today, congrats buddy!
Off to bed now, see y'all in the am,
rody
5 comments:
Absolutely Beautiful work Rody.
I know it makes for some long hours but i am jealous of the time you spend working on bike stuff!
Lester
hey, thanks allot, blogmeister.....you blog is turning into a great catalog of your work! it pays in the long run, as customers can see your creations come together and see your rabid productivity. and, just so you don't feel to bad about your rain, i woke up to a goo 6" of snow on my birthday! call ya soon, steve.
Thanks for the kind words guys.
Lester, it ain't all perfume and roses, but you're right, it is pretty righteous ;)
Steve, yep, guess I'll take the rain...could not stand the thought of snow at this point in the year, it would really demoralize me.
cheers,
rody
nice tig welding.....love the pup...D
I can't even tell you how exciting this is. An amazing amount of time and effort Rody, thank you!
Post a Comment