Super Duper Mega Post...consider yourself warned.

Ok folks,

I've got to catch you up on two days worth of activity, so here we go...

When we last left off, I had busted out the chainstays on Eric's bike and bent up the seat stays. These were some very precise buggers, as Eric wants maximum room for mud build up but I also have to balance that with meeting the request for canti bosses, which have a very narrow window of spec'd width for proper operation. I was able to get 3 inches of clearance inside the stays while pushing the canti operation into the acceptable zone.

Here's a shot of the mocked up stays...

A lot of folks ask..."just how tight do your miters need to be?" Surface contact the entire circumference of the miter is very important for the strength of the frame. Here's a shot of the seatstays, one of the most difficult areas to get to meet perfectly as you are dealing with compound miters with multiple angles of contact.

A curvaceous rear end... watch out Jaylo ;)

I was all ready to braze up the dropouts on Eric's frame when I quickly realized I was out of Oxygen in the tanks to get the job done, so I turned up the midnight oil a bit and knocked out another 8 Luvs of the October order...never a moment to sit idle.
This morning had me running the blaster before sunrise, enjoying the combination of low lying mist in the farm fields and an incredible orange orb of a morning sun, and meeting the welding supply guys to open up.

Once back, it is back to work on the rear stays.

I vent all the tubes of the frame for two reasons; to allow for internal moisture evaporation and to facilitate rust prohibitive treatment. Here's a shot of how I mark out and drill using a center drill the vent holes in the seat tube where the seat stays meet.

I brazed up the drop outs and scalloped them to a nice finish...

Tacking the stays...
and it's off for welding it in the fixture.

Next stop, I hand miter the seat stay brace. Yep, despite all the cool kit I have to cut tubes, I still use a file for some of the pieces, as it is the most efficient method.

checking the fit...
drilling the vent hole...these are tiny, using a whispy thin drill bit.

The brace welded in and checking the rear spacing...135mm on the nose, no cold setting needed here :)
Notice the new sandals ^... I just got two pair from Germany. I'm good to go for another 5 years

And Eric's roughed in frame...

Tomorrow, I'll attach all the braze ons, slot the seat binder and the EBB, and prep it for paint.

I should have more bars to send out tomorrow afternoon as well, as long as I can get the powder applied in time to hit the post office before it closes, here's to keeping fingers crossed.

cheers,

rody