Friday to Monday, all mixed up :)

Well, I got quite a surprise this morning when I logged on to check the email. Things have been pretty quiet on the email front the last 2 weeks, with only a couple dribbling in here and there. Normally, I have to spend around 3 hours a day responding to peoples inquiries, so the ebbing of the tide was a bit unusual. Today I found out why.

Seems there's been a problem with the server and today it delivered 270 emails from the last two weeks in one fell swoop...OUCH!

I'll be nibbling away at them the next couple of days...

Flashing back in time, let's look at what I did Friday. I broke out the cleaning supplies, made everything sparkle around the welding table, and got to work on churning out the last of the TI LUVS...

Titanium is a finicky material, requiring extremely anal tendencies for cleanliness, proper gas coverage, and heat control, so I insure that the entire shop gets a good sweeping, dusting, and final wipe before I begin to mold the bars together.


I strive for no color to a slight straw shading...I'd love an ultrasonic cleaner to help with this, but the submersible transducers are big money and quite the hurdle to building my own tank. Here I've tacked up a bar getting ready for laying a bead...


Despite the appearance standard pressed by the cycling market for perfect pulsed beads, I just can not get into the groove of using the pulser on the bars, especially as the heat input needs to change considerably as the contour of the joint changes, soaking up or pushing out the heat. So, I'll just keep tapping in the filler to make my weld puddles as evenly as I can with a one pass technique.

Sunday and today, I worked on finishing up some last details on some frames so I can move them to paint; reaming the seat tubes, tapping out the bottom bracket and bottle bosses, and blasting them in the cabinet to remove all the ickies from fabrication and prepare the base for primer application.

Here's Chris's road frame with the tap in place...

My Park taps have been through hundreds of frames and are still very sharp and true...a result of proper care, lots of cutting fluid, and careful alignment during use. Remember, the the LH (left hand) and RH (right hand) stamps on the taps refer to the direction of the thread, not the side of the bottom bracket they go into ;) There's been more than a few new mechanics who have ruined a frame with that little mistake.

I updated the paint prep area a bit...new shelf, counter top and cabinet bases. It's a lot more organized and user friendly now.

Chris's road frame, blasted and ready for primer...

and a box full of primered goodies, ready for some 500 degree heat to bake it tight...

Finally, I made a quick video of how I ream my seat tubes. A simple procedure, but it's always nice to look inside at how others do things, enjoy!

Lot's of bars shipping out tomorrow, keep your eyes on the mail the next couple of days.

cheers,

rody