First Frame! Process Pics

[cmsanford88]

Hey Guys!

So I found a very nice frame builder locally to give me some private brazing lessons. We just started but it's been a blast, I've been practicing my brazing and decided to start on my first frame today. I'll be treating this one like a dress rehearsal, using cheap lugs and Nova tubing. If all goes well I'll be take the lessons learned and build the same design in nicer materials. The plan for the final steed is 8/5/8 OS cromo and some Sachs lugs, hopefully nothing to crazy for a new builder but nice none-the-less.

Anyway, here are some photos of the first joint!

My take-aways: More flux? Didn't like the small burned sections on the backside of the lug. Feel like I need to keep the torch moving a bit more. Also, I didn't pull filler all the way to the points of the seat tube miter. My plan right now is to get some filler in there when I put in the down tube, and obviously be more careful next time I do that same joint. Here's a question though, is that mistake a total dealbreaker for a real build, or something I could remedy?


Chris Sanford

[cmsanford88]

New day and some new pictures. Did the bottom head lug and braze ons, forgot to snap some pictures of the lug after cleanup but I was very happy with it, the shore lines came out much tidier than the bottom bracket. The big black spot in the head tube isn't great, I lingred too long in there trying to draw the silver around.

Braze ons went pretty smoothly. The top tube cable guides were the hardest and also the sloppiest brazes, but cleaned up quickly. Just used a welding magnet and a file to keep those in place, will be perusing the 'simple tools' thread for some better options.

Tomorrow I'll be checking alignment and getting some tacks in on the front triangle.Happy to hear any criticism, constructive or otherwise, on this build as it chugs along!

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Chris Sanford

[mzilliox]

How cool, congrats on the next step in the journey

[rauce]

I would suggest not brazing just a lug to one tube like that, you'll get a stronger joint if you do both tubes and the lug at once since you'll have a nice tight fit between tubes.

I like to do the ST/BB, HT/DT and then join those two parts to complete the main triangle. If the final step with three joints is too much at once you can just attach the HT/DT to the ST/BB and then do the TT as a separate step like I did on my first two frames.

[Eric Estlund]

I'll second what Ross is suggesting. Even in lugged frames, the strength of the bike is coming from the tube to tube intersection. The lug is sort of a conduit to get you there. Here a micro fillet will prevent the tubes from contacting and thus rely on the lug as the structure of the bike.

[cmsanford88]

Thanks guys! That makes perfect sense. I got everything aligned and dry fitted this morning and did the rest of the joints. I tack brazed all the lug points, took it off the jig, and then did the bottom bracket, head tube and seat cluster in that order. Thankfully everything stayed pretty straight, had to tweak the seat tube a little but it popped back into the jig without too much fuss.

Felt okay with the process in general, took a minute for each joint to cool and soak before moving on to the next one. Then re-fluxed the next joint and went at it. Probably over-fed most of the joints, wanted to get a sense of how much I could get in there though. Also, looking back at the photos I think the areas where I ran into trouble burning flux are the ones where I heated inside the tube. Think I had the torch in there trying to draw stuff down, then would move it back to the outside of the joint and it was already hot.

Here's a question, if you have a messy shore line, can you reheat it with the lug facing up and wick some of the silver down onto the tube for easier clean up? I guess the danger with this would be taking filler out of the joint as well.

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Chris Sanford