Shop Dog Cycles - Road Build Chronical

[Michael Gordon]

I'm building a road frame for my brother, and thought I would document the build here.

First - Thank you to all of you who regularly post. The community on this forum is amazing!
Second - I am open, and looking forward to, any commentary and/or questions about my process and workmanship. Don't hold back.
Third - Just trying to give back myself. My resources are fairly raw... I have no jig, no true surface plate, a basic set of files, a hack saw and a torch. I hope my make do methods will help others also with limited resources.

I'll post pics of my daily work, but don't be surprised if occasionally weeks go between postings.

Let's start! To work with, a set of PegoRichie pipes and Rene Singer Lugs. A steel fork will be built to match.

Beware of the Shop Dog! She licks!
Beware of the Shop Dog.jpg

The design.
Richard Gordon.Road-1 Drawing.010315.jpg
Richard Gordon.Road-1 Specs.010315.jpg

Rolling the tubes between a set of homemade wooden v-blocks.
Rolling the Tube.jpg

A hand me down dial indicator helps me to find the high spots.
Dial Indicator.jpg

I mark a center line down the length of the tube on the high spot using a piece of aluminum angle as my guide. I was playing around with a few different markers to see which ones I liked best. Previously I have preferred the Sharpie Ultra Fine Point, but the Milwaukee Inzall was very nice. it is a lot like the typical Sharpie Fine Point, but the point seems much firmer, so we'll see if it holds up better over time. The typical Sharpie Fine Point is ok when new, but still a little on the fat side. The Komelon Fine Point I found at Farm & Fleet was not good at all for this application.
Markers.jpg

A nice new set of maple tubing blocks... all from a $2.75 remnant piece from the lumber yard.
Tube Blocks.jpg

Yes, I got it now Richard, the painted end of the seat tube goes into the bottom bracket. Regardless, checking the other end with the seat post won't hurt. Measure 5 times, cut once. Bicycle tubing is expensive!
Seat Post.jpg

Showing the tube who's boss. A few minutes with the hack saw and files. A mill would be nice for production work, but unless you have a dedicated machine for it I think it would take longer to set up than this took.
Seat Tube Miter.jpg

A little bling will do. These should braze up nicely!
Water Bottle Bosses.jpg

The prepped seat tube.
Seat Tube.jpg

The prepped head tube, and that will be enough for tonight.
Head Tube.jpg

[Michael Gordon]

Day 2

Ok, it is two weeks since I started this thread, but this is day 2 of the build process. I hate how life gets in the way!

Here's the down tube
Down Tube.jpg

It's starting to take shape!
ST DT HT 2.jpg

Just a top tube to go, and it will be time to strike up the torch!

[Michael Gordon]

Day 3

If you didn't learn something today, you probably weren't paying attention.

Today I prepped the top tube. Miters on both ends, and then holes for an internally routed brake cable.

I used the tube miter program on the Nova website to give me the shape of the ellipse for the brass brake tunnel tube.
tunnel exit template.jpg

After cutting the ellipse by drilling a couple of holes and connecting them with a couple of cuts the Dremel tool, I chucked up a round bastard file to open it up a little more.
File Dril 1.jpg

So here was my big learning experience of the day... If you try this, run the drill in REVERSE! I started with it in forward, and the file sucked right in. If I hadn't stopped quickly, I would have quickly widened the hole and the tip of the file might have dented the other side. I finished opening it up in reverse.
File Drill 2.jpg

I cleaned the whole up with a fine needle file, and you can see how nicely the brass tube exits through the hole.
Hole.jpg
tunnel exit.jpg

I will be closing these off with those little exit plates.

I am hoping to be brazing soon!

[Clyde]

Wow can I be next?

[Generalcuz]

Novice question, but what is the point in finding the high point of a tube?

[Andrew R Stewart]

It's usual to orient the tube's bowing in a plane centered to the frame so when checking alignment the bowing is not a factor. Simple example is that with a bowed tube it's center could be many thousandths off compared to the ends, so where along the tube do you call the base for your alignment to start from? With the tube rotationally placed so that the bowing is in plane with the frame the tube's sides will be much closer to straight/flat making the alignment check process that much easier. Andy.

[whilgenberg]

Good idea with the file, reminds me of a few times I've "milled" with drillbits in carbon fiber. . .

[jgoran]

New to this thread, thanks for posting!

What ended up being your clearcoat solution?

[Michael Gordon]

What ended up being your clearcoat solution?[/QUOTE]

My painter did some touch up, then re-sprayed it with another type of clear that had some better building and flow properties to it. I believe he referred to it as a medium clear. I'm not a painter, so I may be butchering the terminology.

The ultimate decision for me has been to not do anymore matte frames. The main reason for this, is that I find you cannot clean them without doing a full soapy wash with a hose and lots of water to rinse it down. If you try to spot clean a matte frame with a spray bottle and a rag, I find that the dirt (or grease even worse) just gets smeared into the finish. Gloss is much easier, and I like the way it looks a lot more.