Whittling the weekend away...

Hey y'all, Sunday night here in big Woo. Got home from the shop around 8, made the family some supper and now am enjoying a cinematic experience with Kalten...watching a little Talledaga nights. That Ricky Bobby is a little something else.

So here's some shots from the shop the last couple of days.

Let's talk head badges. You know, those happy stainless silver badges that adorn each frame. The badge starts off as a laser cut flat plate; ever wonder how I get those head badges to fit around the round tube? Well, one of the fun parts of building is making the tools that make your job easier.

Below is my head badge former. The flat badge fits into recessed cuts in the concave portion of the tool and is then set into the mill vice with the convex section ready to press it into shape. A little pressure and boom, a nice round shape made to fit the external diameter of the head tube.


I played with some new tig toys on Saturday, seeing if a larger diffusion cup will help with the changing surface areas of the Luv Handles. After playing with some different flow rates, I think I've got it down to where I like it. You can see the light straw color in the photo below with a tinge of blue on the exterior edges where the heat pushed some microscopic contaminants. I think the final step that I'm going to take is to use an ultrasonic cleaner to insure that each piece is as close to perfection as I can get.

All the custom bars are packed up and shipping out Monday morning. All the July orders are now filled and the August orders are done as well. Kinda a give and take, later than I want for some but early for others.

Today I spent the morning working our fire departments annual "firehouse poker run", a motorcycle ride to benefit our local children's' burn unit. We had 307 participants under clear blue skies and more Harleys than I've seen together for a while. Should be some good money for the kids.

After the run, it was back to the shop. I worked on finishing up the rear end on a road frame. Here are the Dedda stays all fixtured up and ready to miter.
I flew through the rear end on this guy...one cut to fit the chain stays, two cuts to fit the seat stays. Started to feel like I've done this before ;)

Looking down the seat stay fixture at the cutter...

the dropouts viewpoint...
knocking out the seat stays...

and all nuzzled up to the seat tube...should make some easy welding for me.

The rear end is all mocked up and ready to tack together.

Christi was kind enough to snap a pic of me caressing a little Weldmold 880 into the rear end.

Tomorrow starts a new day. I'll weld up the rear end on this road bike, clear the fixture, and get ready for Erics do it all 650b. Now that's a build that'll be fun to watch.

cheers,

rody