(77 days until the 2012 WHPSC)
Today marked a milestone. We moved the mockup from the house to the shop.
I made a 15mm Allen wrench to harvest the cassette guts from an old wheel.
Bottom bracket support
(78 days until the 2012 WHPSC)
I'm starting to get comfortable with using a holesaw on thin chromoly tubing...
I found an abrasive stone that was the perfect diameter to finish off the bottom bracket notch.
I can sell that...
First look at welded subframe
(80 days until the 2012 WHPSC)
After nearly smashing my foot with a heavy block of steel yesterday, I finished welding the subframe pinch clamp today.
Next up is the miter in the rear half of the subframe. Here it is fixtured and ready for welding.
Here's the miter after the two root passes, each of which joins the tube to the reinforcement plate.
The two root passes were then followed by a final larger pass. I slid the two halves of the subframe together to see what it looked like.
And here's what it looks like up against the body profile...
Notching & welding tubes (without injury)
(81 days until the 2012 WHPSC)
Our Harbor Freight tube notcher had a tough time with 2-inch by .049 tubing
Despite just about breaking my wrist when the holesaw grabbed at the very end of the cut, I managed to get a decent notch.
After a little deburring, here's how the pinch tube will fit...
Speaking of pinch tube, rather than mill completely through the pinch tube, I left some thin spokes that I can zip saw after welding...
Jigged up, and ready to weld (notice that large block of steel in the lower left that I'm using to support the step blocks).
After welding most of the pinch clamp, I loosened the step clamp fixturing. The large steel block fell off the table, barely missing my right foot! I repositioned the subframe pinch clamp to finish welding it, but the TIG welder wouldn't light. Upon closer inspection, I found out why...
That could have been my foot!!! The look on Smokey's face says it all...