Handbuilt to help you get lost
This was my first attempt at S-bends seatstays. I have built two frames with single-bend stays but those were a couple years ago and I did the single bend on my 7" radius oak fork blade bender. After hummin and hawing for awhile and attempting to make my own somewhat clunky 8" radius bender out... Continue Reading →
The Anvil main (all, actually) tube mitering fixture barely fits on my horizontal mill. Mostly the 5x20" table is pretty tiny for an 8" rotary table (rotab) which is what the MTMF requires. I have the rotab attached in the center t-slot but really i should have fabricated an extension plate so I'd be able... Continue Reading →
Just getting back to blogging about fabricating some stuff but been busy with other things lately. I'm done with Scott's fatbike fork with an good amount of bling (brazons) for fatty loaded touring goodness and the use of a Dyno hub with internally routed wiring. I'll post something on that fork soon once it gets... Continue Reading →
I got a new fixture. I feel guilty just saying that. After all, it's cooler not to have fixtures and use files, or make your own. I know, but I gave in to the inner tool whore. I'm trying to streamline and quicken my process so I can actually make bikes for people one day... Continue Reading →
I usually make wishbone stays but I wanted to make this current cross frame more 'classic' looking and a little lighter, so I went with fastbacks. I've been filing my fastback seat stays as a way to "earn my chops." (If you're not a new framebuilder you don't know this...but the old/er guys mostly recommend... Continue Reading →
It's been awhile since talking about my tooling setup but I haven't thought much about my milling machine since getting it set up. I guess that's a good sign, eh? It works for what I use it for, even though it'd be great to have a bigger machine. I'm putting it to test more now... Continue Reading →
Thanks to everyone that regularly stops-in to see what I'm ranting about in the framebuilding microcosm. It's actually a much bigger world than I'd imagined and a great group of people. Truls, whom I do not know other than seeing his signature on message board posts, linked to my last post on Pulsed Tig-welding in... Continue Reading →
Someday, I'll have to post a full writeup on the details of this frame fixture, but for now I just wanted to comment on how cool the tubeholder is. With any fixture it seems to me that unless you're building a lugged frame (tube-holders 'built-in') it is really nice to have a way to at... Continue Reading →
Wednesday afternoon I stopped by the new Anvil shop and picked up my brand-spankin-new Journeyman 3.1 frame fixture. Wow...just freaking awesome! I completely spaced taking pictures of the inside of the shop, sorry. I was too preoccupied with gawking at the Master's lair. As you enter the building, on the left is Don's office. He... Continue Reading →
UPDATE 5/11 = Jig is Sold. I am selling my Access 65 frame fixture. It is a about 16 months old which makes it's 'birth' circa the fall of 2010. I would hugely prefer to sell it locally (Colorado, or northern California since I will be moving there this summer). I'd also like to sell... Continue Reading →
Yesterday I got some time to weld the front triangle of TK's mtn touring machine, after re-mitering the larger 38mm diameter downtube and brazing on the various braze-ons last week. I also mitered the chainstays to the BB, after first slotting them for the Paragon low-mount dropouts, and then dimpling the stays for more tire... Continue Reading →
I modified my frame jig with a simple drill hole. I was having trouble holding the chainstays in place when fitting and tacking them into place. The jig doesn't have anything stock that does the job, but the seat tube/seat stay bar part looked like it'd work really well. I just had to drill a... Continue Reading →
SOLD I have a seatstay fixture from Anvil for sale. I got it used from D. Anderson over the internets earlier this year for $600. It's not the most recent model of the fixture but it's pretty much brand new. I have used it a total of three times. I am mostly doing wishbone seat... Continue Reading →
I thought my most recent frame would fit a traditional front derailleur but turned out I was wrong. I'm close to never running a front derailleur ever again...but if I'm gonna make frames for friends I'll have to learn. This must be why many builders keep if safe with 'regular' chainstays of 17.5" -- those... Continue Reading →
In an ideal world, nobody would need an alignment table. Many builders probably don't have one and just are *that* good, or assume they're that good and that nobody will even notice the frame is out of alignment. Perhaps. But unless you have absolutely spot-on miters and are a perfect welder that can use the... Continue Reading →
I bought a cheap bender made out of oak from a guy back east named Nicolai or something. He was advertising them on frameforum as a cheap alternative to the more expensive benders (which are insanely expensive but most small guys make their own it seems) and something good to learn on. I have no... Continue Reading →
I've started to build a unicrown adjustable rake fork. I'm using Hooded/Wright/Breezer style singlespeed dropouts from Paragon and will drill and tap on of their slider bolt sets into them so I can evenly space the axle. I tried to figure out a way to use sliders but it just didn't look like it would... Continue Reading →
Just a couple of pictures of how twisted this frame fixture can get with not too much effort. It does take some elbow grease to twist it forward/back (driveside/non-driveside) without loosening the clamp's swivel thingy, but really easy to get it to swivel left/right without any effort at all. The access to the joints is... Continue Reading →
I've got the rear triangle all coped and cleaned and ready to be tacked very soon. This process too me a long time. For one, I just have not been getting down to the shop very much. I also learned the more difficult way that BikeCAD needs to be watched closely - or that I... Continue Reading →
I've been meaning to provide an update on the Access 65 for awhile now and a recent comment on my previous post just reminded me to do that. Also realizing how many times I tried to find user-specific information on the jig before I bought it, I really want to give out as much info... Continue Reading →