Finally got the chain stays silver brazed in. A lot of massaging to get the columbus stays to fit correctly in the Pacenti bottom bracket. But, I'm very happy with the outcome. No, I don't use the plastic squares or pipe cutter hanging on the wall. I have a seat stay mocked up loosely. Zoom in and you will get an idea of how they will look. Time for a cold one prior to work fun...............found a quarter on my ride to Dylan's farm in Canby.

Devo, will this be enough mud clearance? The tires are your Ritcheys. I believe there is more room than on your Curtlo. I gotta say, and I'm just sayin', the Paul dropouts are a pain. Do you want the 433mm measurement from the center of the axle slot or bottomed out?

Hard to do the scallops. The threaded boss precludes using files and not much room for a rotary tool. I'm thinking hours of tiny pieces of emery paper.

Alas and alack(sp), life got in the way yesterday and the brazing was put off until today. Yeah, the job, all 24 hours a week of it gets in the way. Sweet Tina has assured me I get all day tomorrow for a "frame day". This morning, I spent some time pre-fitting the seat stays. I like. Devo, do you have a preference as to spacing of the stays at the seat tube? Like Dylans or directly behind the seat tube lug?

The front triangle is now completely silver brazed, including the lone cable stop. The sepia coloration on the tubes and lugs after brazing is only a flash rust, not thermal discoloration. The hot soak to remove the flux is the cause, even though I use compressed air to dry the frame immediately after. Yeah, carbon just does not braze well and I had such high hopes.

This shot is a mock up of the chain stay-dropout alignment with the 65mm BB drop and 433mm chain stay length. You can see that the axle setting screws(not installed) will just clear the top of the chain stay. I have seen frames where the chain stay is pinched for clearance and it's not pretty. Tina has a wine thing in Hood River this afternoon, so if the frame building fairies are good to me, I will get the chain stays and dropouts brazed in this afternoon.

Almost done, even though the extended seat mast is giving me problems. I didn't finish yesterday because sanding the "skin" off of the contact areas of the lugs took longer than I anticipated. I should have it all completed today though. Then on to the chain stays and dropouts.

Here's a couple of shots of the almost finished
hand cut miters. Didn't want you to think there
was ugliness under the lugs.

The front triangle is ready to be cleaned, a little cold setting of the points, sanded, and silver brazed starting Monday. Devo told me to stick to the facts, so I won't elaborate on how I got the time to finish the triangle.

Blurry, but I filed off the center indicator and drilled the pilot hole for the rear brake.

The seat tube and bottom bracket is all shimmed and ready tostart fitting the down tube. Behind the bottom bracket you can see how I use feeler gage blades to set the correct dimension.

Exactly 73 degrees.

Starting to look like a bike frame. The rest of the week end is pretty busy, but hopefully I'll get the front triangle ready to silver braze on Monday.

Cleaned, fluxed, and ready to silver braze. On my ride into work, I determined that I needed to remove 10mm more from the bottom bracket end of the seat tube. This will allow a full 100mm contact area for the Thomson seat post. I'm sure their minimum insertion requirements have a safety allowance built in, but the full 100mm is now available.

All brazed with 100% penetration. After the frame is complete through the braze process, I will go around with low heat and a stainless wire brush and remove any errant silver braze.

Into my high tech hot water soak to remove the flux. Next will be checking and aligning as necessary of the seat tube to the bottom bracket drive side face.

The first "finger nail" is cut from the bottom of the seat tube with
a hack saw. I then use bastard files to rough it almost to the scribe
line, then use the rotary with a sanding drum to finish the cut.

The fit looks good.

Checking for fit and alignment prior to cleaning and fluxing.
The bottom line on the seat tube is the end of the butt. The
second line up is the end of the taper. Very short!

The bottom brackets have arrived! They are Kirk Pacenti and they are very nice. All the machine edges are broken, both sides of the shell are faced and a sweet integrated chain stay bridge. Off to the garage to add personal touches for Fast Flynn.

I also recieved this Paragon purge plug From UBI that will perfectly align the oversize seat tube on the fixture.

While we await the bottom bracket fairy, I've continued the new drop out and seat stay mods on my rain bike. These are the Henry James cnc drop outs. As I write this post, I'm wondering if the tabs will accommodate my 140mm rotor........Anyway, the BB vendor should be back from vacation on Friday and will overnight the goods to us.

Unfortunately, still no bottom bracket. It really ties my hands, because every tube angle and measurement keys off the BB. I did spend an hour thinning these two lugs to fit the head tube. The lugs always seem to come in a little undersized and have make them fit with the proper tolerance for brazing.

I also went ahead and measured the two tubes that were too long from Henry James. I used my bore gage and determined that the only measurement in error is the long butt, which is 19mm longer than stated in the catalog.

What the heck, here is a shot of my rain bike frame in disarray as I convert it to disc brakes. I'm tired of ending up in the intersection trying to stop in the rain.

The seat tube and down/head to lug have been modified by removing the cable stops and seat post binder boss. Probably 3 hours total cutting and filing. I also filled the top of the binder slot with from scrap tubing and brass. Should look real nice.

Still no BB, but the lugs made all the way from Austrailia quicker than the BB from California. The carnage will begin ASAP !

Still waiting for the BB, the heart of the frame. Devin is thinking it was delivered to his home today. Here is the bare frame in its new livery. Is it butter cream or, do I dare say pus? Hopefully tomorrow will be a busy day on the frame.

After riding the Hottest Day of the Year ride from the Lucky Lab and fixing grand kids BMX bikes, I decided to get some of the less exciting things done.

I made the pictured tube block for the chain stays. Then I finished the mandrel for pinching them. Before the inferno like heat of my garage chased me indoors, I spent a long time reshaping the socket ends of the chain stays. They come from Columbus at 28mm x 18mm. They need to be 30mm x 16mm to match the BB socket. All we need now is the BB.

Still no word from Hank about the discrepant length of the top and seat tubes. Time for something really cold.