A Fresh Start

Spirits not dampened by Seat tube / head tube alignmentgate the replacement parts were joyously unwrapped yesterday and the measuring, cutting, mitering & grinding started afresh. As all of the items that i had constructed to help build my first frame were ready and waiting it took a measly 5 hours and one late night to get back to the position that the frame was in before the disaster.


With an improved technique that can only be known by a veteran frame builder the front triangle has now been braised almost to perfection:


All but one of the brazes have been completed perfectly, albeit with surplus silver to make sure, all are structurally sound. The only error was on the seat tube / top tube lug which i allowed to get a little hot for silver brazing but this will not affect either the strength of the join or the tubing. The flux used when brazing not only absorbs any oxides & impurities that are on the surface of the pieces to be joined or are produced because of the high temperatures used in the process. It is also designed to help the brazer know when the correct temperature is reached to allow the brazing material being used to melt and to flow into the joint. The flux turns from white powder to a clear paste just below the optimum temperature, if the flux turns black the temperature has risen above the optimum point and the brazer needs to back off with the heat. When the flux turns black it will not go clear again and stains the materials being brazed. This black stain has to be polished off with a brass wire wheel, something that i have on order.

An example of a perfectly brazed lug joint, you can see that the silver has flown all the way through and around the join and the excess has coated the surrounding area:


This is the lug that reached too high a temperature, note the blackening at the base of the lug but also that the silver has completely penetrated the join:


After completing the bazing a toilet cleaner solution was used, recommended by my welding equip supplier, to clean off the worst of the flux left on the frame. This was done in my mothers kitchen sink! After using this highly corrosive solution the frame needed to be thoroughly rinsed with clean water, inside the tubes as well as on the outside to prevent it eating away at the steel over time, the frame was than placed on the Aga to dry out, note the incredibly naught dog kicking back in the comfy chair.


So now the front triangle has been completed:

With perfect alignment:

On a personal note i am incredibly lucky that i am staying in my mothers house whilst she is away on holiday for if she were to have witnessed some of the processes that i have performed in her kitchen i am pretty sure that i would never be welcome again!

Next to come is the rear triangle...