a short film

I was staring into space the other day trying to think of things that aren’t really work (as I know it) but still in the interest of furthering my fiscal objectives. I know it’s work and valuable work, marketing and that sort of thing but for me doesn’t hold the same attraction as working with metal. Go figure.
I decided to get out my camera and make a short film walking through the shop. It may not be the easiest thing to watch but thankfully, it’s short. It was cool that the CD changer decided to start playing a new CD as I started the film.

Perhaps you heard, I am moving this blog to my domain soon
I will keep you posted on my progress.

Introducing Acel tubing

Reblogged from Bohemian Bicycles Blogorama:

CycleDesigns is now merging with Pro-tube to become Acel tube and welding supply company.

http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/6553.html

Long story short.   My partner in Cycle Designs purchased the company that used to make the tubing for Cannondale named Pro-tube.  He is now going to be making bicycle specific tubing for all of us.   Right now it is aluminum tubing but soon will have steel tubing and who knows what else is to come.

Read more… 37 more words

I met with Wade and Antonio yesterday and I am on board with these guys. Stay tuned..

Today not in the news

I always feel a lot better after a good ride. Though winter wasn’t much to speak of, I still missed swingin’ a leg over and blasting out some miles.

One of the familiar sights along the this time of year is the maple syrup operations that take place out in the woods. As you may well know, maple syrup (the real stuff) is made from tree sap that is collected and boiled down to make the sticky, tasty substance we call sugar. The stand of trees is a “sugar bush” and a boiling house is a sugar shack. People go “sugaring” for several days at a time 24 hours a day.

The sap starts running as soon as the day time temps hit the 40′s and will run as long as it gets cold at night. It starts out “light fancy” (what your kids would like) and goes to light amber, medium amber, dark amber and finally B grade. B grade is pure maple flavor with less sweetness.

Maple syrup has some wonderful properties. It can sterilize and help heal wounds and just 1/2 teaspoon in a glass of milk will give you “sweet” dreams and help you sleep soundly.

You can make syrup from other trees such as birch. We have several maple trees. The oldest is a “lone wolf” which has several odd branches going in all directions. I am not sure why these trees look so different. Perhaps the prolific growth is a survival technique.

I finished an aluminum road racing frame today. We found a few pair of double tapered seat stays and used the first pair on this frame. I really like working with them. They are 1mm thick (thin) wall and are 11mm at each end and around 18mm in the center where the bridge is.

It was sorta hard welding 1mm wall aluminum tubes. I didn’t mind.

I won’t have pics of this one till next week some time. Have a nice week!

filling a need

A lot of building frames has to do with filling needs. While I get paid to fill the needs of the customer I really after my own satisfaction. I try to make my own world so I can live in it. I want to get you to do what I want to a certain extent.

I want you to tell me what you want.

I hope you are with me here.

So I am here thinking about my day, drifting off to sleep and in a semi lucid state I start to think about welding. Not as a way to join material but more like a religion. I mean, welding is simply adding “filler” to take up space between things that you really want joined.

OK, it’s a bit abstract but just listen. The perfect weld is when you have reached a balance. It’s an engineering balance where it’s enough to prevent failure but not so much that it’s wasteful or excessive.

Going beyond that, how you prepare the environment for continuity is nearly a philosophy (I spelled that with no help thanks) on it’s own. Take brazing for example which has been my latest fetish, is when practiced properly creating a condition of demand and at the same time practicing restraint until the exact moment when the perfect conditions exist. You know what happens next.

Anyway if you left a couple of T shirts on the door, thanks! They fit really well and I love the theme.

A fork built during the week and you.

You always wonder if my blog posts are about you. Usually they are but I never tell you. What good would it do for you to know? I know you are thinking about me or you wouldn’t be here.

You may think there is only one of me and several of you. Not so.
There is one of me and one of you. When we spend time together, you and I, it’s the same for both of us. Sometimes you are busy, sometimes it’s me. I just wanted you to know, that’s all.

I created an album of images I took this week. Please enjoy.

Frank

Massage of the week.

I am starting to get sick of the weather. I went out and rode today in a 10 mph, 10 degree “breeze”. I only made it an hour and a half before pulling the plug and heading back to the shop. As I was changing back to my work clothes I noticed the chill in the floor. It’s February man! GET REAL I am lucky ride at all outdoors in Vermont this time of year. I had a better ride last week so having that for a benchmark messed things up.

Between all the amazing race bikes and endless explosions and random mayhem etc. I am working on a small but interesting project involving welding some special high temp alloy. I am of course sworn to secrecy and can’t discuss the details of the project BUT! it will be good for 2600F degrees. Here is the stuff.

http://www.thermalloys.com/Eng/TH_FeCrAl.htm

Can it be welded? who knows, I have used stainless and iron together before, why not I say. I think I can do it.

One the bike scene, I have been getting stuff painted and shipped. I never think to take photos because I am trying to get stuff *gone*. Something I did take a photo of is a small bending machine for bending small tube and wire. I am bending 3/16″ 304 stainless today.

One of those burly Spooky crit bikes made it through a few coats of red paint and came out looking amazing. It’s funny because I grossly over-sized some tubes and the bikes are teeth-chattering stiff. I would bet they go forward very quickly in the right hands. I wish I made that kind of power.

May be I just need another layer or two. It’s February already, time to get after it.

Uptight and outa sight..

This weak (kidding) the computer issues were sorted (a new mouse that would scroll the zoom with the mouse wheel finished thing up nicely) and things are going great.
I shipped a whole van load of items while remembering a few I missed. (that 2.4 tire sheesh) .

I worked on some repairs and upgrades of OBB’s (other builders bikes) which is pretty fun. I really admire the Stowe, early IF and Steelman frames I recently worked on. Touching the thin small diameter tubes of those bikes took me back and got me thinking…

It’s interesting how things change over the years.

I remember going to Interbike (the old LA trade show, later Vegas) when mountain bikes first hit the scene. Many of the existing brands didn’t have mountain bikes and you could see how it effected them. Some of them made jokes. Many had lost their asses missing BMX or not recognizing it as legit and were set on not missing this trend.

Some had tried to build them with small road tubes and modified lugs, mixing in fillet brazing. TIG was around but it would be next year before it had swamped the market and “oversize” was upon us (though perhaps not the tag) as were more new brands and concepts. Tons of cranks and brakes. BAM then aluminum struck. There were a lot of sore cookies out there. I felt that way, not stoked when import bikes took the lions share of the market. Some changes, I choose not to embrace and continued as I was.

When composite construction began, I found it interesting and supported it. From that point until now, I haven’t really seen a place for myself in the big picture. Much of what I do is for dirt racing and the 10lbs+ production DH frames were pretty pointless for me but things have rapidly changed in the past couple of years. I can’t see myself making one-piece injection molded frames but “tube-to-tube” construction is working quite well and I have the ability to mitre shaped tubes (CNC mill). to go far beyond the usual limitations that face the glue crowd. Consider the fact that I can shape aluminum tubes to use as prototype molds for composite tube construction.

I guess the next thing on the horizon really needs to be an oven. The glue I have used in the past didn’t require any heat but who knows what is going on these days? If I could go 700F, I could do a full anneal process on most aluminum alloys. The next step up would be stainless or inconel lined for solution at 1000 degrees.

This would be sort of a “holy grail” oven with my space and electricity in mind.

http://www.whkay.com/batch-ovens-box-tempering-furnaces/item-20347/

Here is something to look at