Geoff Roberts Framebuilding course - first and second, and third frames. And fourth (now finished). And fifth.

Once I'd got home, I started the finishing work on Frame 3. This consisted of:

1. Chopping down the excess stainless steel tube in the internal rear brake cable doodah, and filing the ends.
   
2. Chopping off the excess seat tube above the lug and filing to match the lug.
   
3. Chopping off the top of the lug and headtube to bring the top of the headtube down a bit. The Llewellyn top headtube lugs are very tall, on the basis you can cut them down to suit.
   
4. Ream and face the headtube. A nice excuse to get out some of the more serious tools from the garage.
   
5. Ream the seat tube to 30.6mm, fit the shim, and cut and file it down to match the top of the lug.
   
   

I nearly had a bit of a flap over reaming the seat-tube, as I needed to ream it out to 30.6mm or sa smidge more (the nominal internal dimension of the Columbus seat tube is 30.7mm) but my largest adjustable reaming tool claimed it only went up to 30.16mm. Thank goodness for sloppy manufacturing tolerances - it just made it up to 30.6mm at the limit of its range of adjustment.

And yes, I know I need to clean all the swarf next to the vice. Don't judge me, man, I've been busy.

Then I painted the inside of the seat tube with some acid etch primer, to try and prevent or at least slow down any galvanic corrosion between the steel seat tube and the aluminium shim, and once that had dried stuck the shim in place with some rubberised cyanoacrylate (yep, superglue) and put in my seat tube diameter testing sacrificial seat post while it all set in place.

Yep, still haven't tidied up all that swarf. Still busy.

Top tip for next time I fit a shim - empty the top tube of all the crap and blasting medium before fitting the shim which closes off the open end of the seat tube. Or drill a nice bit hole in the shim in advance. Drilling holes at 45 degrees with a hand drill is not a fun experience.

More to follow.