New/amateur/garage/kitchen framebuilding discussion

so many dolla

https://thebicycleacademy.org/collections/bicycle-tubes/products/columbus-cento-limited-edition-tubing-set

I suspect it will be a bit cheaper to buy it from Ceeway.

So I sprayed primer on the frame I’m building and the fillets I thought were nicely filed actually look like dog shit.

How the heck do you file those annoying little bits that the file won’t reach?

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I also think some of my shore lines look a bit shit.

Not sure if worth passing the torch around them again or not.

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Strips of sandpaper ?

I did move onto sandpaper. I guess strips of sandpaper and a bit more patience!

TIG welding. Should I get a huge 30L argon cylinder or a more manageable 20L bottle?

i have been using the smaller bottles for a while now, but plan on going big next bottle. IMO probable get the bigger one, most likely you will end up with it anyway. I just went with the smaller bottle because i couldn't manage the bigger bottle deposit at the time.
The small one is pretty small tho, nice and manageable if space is hard

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll start with the 20L to keep the costs down and see how I fare with it. I'm scared the 30L will be hard to get to and from the refill place as it's so tall. If the 20L doesn't work out I'll sell it or maybe get another one.

Had a shower to fit and some wiring to do in the flat so didn’t get very long on this today but got a little bit done.

Mix of filing (the primer helped as it indicated where I was hitting/not) and sand paper strips.

I laid a bit more brass down on the other side of the seatcluster as there was a real low spot and I didn’t want to just file down to that level. That’s

I’m starting to think I’m taking it a bit too seriously though.

With this frame I wanted to use the lugs instead of big chunky fillets as on my previous 2 lugs and to make a bit of a departure from my normal ‘rough and ready’ style but i dunno. I’m really tempted to hit it with some rattle cans and do some big drippy splatters style paint job instead of the single colour enamel paint job I was planning.

Either way I’m still going to work on the fillets more as I don’t want to just use the paint to cover up my laziness.

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With bottles of argon, you want to be keeping in mind the pressure they fill to, aim for 200bar+, a lot are around 120, needless to say you get less for your money but appears a good deal by the litre. I don't use my tig welder as much as I would like (due to the cost of gas) but my bottle has lasted pretty well considering and thats 230bar, 30L.

Cheers, I got a 200 bar bottle. Hope it's okay.

^ The bottle says 300 bar on it though. I'm kinda glad I got the smaller one, hope I won't empty it too fast.

Is there a recommended design/diy-guide for an aluminum extrusion jig?

I should make a bicycle trailer for transporting argon bottles.

Haha awesome idea :)

Is there a recommended design/diy-guide for an aluminum extrusion jig?

It seems most people build some copy of an arctos jig, theres loads of photos of different variants on google, its what i did. i can post some photos of mine when i get home.

Okay chaps,

I need a head badge for my frame..

Aluminium, id rather stick it on than screw it on..

Any ideas?

i cut mine out of a sheet of copper, using a jewelers saw, worked pretty well. I glued it on with 2 part epoxy because i didn't fancy cooking my ht in the process of silveri ng it on. I dont have any great photos but here is one

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Ordered a couple practice tubes from Koehn / Reset Racing in Germany. Thoroughly recommend them. Fast communication through email in English. Accepts payment through Paypal. Next day delivery from Germany to the Netherlands.

This guy is bigger than I expected :)

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Nice one @coldharbour

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Joe's a great guy, really liked hanging with him at nahbs. Looking forward to getting the toob bender as well.

The BOC ones we use have 300 bar and at 118quid , can't complain we use two bottles for titanium , the air liquide seems to come 200-220 bar and some of the back street suppliers is only 100 bar so whilst a larger bottle may seem to have more gas if it's only 100bar in it then ....

What's the size of the bottles you're using? I image if you weld titanium professionally you go through quite a lot of argon quickly.

I bought a 200 bar 20L filled cilinder for €300. It's part of an exchange system were you 'own' the bottle. You exchange your bottle for a new one at one of the so-many exchange points when it's empty. A refill should be around €50, I think. I'm in the Netherlands by the way.