Workshop goings on

I weighed the 753 Welshie on the shop scales this weeks and it came in at a loverrrly 7.2kg. Considering everything on it is steel or aluminium, i think that's amazing. It will be living in the roof of the shop for the foreseeable future to allow me to finish the Ti and gather some funds.

I'm thinking of rebuilding the DA hubs onto some clincher rims and building it up with a mix of Nitto and Dura Ace. It's drilled for a brake so it's realistic to imagine using it as a summer best when the weather gets nicer.

In other news the Ti equilibrium has been stripped and is up for sale following the realisation that i won't be audaxing for a good few months to come. I'm planning on a Ti disc audax build for the springtime, possibly a tripster or Spa cycles. We will see.

Martrac looks great. Love the ratty disc.

Is that Barry? Never mind, read the thread properly - it is Barry!

It is Barry!

It is lovely, but not mine unfortunately. I was just using it as a reference for my frame.

These for the ti build - stainless King cages. Luxuriously portly at 90g for the pair, but i love them and they should go well. Not everything has to be carbon/ti..

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478.5g combined for the seatpost, stem and bars (27.2/80mm/42cm). Ti bolt torx cap bolt.

Not super-duper lightweight but close enough and they look very slick, especially UD carbon on the bars.

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Dam you got this right before me, commonwealth bike right? Was a bargain. I picked up a 1998 welsh commonwealth track frame from the guy who rode it over in Kuala Lumpa. I will post some pics up tomorrow, it was made by Isla Rowntree in the Black Country (lady who set up Isla bikes)

That’s the one, ridiculously cheap and the pickup was just out of Monmouth so it was a no brainier. He gave me the name of the rider, apparently a commonwealth rider at the 98 games.

Wholesale changes, massive bike cull with a touring bike through the door...rip it up and start again.

Super duper busy over the last three months including a new workshop space, plus a new lathe and milling machine. A full explanation to follow (with photos)

Are you the Lord Cycles guy? (Sorry, name has slipped my mind)

No i'm not unfortunately, I own Punk Bikes in Cardiff. I know Chris well but i don't think he is on here.

*edit - Chris being Mr Lord Cycles

Ah yeah, that's the fella. Oh well good to know of more people with machines for making/fixing bikes.

A new workshop! It's taken a fair while to get it to a point i'm happy with. It's big enough for what i need day to day and i'm really enjoying the space so far.

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It's split in to halves, metal shop in the front and bike workshop out back. This last year has seen me become interested in much more metalwork and fabrication. Mig welding, tig welding, brazing, milling and lathing in the main and i've just about squeezed them all in. I was enrolled on a couple of night courses at local colleges (welding & fabrication and machine practices) but they were both cancelled due to the second lockdown so i've been self teaching.

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My list of current projects:

Finish frame jig/fixture - this is about a year in the making and really needs to be finished. The rear dropout holder needs doing. My engineer pal has done the vast majority of it up till now but we have both struggled to find time to get it completed.

Commuter frame - once the jig is finished i'll be attempting to make a replacement for my flyer. I have a standard oversize tubing bundle from Ceeway with a couple of additions, such as 1 1/8 head tube, internal cable routing bits for rear brake and rear dynamo cable. I have been seesawing between brazing this or tig welding it but i've settled on the lugged option as my tig skills are still in development.

Milling machine DRO - I've fitted an X and Y axis kit already (incredible faff), i now need to figure out how to mount a drilling depth Z axis on the front/quill of the machine. Once that is done i have a plethora of little milling projects planned. The first will be a handy little nipple holder for wheel building (i'll post some sketches).

Draw bar for milling machine - I could just buy one of these but i have a stainless rod, a screw cutting lathe and a tig welder so i might as well just make one. I managed to bend and crack my current one whilst tapping the collet holder out recently. I'm also in the middle of replacing all the handles on the lathe (typical noob machining thing to do i know). I'm trying to use different metals and techniques for each one. Alloy and brass are done, stainless and copper to do. I'm then planning on doing a run of stainless knobs which will force me to nail down internal threading on this machine.

Tool/DRO shelf - I want to make a shelf above the lathe to house various tools but also mount the two screens. I need to design a bracket for them both to mount to off the wall, most likely a steel box section scenario. I also need to figure out the whole cabling situation for both machines. This will likely involve putting another plug socket in by the mill and mounting the VFD in a sensible place. The chap i bought it off converted it to a 3-phase 2000w motor with variable speed control and emergency stop box. It's a bit of a beast and once the DRO's are done it will be very useful. I'm also toying with the idea of welding the column rack in place which would help improve accuracy when bringing the head up and down, but i'm still on the fence.

Convert Scheppach saw to vertical - A Youtube inspired hack to make the saw mountable in a vice with a cutting table, trigger lock and emergency stop button. Some of this is done, mainly the 3D printed parts for the lock and handle mount. A box section frame and some electronics left to do.

Workshop envy. Enjoying the villa flag sneaking in there too.

What’s the latest with this?

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This is a home setup? Jelly

I sold that to a pal of mine in the end. It is gutting seeing him riding it to be honest. He even bought it into the shop and had me build it up, cold bastard.

@psg1ben It's part of my business premises and i work out if it day to day. It also serves as my workshop for all my projects.

Nice, very good use of the space you have there.

I had a couple of little brazing jobs in last week. A pair of bottle cage mounts, a rear derailleur cable boss and a dropout repair on a set of French 50's rando forks. It all turned out well but the forks were a bit of a bugger to get looking okay.

I've got the final bits on the way from Ceeway for my commuter build, just need to sort the fixture. I'll hopefully get the tubes cut and mitred this week. I picked up a J2C TN-100 tube notcher about a year ago that i'm yet to properly use so it's time to give it a spin. I've read good things about Coba-Tech hole saws for cutting bike tubing due to their low profile tooth profile so i've picked a couple up to give them a go.

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Exciting. Are you taking on work? I might have a possible frame alteration to discuss with you.

Potentially. What are you thinking?

Replacing a headtube to 1 1/8th on an old MTB frame. Possibly a fools errand and uneconomical but it does suit my needs in every way apart from the quite noodly front end when loaded so intrigued as to how much it would cost.

I would just buy a surly troll or thorn but they seem to scarcely come up for sale.

It's not something i've done before and it would likely cost more than the frame is worth, but hey i'm up for trying new things. Is the frame lugged or tig welded?