Ok, I'm gonna bring this show up to date. Spent the weekend getting caught up on work from back home, writing letters to my girls, cruising Ashland for gifts and whatnot, and going on a hike with Calle out in the Rogue National Forest. Also took some very Ashland kind of pictures. I like the one of the trains behind UBI...I cross those tracks on my bike every morning and know I am heading into the zone....
The past two days contained many hours of straight up working on this frame, interspersed with TONS of tips and instruction. Ultimately, we are all working hard to stay on track to have these frames complete by the end of the day on Thursday. Everyone is within about 6 hours of each other, so I think we'll make it. Here is Lori's front triangle all jigged up and ready to tack and weld.
Here's a closeup of the bottom bracket. Notice the holes drilled into the shell that leads into the other tubes. Little known fact, there are 13 holes drilled into the insides of a titanium frame...a little added bonus of working with this metal...gotta have the Argon purging everywhere at all times...and be CLEAN.
Here's Lori's head, top and down tubes tacked up and ready to weld on the table out of the frame jig. The fun begins.
Here's where I sit for hours staring at the lava and contemplating my existence. Stressful, and sublime, every time.
Here's the headtube junction again, all welded up. Not pro, but DEFINITELY not like the goo balls I was throwing last week.
Here was today's duties....getting the chain stays welded up to the hooded dropouts. Yet another custom jig for alignment and purging the subassembly with Argon until you can get it tacked up to weld free on the table.
Chainstay to dropouts all welded and snug as bugs.
The maestro, Jim Kish giving us the knowledge as he works ahead of us on a frame that he is going to leave in the mechanics shop to test drive new components on. It was his birthday today....many donuts were delivered by the rest of the UBI staff as he was stepping us through seatstay machining on the Bridgeport.
Last but not least, after hours of very difficult welding down in the chainstay / bottom bracket connection, I got to a good resting point. I almost gave up on one spot because I couldn't get a good angle with the electrode, but I hung in there, determined to nail it all myself. Then, as we went to check alignment on the chainstays, I was really worried when the whole thing had contracted to about 7mm narrower than they should be. So Jim told me to jam in a mtn bike (wider) axle jig, and whip a weld around the side we needed to pull around, across the weld I just finished. Bang, Bang, Bang. Done. Pulled it straight, just like he said....the little things you learn. ;) Here is where I left things today as we shut out the lights in the shop. Almost ready to get a wheel...seatstay's tomorrow. Probably the trickiest thing yet. I need some sleep....gonna be a long day.
The past two days contained many hours of straight up working on this frame, interspersed with TONS of tips and instruction. Ultimately, we are all working hard to stay on track to have these frames complete by the end of the day on Thursday. Everyone is within about 6 hours of each other, so I think we'll make it. Here is Lori's front triangle all jigged up and ready to tack and weld. 
Here's a closeup of the bottom bracket. Notice the holes drilled into the shell that leads into the other tubes. Little known fact, there are 13 holes drilled into the insides of a titanium frame...a little added bonus of working with this metal...gotta have the Argon purging everywhere at all times...and be CLEAN. 
Here's Lori's head, top and down tubes tacked up and ready to weld on the table out of the frame jig. The fun begins. 
Here's where I sit for hours staring at the lava and contemplating my existence. Stressful, and sublime, every time. 
Here's the headtube junction again, all welded up. Not pro, but DEFINITELY not like the goo balls I was throwing last week. 
Here was today's duties....getting the chain stays welded up to the hooded dropouts. Yet another custom jig for alignment and purging the subassembly with Argon until you can get it tacked up to weld free on the table. 
Chainstay to dropouts all welded and snug as bugs. 
The maestro, Jim Kish giving us the knowledge as he works ahead of us on a frame that he is going to leave in the mechanics shop to test drive new components on. It was his birthday today....many donuts were delivered by the rest of the UBI staff as he was stepping us through seatstay machining on the Bridgeport. 
Last but not least, after hours of very difficult welding down in the chainstay / bottom bracket connection, I got to a good resting point. I almost gave up on one spot because I couldn't get a good angle with the electrode, but I hung in there, determined to nail it all myself. Then, as we went to check alignment on the chainstays, I was really worried when the whole thing had contracted to about 7mm narrower than they should be. So Jim told me to jam in a mtn bike (wider) axle jig, and whip a weld around the side we needed to pull around, across the weld I just finished. Bang, Bang, Bang. Done. Pulled it straight, just like he said....the little things you learn. ;) Here is where I left things today as we shut out the lights in the shop. Almost ready to get a wheel...seatstay's tomorrow. Probably the trickiest thing yet. I need some sleep....gonna be a long day. 
1 comment:
looking good! can't wait to see the finished product! Did you get the email I sent to our hotmail account?
Had first race at Tabor tonight... Man did I suck.
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