Wha happa? One month ago today I headed south to Ashland, now, I'm grinding away in my cube again. Big difference though, I try to make one small step towards eventual weld nirvana every day...even if it is just notes and lists. Need to keep on it.
As for Lori's bike, I have everything in hand for the build up except for the fork and the wheels I have to build. The last thing to figure out is any paint swatch I want to get applied, and the mystery "brand" I want to try out on it. Needing my graphic designer to step it up....Alvy? you listening?
Anyway, all's good. Need to turn my attention back to running for the next two months. Just was reminded that I have the Hood to Coast coming up again....I drew the hardest leg, mileage wise, according to the site. Whatever, I'll just barf my way through it (again)...it's my M.O.... ;)
The revolution continues.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
WERK!
Back home, rapidly catching up with my ladies over the weekend. Nice to be home....although visions of weld pools still haunt my sleep, with no outlet to be seen...yet!
First things first are to get Lori's ride parted up for action....so it will be back to bike mechanic mode for me for awhile. But stay tuned for the official launch of my brand of mighty Ti steeds....
I'll post up some photos of the finished frame back in my shop soon.
back to the grind!
First things first are to get Lori's ride parted up for action....so it will be back to bike mechanic mode for me for awhile. But stay tuned for the official launch of my brand of mighty Ti steeds....
I'll post up some photos of the finished frame back in my shop soon.
back to the grind!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Almost there..
Sorry for no new pictures. I was tuckered out last night after a long day of wrestling with the final welds to the frame. Got it done, so now it's down to the details today and tomorrow, then home!
HI MARINA & ELENA! And congratulations to both of you for graduating this year. Marina is now a 1st grader, and Elena is a senior in preschool! Whoo hoo!!!! Be ready to play when I get home...I miss you.
HI MARINA & ELENA! And congratulations to both of you for graduating this year. Marina is now a 1st grader, and Elena is a senior in preschool! Whoo hoo!!!! Be ready to play when I get home...I miss you.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Millimeter by agonizing millimeter...
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. 
Monday, June 8, 2009
Back into the fire...
Beautiful sunny Ashland Monday morning...slurping down espresso and gearing up for a stressful day. The real bike gets welded on today. Front triangle will be done by happy hour....more pictures to come.
here we go...
here we go...
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Diarama Part Deux
Falling behind, sorry, still stuck on pictures from last week. BUT, here's where I'll shift gears and start showing the live ammunition shots as I'm working up Lori's real bike. First off, the drafting day. Basically drew out a full scale mock up of the actual bike, including chainstay schematics and then converted it all into machining instructions...here's the bottom bracket junction.
Then it was off to turn pencil lines into metal...here's the bottom bracket / seat tube junction jigged up and argon purging prior to welding.
Another view. The jig is pretty tricky to weld around, so we just do some little tack welds and then pull it out for the full business.
A view of the class with live bodies in it.
By the end of last week, I had Lori's front triangle cut down and ready to get cleaned up for fitting in the jig and eventual welding. I got that all done yesterday over the course of several hours, with only some minor trouble spots, so, this thing is becoming reality!
I'll post the actual bike in action shots tonight.
Rear triangle machining & welding today. Gotta get to class!
out
Then it was off to turn pencil lines into metal...here's the bottom bracket / seat tube junction jigged up and argon purging prior to welding.
Another view. The jig is pretty tricky to weld around, so we just do some little tack welds and then pull it out for the full business.
A view of the class with live bodies in it.
By the end of last week, I had Lori's front triangle cut down and ready to get cleaned up for fitting in the jig and eventual welding. I got that all done yesterday over the course of several hours, with only some minor trouble spots, so, this thing is becoming reality!
I'll post the actual bike in action shots tonight.
Rear triangle machining & welding today. Gotta get to class!
out
A Brief Pictoral Diarama of a Journey In Metal....
Alright, time to put a face to the story. Here's a few pictures to take you through what I've been writing about. First up is the school itself. UBI is down in the old part of Ashland, down by the railroad tracks. It is broken roughly in half, with the front half of the school where the large classes of bike mechanics, wheel building, repair, etc go on. The back half is a big warehouse type shop space where all the materials are stored and the welding shop is. Next to this building is a dorm type building where students stay while they are in Ashland.
Just outside the frame shop door is this view back toward Mt Ashland. This is where I retreat when I've been under the hood for hours focusing all my energy towards a 6mm diameter pulsing pool of molten Titanium.....it's quite a dichotomy to say the least.
Here's the exterior of the frame shop...where all the magic happens. Notice the huge solar array on the top of the building, it supplies 60% of the power to UBI. Pretty cool given that we are all blasting away with 200 AMP welders and three phase machine tools.
This is where our teacher instructs us in bits and pieces along the way. His name is Jim Kish, and he is great. Not just in his welding and bike building which is pretty epic, but he's also been a fantastic teacher, putting us all at ease under some pretty intense circumstances. Can't say enough about him and Gary and Rich, who also helped me tremendously.
View of the machine shop wall, lathe and Bridgeport milling machine in the backgroun there....(I often wonder how I'm going to fit my own version of those in my basement.. ;)
Closeup of the mighty Bridgeport. Turns a daunting task into a pull of the lever. I think I could have a serious relationship with one of these...man love.
Oh yeah, welding. ;) So here is my work bench where I try to create miracles.
More often than not in the beginning, I was just lucky enough to get the joints to stick together and not grow big swiss cheesy breather holes on the side...goopy Ti.
You can see what happens to Titanium when it is over 800 degrees and finds oxygen....p.s. don't ride this bike ;)
But like anything in life, throw yourself back in the fire and breathe, and it gets better...
and better...little victories.
Finally, yesterday, I made it around these 2 Gruelons without a failure, and some decent welds interspersed amongst the rumples....
Armed with the knowledge that I wasn't a total plebe at the welding torch, I constructed a real live bottom bracket / seat tube weld with some quality Ti (versus the Chinese stuff we'd been practicing on). Then, it was off to a stationary jig and a 50 pound extended metal pole that I leaned and bounced on with my entire weight until the seat tube finally gave up it's life.....the good news is, it did it before my weld ever budged. Proceed, Grasshopper...
more to come in another post, gonna head out to take some snaps of Ashland and locate some surprises for my women back home.
Just outside the frame shop door is this view back toward Mt Ashland. This is where I retreat when I've been under the hood for hours focusing all my energy towards a 6mm diameter pulsing pool of molten Titanium.....it's quite a dichotomy to say the least.
Here's the exterior of the frame shop...where all the magic happens. Notice the huge solar array on the top of the building, it supplies 60% of the power to UBI. Pretty cool given that we are all blasting away with 200 AMP welders and three phase machine tools.
This is where our teacher instructs us in bits and pieces along the way. His name is Jim Kish, and he is great. Not just in his welding and bike building which is pretty epic, but he's also been a fantastic teacher, putting us all at ease under some pretty intense circumstances. Can't say enough about him and Gary and Rich, who also helped me tremendously.
View of the machine shop wall, lathe and Bridgeport milling machine in the backgroun there....(I often wonder how I'm going to fit my own version of those in my basement.. ;)
Closeup of the mighty Bridgeport. Turns a daunting task into a pull of the lever. I think I could have a serious relationship with one of these...man love.
Oh yeah, welding. ;) So here is my work bench where I try to create miracles.
More often than not in the beginning, I was just lucky enough to get the joints to stick together and not grow big swiss cheesy breather holes on the side...goopy Ti.
You can see what happens to Titanium when it is over 800 degrees and finds oxygen....p.s. don't ride this bike ;)
But like anything in life, throw yourself back in the fire and breathe, and it gets better...
and better...little victories.
Finally, yesterday, I made it around these 2 Gruelons without a failure, and some decent welds interspersed amongst the rumples....
Armed with the knowledge that I wasn't a total plebe at the welding torch, I constructed a real live bottom bracket / seat tube weld with some quality Ti (versus the Chinese stuff we'd been practicing on). Then, it was off to a stationary jig and a 50 pound extended metal pole that I leaned and bounced on with my entire weight until the seat tube finally gave up it's life.....the good news is, it did it before my weld ever budged. Proceed, Grasshopper...
more to come in another post, gonna head out to take some snaps of Ashland and locate some surprises for my women back home.
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