Did some rack braze-ons last weekend. It was a little tough because I used MAPP gas and it took a awhile to get to brazing temperature. There was a sweet spot temperature that was hard to get to without burning off too much of the flux. The biggest solution came when I was taking flux from other parts of the assembly and moving it into the area I was working on. I practiced a bunch on a piece of scrap chrome-Molly and felt comfortable enough trying it on the bike.
Getting the parts hot enough for the silver to flow when I had the parts clamped together was a challenge. Once I put a tack weld of silver solder on and could remove the clamp the silver flowed OK. I don't think I will win any awards for the looks of my brazing but the mounts are on very solid.
Looks great! Just curious, at some point do you think you'd try your hand at frame fabrication? How hard could it be?
ReplyDeleteI won't post the links to avoid junking up the comments, but there are two 27" (69ish cm) frames on craigslist>minneapolis right now. A Fuji Royale and a Schwinn Traveler. It appears life was better for tall cyclists 40 years ago!
I think one day I will try my hand at frame building. For now I have three bikes that fit real good. That is quite am accomplishment for me! Those 69cm frames are definitely a good find. The only thing I do find with those old frames is that the top tube was fairly short compared to the height of the seat tube. Also the bottom bracket is pretty low on a Traveler as they were touring bikes. It has not bothered me much on mine but I can scrape the pedal easily in a corner if I don't pay attention.
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