Custom Frame

[basher]

Just a quickie, as I am tempted with a project this summer. Any other sort of advice would be cool aswell, like, materials, what sort of welding iron would be needed, and the best place to get the materials from.

your best off just droping iolo a email.

[JaMmY]

I find putting a bike together from scrathe hard enough making a frame sounds impossible!!!

[Guest]

seeing as we are half way through summer, I think a better project now would be to make a Jig, and then use that jig next summer for your frame building project.

Regardless, iolo will definately have the information you need, wether or not he wishes to share it is a differant matter

Edit: havnt voted but welding is easy, imo, some people seem to be absolute shite at it for some reason, it's not that hard to go along in a line making c shapes is it??? Manufacturing a frame would require exacting tolerances, and I dont know how hard it would be to cut a tube curved, for example where the top tube meet's the headtube, but yeh. It's not something I would be rushing, which is why I think making a jig would be better now, and you have a whole year to think about everything. even then, you'll make mistakes and lern stuff along the way...

Edited July 24, 2007 by Jakers

[Fixed Pants™]

Welding is pretty easy, i made an BDMS frame for the bottom of a bike work stand i made for my GCSE DT resistant materials thing, it's pretty easy, i was using an electric welder with a feed and it only too about 10 mins to get the hang of it. Not sure if it would be strong enough for trials though (my welding skills), but it certainly seemed strong for such an amateur weld.

Try it, not much to lose apart from the price of the materials n that, maybe get some scrap/cheap metal and practice a lot on that, practice cutting it too. Remember; measure twice, cut once. Take your time too.

[Sam O]

If I were you I just wouldn't go there unless you are quality at welding. If not you would make it all wrong, the geometry would be wrong and the frame would probably be as weak as hell! I say you just send Iolo an email and he'll just sort you out.

Edited July 25, 2007 by Sam O

[on ya bike]

welding is not hard it is just doing it well and making it look good is the hard part.

Tom

[liam-pantera]

for a jig id say take a existing frame u own and make mounting points for the bb headtube and dropouts and then you cna join them up eventualy .

also for bb's and head tube you could use a donner bike as long as it was steel. also for gussets you could just cut pipe down the center and weld it on underneath i think that would work and in my experiance stick welding is pritty dam strong i mad a spit roast at school wich one of the lads from my construction hung off lol its a good idea mate and i think you should deffinetly give it a try .

[darrenhopper]

Welding is quite easy to get the swing of & if you've an interest in it you should be able to develop your skill quite quickly.

My concern would be trying to ride the bike once it's done. If you learn to weld on mild steel & hop straight to fancy tubing with all the same gear you'll have to re-learn your weld on that new material. Change your set up and all.

Then once it's done the welds may well be a little inconsistent so you'll get weak spots.

I knocked up a stretched out Rat Bike a couple of Summers ago with an old fork for rear dropouts, a BB shell from a kids bike, a 12" headtube & a six and a half foot fork. 26" on the back & 20" up front. And while it's hilarious looking & great fun to cruise on I wouldn't trust it for a second not to shear in two.

As for a jig, find a frame close to the dimensions you'd like to build & construct clamps for all the major points on the frame, headtube, BB, dropouts etc. You should probably include a couple of markers inside the seat stays & chain stays so you don't get tire clearance issues. Also try to use as many bits from an old bike as possible, e.g. the headtube & BB shell etc. so it'll fit with standard bike parts.

And best of luck with it.

Edited July 26, 2007 by darrenhopper