The wooden frame!!!!!

Here it is, fresh out of its clamps, the two halfs finally fixed together with the metal bits and the rear stays all in ONE PIECE!

The frame all in one piece for the first time.

And a vid of the frame.. all in one piece for the first time.

What this really means is that the project has taken a massive step into the final phase. Sanding off all the resin seapage, and final smoothing to make it ready for varnishing.

I could put it together and attempt to ride it, but really I need to put the saddle in and the final strengthening bolts in the topof the stays. Its going to be tough, but I am going to resist.





Fixing and Gluing... Well epoxying.

   I got to a point of no return, having got all the metal work finished, the final laminating of the main frame was upon me.

Prepping for the final epoxy fix on the main frame.

It meant a lot of guess work around the amount of resin I would need to mix up for the job, and in the end I was slightly short and had to do a hasty additional mix. The west system epoxy I have been using has been great, really easy to use at every stage. I put in the metal head tube and bottom bracket sections after the initial 'wetting up' and from there there was no going back. It was just lining it all up and clamping it into position, then cleaning down any excess epoxy after clamping from around the metal parts that I would nor be able to sand back later.

 All clamped up, just need to wait for it to go off.



Head tube with decal, fixed in, no going back.

I also managed to get the back end all lined up, and fixed with epoxy the day before. It was slightly less nerve racking, although I don't know why because technically it was harder. However it all worked out. I had drilled small holes in the inside of the metal drop outs where they join the hanger to allow excess epoxy to squirt out, as the fitting with the wooden frame was too tight at the join to let it out. It allowed me to put plenty in and not worry about a dry join. When I was fixing them together I measured from the center of each stay where it joins the frame, to the end of the drop out to get them centered. I also delicately popped the wheel in to see how it lined up, it was good.

Back end all epoxied together.

Next steps are to fix the main frame and back end together, to have THE WHILE WOODEN FRAME  together as one for the first time. Then to do final shaping and sanding ready for the posh yacht varnish I have procured.









Moving on.

So I made the change to the head tube angle, this will have to be it, there is no going back now. Unfortunately during the fitting and reshaping of the wood, I pranged the paint on the head tube really badly. I have had to rub it back and repaint it, which is a real shame as It was a good paint job and the head set was fitted so I have had to spray over and around the installed headset which is not ideal. But i think it will be fine.
If I hadn't messed up the head tube paint, I could have resined the main frame together, but that had to wait, will be the next job, then i can do the final shape and sand.
Rear drop outs are sprayed in the shiny green colour, just need lacquering, then I can resin the rear set together.
I also spotted a pair of leather handlebar grips on eBay, couldn't resist.

Name.

I think this bike will be called the 'Plycycle', and in order to represent this on the head tube I have knocked up a logo to go with it.

In other news the drop outs are coming on, getting to grips with the metal work.

Drop outs work in progress.

The next stage is to line up the frame accurately and tack glue the drop out components in position ready for braising. Inside they are scuffed ready for fixing to the frame. I just have to decide what adhesive I will use. I was planning to use the same epoxy as everything else, but I have been given some acrylic structural adhesive, that may just be a bit better. I will do some tests.



Fitting the metal work.

I really felt like I have made a step forward with the coming together of the metal parts and the main wooden bike frame. So what did I do? Well.... I split the frame into its two halfs and inserted the metal pieces to daw around them.

Bottom bracket lined up for marking.



I then routed out inside the markings to allow the plate sections to neatly sit between the two halfs of the frame. I also cut some slightly deepersections in the center of each plate to allow some extra epoxy to create a plug. The plate will have some holes drilled in it eventually to allow the epoxy to bond though.

Botton bracket fitted.

Head tube fitted.

At the mement the pieces are fairly loose fitting because of my relative inexperience in this type of building. I think that the epoxy resin will help me out here.

The next few steps are fiddly and there will be no aparent progress, as in new parts. Its just bonding, and tweaking to get the rear stays to fit. Rear drop out parts are in the post, and will heavily influence how the back end of the bike turns out.

One step forward another back.

I just popped in to see Lou the engineer, and he has the bottom bracket plate cut, ready to braze onto the bottom bracket shell this weekend along with the head tube fitting. This is amazing as he is very good at what he does as well as being an ex cycle racer back in the day and is really keen to help me out. Can't wait to see the finished items.

The set back is not that great, but i am going to have to re-cut the six rear stay sections. After a brief chat with Lou last week, we decided upon a slight redesign in the rear stay set up. Mimicking a traditional rear stay with a tube butted onto a plate, but over sized. My original design was based on what i could achieve, with with Lou happy to help out the design can be improved and made more complex.
so I will be laying out and cutting this weekend.

Also just to mention that the epoxy resin test (pictured below) went very well indeed. When cured the strength gain is immense, I tried to snap it but I couldn't. It was only when I tried to prise it apart with a chisel that it started to go, and it resisted that well too. That is good news.

Poxy epoxy.

I went to get some epoxy resin today, but the shop didnt have what I wanted. So I will have to go to the place I know has it but is the other side of town.
If I can get some resin then I can start testing with some off cuts for the laminating process. Seeing as I have never done any epoxy based bonding, I think it best not to experiment on the actual frame.
I also held up a wheel to the frame today to work out the rear stay lengths. I think I will have to cut into the rear curve that follows the wheel contour as I am going to have to bring the wheel about an inch closer to the frame than I had originally thought. Its not a problem at all, I had just got used to how it was looking and the cut will change that shape.

Frame template.

So with a big sheet of ply staring at me I wanted to jump right in and start sawing. However, being on a tight budget, I decided to take the advice of Micheal and Jeff, and start making a card board template. So I made one, and laid it up on my 1981 Ralliegh fixie (which I love the frame geometry of ) to see how it worked.

Not too bad was the answer, but there were some tweaks to be made, so I drew out and cut another.

Its laid out a bit squiffy here in the pic but it does actually fit cleanly. The thich section infront of the rear wheel is the biggest change, and I like the first template, but for strenght i will go this way first and can cut the section out later if it looks like the strenght is there. You can also see that i laid in a couple of scraps of ply to see what the rear stays might look like.

  
I am worried that they will not be strong enough, even with the main frame hugging the wheel line. So I am looking at extending the rear drop out frame to go furthur up the stay and hope fully reienforce the stay.

It may look something like this. I did some snap tests with a lenght of the new ply wood the correct lenght and width for the stay. On its own it beaks with relativly little force, doubled up (one for each side) the strengh is obviously double but felt much better to me. Add to this the strength of a triangle shape when bolted into position with a wheel and the drop out extention ( to reduce the leverage) and a two part epoxy resin top coat and I think it will be ok. Only one way to find out.

Other bits to arive last week were the crank set and bottom braket, thanks to Charlie the bike monger, great for bits n pieces. so with most of the hard wear now on the bench, I can relly start measuring up.

Looking around.

Around the corner from where I work is a chandlers, so having walked past it many many times I decided to pop in today on the hunt for epoxy resin. It was a treasure trove of goodies, everything one could ever want for a boat, including a nice selection of epoxy resins. There are several good options for me, that are an all purpose laminating/ filling/ covering two part kits, in several sizes. I cant remember the brands but I will go back armed with pen and paper to study the options further.
I will use the epoxy resin to bond the two half's of the frame and to laminate any additional smaller parts. I may also use it as a covering coat, for durability, although that may well depend on how much I have left after the construction phase.