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Someone called the shop and asked if you could put a 9mm QR hub in a 20mm fork.
Now you can. That isn't a blemish in the upper left item; it's a cat hair. |
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Your freehub body was compatible with 8, 9 and 10 speed cassettes - until road bikes went to 11. Then the freehub body got 1.85mm deeper.
You would be stuck buying a new hub and having a new wheel built. I work in a bike shop as a bike mechanic; that's how I earn a living.
On the one hand: thanks bicycle industry.
On the other: screw you. I play safe and trim 1.60mm off freehub bodies when the geometry of the hub allows. If that last 0.25mm won't give you clearance for the chain, the first paint chip will. |
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Same as above but let's try chucking it this way.
The 8/9/10-Speed: DT Swiss, Novotec and Woven Precision Freehubs have all taken to this process quite well. I've done about 5 in total. Sometimes the hub geometry just won't let you get away with this trick. |
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On the topic of going to 11.
How about you have a $3500 rear wheel for your time-trial bike. How about the offered $350 conversion kit doesn't work for your older wheel. A problem well defined is half solved. The problem is that you need a deeper freehub body because 11-speed road uses a 1.85mm deeper cassette. Let's trim 1.78mm (+/- 0.05mm) off the cassette. |
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Hmmmm.
I hold patents in the U.S.A. and Canada; I have made the CatLander TrebuChat prototype. This has got to be one of the most trivial things that I do with my machine shop. I trim 11-speed cassettes to 10-speed width. It makes me smile. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance. All the others worked out fine; this last one is an 11-23 cassette - it works too. NOTE: Check the drive side centre-flange spacing on your hubs! I've had to provide a 0.6mm spacer on two occasions. For example: Chris King 10 speed hubs used a bit wider drive side flange spacing than many others (please take this as a good sign that Mr. King understands engineering). |
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Much, much later, I made a video. |
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Seriously, an 11x1mm thread pitch?
A co-op student at the shop broke a bolt while working on their bike. It was going to be either two weeks and $60 or 2 months and $10 from the two local dealers for a replacement. 7075-T7 (not a typo) bolt. |
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130.18mm
This is a dummy axle for a welding jig. I didn't make it, I trimmed it from 135 (measured about 137.8something) to 130.18mm for my go-to welder. |
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Front 135x15 end caps trimmed down from 142x15
Yay, Proliferation of Standards. |
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Front 142x15 spacers to fit 150x15.
Starting stock was a piece of 1/2" Schedule 80 Pipe cut from ExcaliTool's handle. These aren't perfect, one is 4.04mm wide, the other is 4.14mm wide. Sometimes 99.8% is a complete failure. In this case 1% and 3.5% over-sized on this dimension is excellent and accommodates for wear and compression. For spacers like this I make them oversized on purpose and also make them one at a time to ensure that I increase my buffer. I also often get to see the condition of the rest of the assembly. I've seen the wear on the fork, in this case the extra 0.18mm is a good thing. Washer Manufacturers Unite! |
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The official 15-9mm conversion cap for a different hub didn't reach the bearing in this implementation. I made a sleeve to accommodate for the placement issue. |
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I made these before the above. This is one of a couple of pairs of 15-9mm reducers that I've made. They go deep enough to align the hub bearing and they're made out of leftover shop parts. |
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Another 15mm hub converted back to 9mm. |
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Made from 1" 2024-T3 round bar and some schedule 40 1/2" (nominal) 6061-T6 pipe, this conversion kit keeps a 20mm through axle front hub out of the parts bin. |
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Made from 1" 6061-T6 round bar, this conversion kit keeps another 20mm through axle front hub out of the parts bin. |
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Yes, it says 22.2mm right on it, and the package says that it is a 1" stem adapter.
This is the 1" that's 7/8" or 22.2mm, not the 1" that's 25.4mm. You wanted the 1" that's 22.2mm and this is that but it then adapts to 28.6mm which is 1 1/8". THAT's why the package says 1" right on it. I went home and fixed this at lunch... 28.6mm turned down to 0.9995". Don't hate; cope and correct. |
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Since we lost one of the 30mm BB spindle spacers for a crank set, I made one out of a headset spacer. |
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57 minutes. |
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The distributor was out of stock of the conversion kit for their convertible front hub. The official conversion kit also required that the wheel be re-dished.
This is a symmetrical conversion from 135-150mm O.L.D. and as such includes a rotor spacer cut from a hub that came to the end of its life after too many rebuilds. The project took 4 hours of machining, I'll sell you the plans at a very reasonable rate... but to do this again? Dear Bicycle Industry, do not advertise something as convertible if you will let yourself run out of conversion kits. |
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Just in case they didn't have the 100m travel air shaft in stock I made sure that I could cut down a 140mm travel shaft. I ADVISE AGAINST THIS. The shaft is internally butted, my version isn't as strong. |
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When the industry decides that 150mm isn't any good and makes hubs 157mm (with a 3.5mm cup inside the frame), I roll my eyes. When the industry doesn't have the conversion caps in stock, I machine. |
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Upper spring perches for a 2006 Marzocchi 888 RC2X.
2024 Aluminum alloy. Made thicker than the original since it was the fins that hold the external o-ring in place that broke on the original (un-broken one shown at right). Even though it's a stronger material I had a chance to correct a design weak point. This is the project that makes me feel bad that I didn't step in to redesign and manufacture an improved air piston for a Manitou Seven. I have my reasons; I'll live with them. |
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Post diameter adapter sleeves to mount 990 brakes on V/Canti posts.
Don't ask... I knew I would regret taking on the project; this was to correct a complication. Made from a piece of 0.375 x 0.035" wall (0.305" I.D.) tube turned down to 0.355" O.D. x 0.315" I.D. - Keep in mind that this leaves a wall thickness of 0.020". For perspective 0.020" is about, or a little less than, the thickness of two typical business cards. The tubing came from a bargain bag of end-cuts from one of my favoured on-line metal suppliers... all of the tubing was a 0.035" wall thickness and I was thinking that I wouldn't be able to machine anything useful out of it. |
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6903 Deep Implementation Bearing Press.
Made from the leftover stock from the 888 RC2X spring perches (above). I made a seal protection groove. It's deep enough to clear the drive side axle on the hub I use. Tool manufacture and bearing replacement within two hours of getting home. Figaro turning his back to my turning... he's waiting for treats. |
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The Air-Piston Shaft Project
The dishwasher tripped the circuit; I lost the first version of this update at the panel. |
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This project required that I finally make another grooving tool. Made from a 5% Cobalt 5/16" tool bit and some time playing with my bench grinder. *This is the footnote from the original sketch above. |
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Grooving test.
Jounce in place Using 2024-T3 after research from the seatpost project left me no better choice. |
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Shaft end turned to diameter |
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O-ring groove complete and threading limit marked out
This is the last we see of this o-ring... |
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Threaded.
When the finished piece was displayed the assumption was that I had used the original piece and threaded it in.... nope... would have.... stupid thread pitch. |
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Reassessment.
Plan zero was based on 5/8" round bar. 9/16" round bar ended up in the lathe. Deal with what you dealt yourself. |
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The parts are all finished
Someone asked me how long this took.... No. |
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As an assembly. |
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I designed the air shaft to replace the negative spring with a jounce bumper.
That is a good design; if you have a negative air spring. My design did not. Here we see Delrin™ spring perches to fit into the remaining original negative spring. Yes it will be a less progressive and softer spring since the secondary spring was broken. |
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This is the second version of the assembly... yes, I put some thought into the order of the jounce bumper and spring. |
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These cranks now have threaded pedal holes centered 120mm from the spindle centre.
More information here. |
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Just what the world needed, ANOTHER derailleur hanger shape
I milled down a couple of steel hangers that were available to make a hanger to attach to a recumbent trike that didn't have a derailer hanger. |
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Notes:
I bolted the hanger down to the back-side of an existing jig. The tool is a 1/4" 4-flute M42 (8% Cobalt) endmill. The tool was pushing metal instead of cutting it. |
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Under the microscope, you can see the rounding of the cutting surface.
I switched out the tooling for a fresh piece and it started cutting properly. |
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I discovered broken plastic parts again, luckily almost all of the other parts were still ok.
Made from 1" 6061-T6 Aluminum it's a bit thicker. A replacement for the other broken plastic part was salvaged from the last fork that failed in the same way. |
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An eccentric reducer made from 304 Stainless Steel round bar.
I had the idea for an eccentric reducer to correct a frame geometry (shock hitting the frame) problem years before I had a machine shop. This is to change frame geometry... Let's just say that the brass ones that ship out of the UK are really not overpriced. Here I'll show the finish quality right after machining, no polishing - at 180x magnification (and then scaled arbitrarily), the lines are The part is 0.500" in diameter; at 0.499" in diameter the part is worn out. Trick Question: Given the spacing of Answer: One. It simply spirals around the part over EDIT: yup, messed up by a factor of 4 in my calculations... somehow I remembered a gear tooth count as 10 instead of 20, and made that mistake twice. |
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Bushings.
Made from 1" Nylon round bar. Excessive wear made it a requirement to machine four individual bushings. |
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A tube coupler. |
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Another tube coupler.
For the love of all that is good, bad, or indifferent... play safe, Terry.
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I captured video for this project.
Video 1: Machining a Block Out of a Block Nearly 4½ minutes of your life, and 1¾ hours of mine that we'll never get back. Before giving up skip to video 2. |
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Video 2: Machining Something Out of a Block
Another 4½ minutes of video from 1½ hours of machining; with an appearance by Figaro. |
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Video 3: Completing the Part
Figaro's appearance in just over 5 minutes of video makes it, and the 4½ hours of machining it represents, bearable. My suggestion for watching these is to: - download them - put on some tunes from your goto playlist - sit back and take just over 14 minutes to see what took 7¾ hours spread over 3 days to complete. |
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BB92 Bottom Bracket removal tool for (C)inch 30mm implementations.
A regular customer wanted to get the Enduro BRT-003 tool for removing BB86/92 Bottom brackets. I figured that I could make the tool. I was glad that I took the project on, BB86/92 is designed around a 24mm spindle... the requested tool wouldn't have worked. $25 in material, 5 hours on the lathe. The cup is 7075-T6, the collet is 2024-T3 and the expanding wedge is made from Schedule 80 6061-T6 aluminum. |
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Ok; I made a 100x168mm cartridge bottom bracket into a 120x168mm cartridge bottom bracket by making two bearing spacers and a new shell sleeve. |
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The original Banshee Rune bolt cups for the upper swing link spindles (one shown -top) were designed to work with socket head cap bolts.
The diameter of the bolt head was less than the spindle diameter, this caused the thin shelf to tear away from the cap (note the broken edge). These are two new cups that mimic the design of the spindle bolt cups for the lower swing link. Yes the taper-head bolt I'll use will take a 3mm hex key. Since 5 Nm is the maximum torque specification etched into the pivot heads, I think that design focus was not one what should have been a priority. |
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A couple of bash guards for two new customers at the bike shop (day job)
This was a test of how trivial I could make the machining process. I was testing a centre mount that I made for my rotary table (by turning a 3/8" nut in my lathe). Bolt circle measurements were taken from an arbitrary reference point scribed by a centre drill in a collet. the process can be described as primarily "sit and rotate". The material cost me about $3.50 |
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A replacement brake lever release pin. |
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What is intended as an upgrade to the 2010 and later RockShox Boxxer Maxle wedge assembly. Skewer bolt and left side wedge replacement 2024-T3 Aluminum, drive side wedge 7075-T6. |
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Quiet Thursday evening machining
Boring out a BMX sprocket. |
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Bike-Polo Mallet-Head "Connect"
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An M12x1.75 axle nut and a reducer cut to length |
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Figaro makes an appearance.
Rush Job - Monday Night - Summer Hours at the Day-Job - machining Delrin™ at 8pm - quietly. For the same day-job-customer as above. |
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A Day-Job Customer bought the incorrect suspension fork and it doesn't match their front wheel spacing.
I had a nearly correct spacer, sitting on the lathe table, at home; I faced it down to size the next morning. I use a carabiner, that Kiki gave me, to bring many of these types of parts into (paying) work. |
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This is for a fully restored 1968 Ford Mustang, yup it's green; original paint.
Made this from 6063-T5 Aluminum channel. Apparently there is a huge blind spot that Bullit never let onto. This holds a mirror to the drip rail above the passenger door window. |
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A base plate/valve for a fork; design texted to me. |
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Photo taken before tapping. These are two crank arms with new holes drilled/drilled/drilled/milled and bored into them in preparation to tap them to make a 152mm and a 140mm crank arm for some project bikes.
Updated process information available here. |
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Manitou Dorado axle bolt. |
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A couple of 1/4" O.D., 5mm I.D. brass bushings. |
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They're called "Caster Doodles".
This is a direct copy of the approach that Awesomatix uses to make Caster Doodles... just buy them... unless you're leaving for Nationals on my machining Wednesday. |
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Phone holder for tripod mounting. |
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Decorated version of a chainguide pulley replacement... it's a fixed nylon slide. |
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Second version of the chainguide slide above.
Unfortunately... or, more specifically, because of Camp Fortune... the above version was lost to the Canadian Shield. This is intended to be a generic replacement mounting plate and pulley. I'll be bringing a hacksaw, drill and fasteners to the hill tomorrow and see how it goes. |
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Replacement part for our Chris King hub tool. |
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Temporary tripod adaptor mount for a 93 year old large format camera. |
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So I purchased a Canadian Hardware Store drill press (on sale) for $120. I use it to make wood tooling holders.
Here I've made a tooling holder for the two 6Al/4V Titanium taps that I made to make other things. Yes, I also have machines to make the things that hold the things that I made with the other machines to make the things that I make. |
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Mirror extensions for a Shelby Cobra. |
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A 6Al/4V Titanium keychain and a 2024-T3 Aluminum incense burner. Another OMBA Movie Night Crappy Prize. |
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This is what Wednesdays are for.
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Centre sleeve for first generation Hope Fatsnow front hubs to allow use of the 15x150mm conversion caps without overloading the bearings. |
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Another reducer - from bar stock. |
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If you don't have something goofy on your bike, then you're the only goofy thing on your bike.
Yes it looks silly. It needed to be ready for racing a U.S. Open... we'll see how well it holds up. |
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A particular brand of bicycle trailer made in the U.K. was popular in Canada for quite a while
but had not been readily available around the time that these were made. This project was to make a discontinued and unavailable part.
I first checked to see if it was readily available and then said that I'd take the project on; the grounds that this is for going to be used for inanimate cargo only.
When I went to check for what I would charge I found that the manufacturer still had 3 left listed on a rain forest site for £14.71 (almost $25 CDN, about $18.50 US). I went ahead with the project wondering if my welding would let me get away with charging $25 CDN each. Don't estimate part value before welding - if you're not a welder. They're bolted together in the first picture with a taper-head bolt, the plate is countersunk at 90° and I ended up using Imperial #8x32 bolts; the 82° head doesn't fit perfectly. |
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In the second photo they've been welded together with a 3/32" 7018 electrode; yup, stick. From best to worst (Left to Right):
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The third photo shows them after more work: on the bench grinder, buffed with a rotary tool, edge smoothing with a diamond stone, cleaned with methanol, chemically blued, and oiled with linseed oil. In Canadian dollars I plan on charging: $20, $20, $18 and $15 respectively for use only with inanimate cargo. |
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New air piston seal head on the right with the seal and glide-ring transferred from the original.
New negative/top-out spring perch and travel reduction spacer on the right background. |
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An o-ring groove cut into the bolt to seal the inside of the piston. |
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Stripped-out axle.
Just buy an axle; that was the original plan. An axle with the same specifications wasn't found. I found that the end with the damage came off and started figuring out how to fix this. I cut off the stripped protrusion, drilled and tapped the end to accept a stud; that I had planned on making out of a bolt, with the head cut off. I figured out that I could: turn down the diameter of a bolt head, to get the bolt to thread in from the backside, and not only be a jamb fit, but to thread in a way that the bolt won't come out when trying to get the axle out of the fork. The saddle was also missing. I made one from aluminum bar stock and pressed in a bushing from the axle bits bin at the shop. |
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Extracted a bolt |
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Sometimes the projects are nearly trivial, this is a drill bit guide for round tubing with a hand-held drill. |
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Another one of these end caps. |
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This replacement was made as an attempt to make an end cap that was more resilient to wear (as seen on the underside of the original). |
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It is a 6061-T6 Aluminum shell bonded to a cold rolled steel core.
It has a cracked steel serrated washer (from an original) bonded to it. |
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Making very precise sized and shaped basins
- with a large hole in the bottom on each - out of a tree trunk. More 7075-T6 work; with less than a 50% product-by-mass yield |
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Upgraded axle (bottom one) for a 9-Zero-7 190x10mm QR rear hub (stock axle at top). Made two of these for the same customer to let them have two wheels. The axles are the only part of the hubs that haven't failed. |
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Nylon chainguide pulley (read: round slide) made to be tested by one of two local riders.
Selection criteria: first one to have my improvised repairs fail - gets to test the prototype slide. |
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Missed it by this much...
What do you do when the after-market derailer hanger you ordered in is out of spec? Give it to me, I'll take it home and make modifications, pick it up on your way home We checked that it would fit in the frame but it later needed some fine "file tuning" to correct the incorrect position of the axle cutout. |
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Ever wanted to set your open system hydraulic disc brakes up incorrectly (with too little pad retraction) but consistently? |
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I was advised that the part that was needed to finish the work on something that I was not aware of had arrived; and might need some slight modification.
Trivial work but it's still fun to make something fit properly. This end cap is now 6.20mm less tall than it was. |
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So close to finishing a complete rebuild on a bike and then this snaps. It's the centre spindle for the lower chain guide pulley bearings. |
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A 50x6mm reducer machined into a 42x8mm reducer. |
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The reducer above wore out too quickly. This was machined from 303 stainless steel bar stock. |
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ExcaliTool.
Made for CMWC 2017. Originally known as ExcaliWhip. It was needed for all three functions that weekend. Used as a lock-ring tool and chain-whip within an hour of making it to the site. It's pedal wrench function died the next day; as it saved some cranks. |
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Flansberrium asked me to make some parts for a bicycle-frame display-stand being made for another frame-maker...
...and included a screen capture of a drawing. Terms and conditions were established, the material was sourced as pucks and delivered, I got to work on methodology. |
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The hidden surfaces were machined quickly and easily and I made a new tool holder for a round carbide insert.
Here's my reasoning: if a rounder nose tool can produce a smoother finish, and I typically use tool bits with a 64th of an inch nose radius, then a 3/8" round insert could produce an excellent finish. All of this while keeping in mind that I can carry my lathe under one arm if I have to. Yup, huge chip load, awful chatter, lathe needs some serious work, but this came out ok. |
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My 5% Cobalt boring bar that I shaped on the grinder at Kiki's farm worked flawlessly until I drove it into the chuck. I tried repairing it but I get that I have to stop treating my grinder as a seldom used accessory and make it more convenient to use than kneeling in front of it.
Geometry and clearances at the chuck were a big problem too... They're done, I'm ok with them, they show my current limitations. One of my limitations is being able to capture the finish with a camera. I was really bothered by the chatter pattern on one of them and tried a couple more passes. |
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Since the drawing had dimensions without decimal places, and because this is for display, my goal was to produce a mirror-like finish on what amounts to a glorified washer.
Balancing the purpose against my goal; they're adequate. |
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I didn't make the through axle/bolt. I bored out the QR hub end caps to let them accept the bolt. |
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We had two of the first generation seal presses for use with the third generation Fox 40 seals.
The second generation of the 40mm seal press wasn't in stock. I turned down a first generation into a second generation. |
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The Boring Project.
Taking cylinders and making cylinders - with a larger inside diameter. These are going to be bike rack axle mounts for "The Fool Bus". |
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Free-hand. Two gibs open. Imagine a 600W Etch-a-Sketch that cuts metal.
Thickness removed: 4.01mm +/- 0.01mm |
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Spacers for a freehub body. A later generation replacement freehub body now includes an extra bearing; this now requires a different size spacer.
I trimmed down some available spacers to just over the specified 5mm to offer a 5.05mm, 5.08mm and a 5.20mm thick spacer. I left them oversized to address concerns about material compression and measuring inaccuracies. |
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For Fathead's race. |
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Flansberrium Frame Welding Jig.
I found these photos and undid some therapy. First I made a bearing based steady rest to handle machining a piece of hot-rolled steel bar. Then I machined the bar and drilled and tapped the ends to M8x1.125. I think that this was why I purchased 8% Cobalt G-sized drill bits. Then I milled an interface between an Aluminum plate made by a real machinist and the steel bar. It bolted together quite nicely. |
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Flansberrium jig part update. |
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Spacers for Flansberrium to space out a disc brake tab welding jig. |
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Parts for the Flansberrium frame welding jig. |
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A Magura HS-33 Brake mounting block for Flansberrium.
These were welded to the V-Frame Unicycle project. Flansberrium brought me the block and cut the mount off the block. Flansberrium has a mill now; this might be the last milling that I do for Flansberrium. |
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A new pumping rod base plate for a 1996-ish Marzocchi. The new one is on the left the remaining intact original is on the right. Steel swingarm gusset in the background. |
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Missed it by that much. Turned a Field Serviceable axle down to let it be field serviceable without using a rock... which was, in fairness, found in a field. |
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Reducers from 2024-T3 round bar. |
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New reducer design; made after boring out the damaged shock eyelets. |
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Hub tools.
Irony, circular reference, redundancy, literal v. figurative? You call it. They're tools for a hub, made out of a hub. |
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Centre stand mounts for a Hase Tandem.
The originals were broken during some off-road riding. |
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I call it "Hockey Sticking" a shock.
You could just drill two holes in a piece of a hockey stick handle. This accepted DU™ bushings and used the original reducers. |
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I decided to make this "Hockey Stick" with replacement reducers that mount in with retaining compound. |
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Alistair called from another shop (I machine down cassettes for them) and asked if this is the kind of thing that I do...
I still had the metal stock out in the machine shop from the previous version; made no more that a week before. This was some Saturday night machining. |
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I might be at the point with this category of part where I stop taking pictures and adding updates... |
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Maybe one more HockeyStick photo: for Bob. |
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Request: Take Drawn Over Mandrel Steel tube and make the Outside Diameter concentric with the Inside Diameter. Background: DOM tubing has a very consistent O.D. and I.D. but it can vary in concentricity. Approach: To test a machining methodology I took a representative piece of DOM tube from inventory. Unfortunately, my sample wasn't out by more than a thou in the first place. I could still test to see if my methodology made it worse and introduced taper. Please note that I wasn't concerned about the overall length or outside diameter of the part; I only focused on: square ends, O.D. concentric with I.D., and not introducing taper. Material: 6 1/2" piece of 5/8" x 0.156" wall 4130 DOM tube 22" long piece of 3/8" 2024-T3 Aluminum round bar (that's what I had handy) . Yes, I ran a 22" long piece of 3/8" 2024 through the spindle bore - speeds were low enough to reduce the danger. Tooling: U.S. Made: C2 Carbide, D5 1/64" nose radius, tool bit - had only been used for a little bit of 304 Stainless turning, facing, and chamfering. HSS Single flute 90º countersink/chamfering tool in a drill chuck. CX704 Mini-Lathe Methodology:
*Time spent estimates based on original photo time stamps. **Tool Change duplication and inefficiency should be obvious here. Results: The finish was "Dump Truck Pretty"; not "Aerospace Jewelry". The concentricity still wasn't out by more than a thou, and I was surprised that there wasn't more than a thou of taper for the length of the part. Consumables were cutting fluid, some tooling wear and about 1/4" of 2024-T3 Aluminum round bar. Recommendations: A rounder nose cutting tool and different tool type along with constant and more liberal use of cutting fluid could have improved the finish. Suggested Methodology for multiple parts:
Notes: A press-fit bar won't preserve concentricity if removed and re-chucked. Use both ends of the bar. A 15mm press-fit end can be turned down to 12mm, 12mm should not be reused for this purpose. Part off the 1/4" of a 12mm end and start it over at 15mm. |
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A dummy axle for a frame welding jig.
Modular design and two other centre sleeves not shown allow for: 135, 142, 148, 150, 157, 170 & 177mm rear axle spacing options. |
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This was a redesign from the last time I made a new reducer/bushing system for a shock with a 12mm bore and a 8mm bolt.
The new reducer is 303 Stainless Steel and is one piece that replaces two parts of the original three-(metal)-part system. I found a new bushing in the shop that fit the 12mm O.D - 10mm I.D. requirement. I re-used one of the original reducer end caps but cleaned it up a bit on the lathe (after the photo was taken). Yes. I corrected the spring retainer gap alignment with the spring (after the photo). Final gap orientation (relative to gravity) will depend on shock installation orientation. |
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So... a while ago, at the day job, I found a crack in a frame's swingarm... that happens a lot. The rider kept using the bike while waiting for a redesigned swingarm - bonus points to the bike company
for acknowledging that they had seen the issue instead of saying "We've never heard of that before" and that they wanted to provide a solution.
This secured the rider's loyalty and they purchased a second frame of the same model to be built up later (the rider was still growing). Well both later and the replacement swingarm arrived. My job was to install the new swing arm on the old bike to have it ready for sale to a family member and to build up the new frame. When installing the new swingarm on the old bike I noticed that the spacing across the bearings was greater than that of the pivot mount by about 1.25mm. That happens, things distort in welding and/or heat treating and it wasn't all that alarming, other than the fact that this would put additional stress on a replacement part. Additional - Stress - Replacement. I made some 17mm O.D. x 12.7mm I.D. spacers of 1.20mm, 1.09mm and 0.41mm thicknesses. The swingarm bearing spacing differential dropped to about 1.15mm after bolting in one end of the swingarm; the 1.20mm and 1.09mm spacers will let me find the best fit. The 0.41mm spacer is for the new frame... I removed the pivot bolt in question and measured the difference between the spacing... for perspective that's about the thickness of a medium weight business card. |
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A headtube centering cone for a bicycle frame welding jig.
This had to be big enough to handle the 56mm inside diameter of some headtubes. To have it flare out enough to work properly I extended the diameter of the base of the cone to 62mm. The flutes are cut to clear the bolt heads as implied by the jig plate seen underneath the cone. The dimensions that I was given for the plates was based on a diameter of 56mm instead of the diameter of the cone. I think that the flutes just make it look, well, CatLander. After the first cut into a 2 1/2" long piece of 2 1/2" 12L14 Steel round bar I advised my welder to simply buy the other cones needed from a motorcycle supply house. I can get my machinery to make something like this; there's a limit to what is practical. |
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A flat milled out on a damaged stem. This lets you use a bolt and a nut on a stem that has had the threads stripped out. |
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The rider ordered a replacement for a demolished end cap (artifacts on the left). What came in wasn't even close.
They came into the shop where I work and asked if we had any. I was ready to make one but I found the part from a 197 (not 150) version of the hub. If that isn't gibberish, then it will make sense that I only had to trim 3.5mm off the end cap that we had in a bin. I actually found another one on the ground in the backyard of the shop. Trimmed 3.55mm shorter than original... the extra 0.05mm was because I wasn't happy with the finish. My hair is 0.06mm thick; the wheel will fit in the frame just fine. |
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Now it's shorter. |
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A regular customer brought some handlebars into the shop to have the clamp diameter measured...
I guessed 22.2mm. The calipers read 22.20mm - I explained that's the old 7/8" bikes are metric joke. I couldn't find any 22.2 - 25.4 shims in stock or through our main distributors. I checked the specs on 3/4" Schedule 40 pipe and my inventory and decided that this would be a good Wednesday morning project. Customer's time-line was "before winter" and they had brought four cans of quality "priority enhancer" independently of this request. For the rest of you, check around on-line. |
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The notch to fit the dummy axle into the frame welding jig. |
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Trivial machining of hub end-caps; that made it to YouTube. |
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I made a non-traditional boring bar for someone at work.. |
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I keep saying that I'm done making dice.
So... I made dice as a prize for a Bike Polo Fundraiser Alleycat. I spent just under $100 on a drill-press vise for the project and cut 1" cubes off an aluminum bar with a Nobex mitre saw (by hand). First place was That Guy and he chose the dice as his prize. I got a bandsaw. I got and angle vise. I learned to indicate in a vise. I made 3/4" aluminum dice for the following year's Bike Polo Tournament Alleycat. Those dice were won by an out-of-towner. The Alleycat organizer had to give them away as a prize. Apparently dice aren't that big a deal where the winner lived. The person that sourced the prizes for the Bike Polo Tournament traded tires from the collected prizes for the dice. The dice were given to the person that had to give them away as a prize. I bought a Taiwanese made Milling Vise I made a(nother) spreadsheet to calculate pip depth required to balance a die. And then the person that kept the dice local brought an 8lb round brass shaft from a hydraulic pump into the shop and asked for dice. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. Used to be round. |
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I used the mill to enlarge the first round of mud-clearing holes that were done with a hand held electric drill.
Between the pairs of enlarged holes, you can see four of the original attempt. |
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New tooling purchased for some volume control knobs for a guitarist you might just hear a lot more about. New jig made after jig version 1 failure. Yup that's how they were made.
House of TARG - May 24th - doors 9pm. $7 cover. Dark Ministry. |
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Steel plates for a frame welding jig.
They're 1/2" thick and the centre hole is 3/4" in diameter. |
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New LHT 24TPI lockring threads cut into a hub.
No. |
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A conversion for a 12x190mm rear through axle hub to fit in 10x190mm QR dropouts.
The O.D. varies between 11.89mm-11.95mm. At a cost of some wasted material, I would change my methodology if I ever did this again. The 13/64" hole through the axle was started at each end with a typical length 3/16" 8%Co (M42) drill-bit and then by pushing an 8" long, 6" flute length, 13/64", Bosnian* made, HSS drill-bit. I could drill about 1/4" before chip loading the drill-bit required sliding back the tail-stock to clear the swarf. Yes, drill 4" - a 1/4" at a time. The tooling was ordered Tuesday morning, I hit refresh on the tracking information all Wednesday afternoon, the part was made other than for the completion of the hole through the full length I had to drop an M12x1.25 tap off at work anyway so Kiki drove me to the day-job shop, 5 minutes after close, I hit refresh in traffic with the shop in sight the sign was flipped - Closed while in traffic I saw the delivery truck parked across the street the driver was carrying packages towards the shop I got out of the vehicle while stopped at traffic lights fortunately customers never let us leave the shop on time I signed for the package and got back in the vehicle as Kiki drove around the block. Then I remembered to drop off the tap.... ...drilling a 13/64" hole, from each end of a 200mm (just shy of 8") round bar of 6061-T6 Aluminum - hoping to have the holes meet in the middle - wasn't the silliest part of my day. *My go-to Tooling Supplier offers economical, globally sourced, House-Branded tooling; Bosnia has quite impressive toolmaking Kung-Fu. |
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This is a replacement stem clamp for a 22.2mm handlebar that went missing from a 21.1mm quill stem when the bolts stripped out. The stem also serves as the cable-housing stop for the front cantilever brake. No suitable replacement was available. |
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No.
I will not machine bearings again. To convert from BMX Mid bottom bracket to a MTN 24mm spindle the shop ordered Mid to 24mm Bearings. We managed to prove that the bearings were in fact not 24mm I.D. and to the credit of the distributor they looked into it. As it turns out one BMX crank manufacturer produces a 24mm (NOMINAL) crank spindle... it measures something like 23.76mm. COME ON!!!! Seriously folks! 24mm I.D. bearing that are actually in specification because they are 23.79 I.D.? We all came to the conclusion that we could shim and bond a 41mm PF 24mm BB in place. Not ideal. The idea was to machine down an outboard bearing cup to work as an adaptor. I brought home half a dozen cups, and the demonic bearings - to serve as a size reference - (MID is something like 41.25mm O.D.)... but before leaving for the day I asked if there was any value left in the bearings that we had ordered. Since we couldn't return them, I decided to machine out the bearings. I won't do this again. |
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AHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRGH.
As a follow-up to having machined bearings. The bearings above fit great - on the machined surfaces of the crank spindle... The bearings would sit inboard of the machined surfaces. I purchased some 1 1/4" Nominal Schedule 80 6061-T6 Pipe. To ensure concentricity I: - bored out the inside and then threaded the inside at 1.37x24TPI RHT - I machined the outside to within +0.02/-0.00mm of the bearing O.D. - parted off one of the rings shown here. - internally threading the remaining stub to 1.37x24TPI LHT - O.D. machining and parting off I don't want do this again; I did however buy more material than needed for this project. |
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The Material is ready; I am not. |
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CatLander Night Shift takes on the project;
Machine maintenance and set-up is performed. |
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Clearances are checked after a very aggressive machining methodology is prepared. |
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Thanks Night Shift. Sorry Night Shift.
The tooling set-up allowed for a Monday evening: turning the stock to true centre drilling seeing how far an 8%Co 5/16" drill bit would go into 6061 drilling to depth with an 8%Co 3/16" drill bit plowing to 5/16" drilling to 3/8" starting to bore bored out to 12.4mm diameter so far (needs to be 44.0mm). |
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Night Shift. Done. |
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Bored out to over 31mm I.D.; hours. |
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If you're an artist, this is the moment when: you can really see it almost completely coming together and it's almost exactly like you wanted; a single brush stroke could ruin the canvas.
If you're a pilot, this is Landing. |
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Done. |
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Some clamps to mount a rack to a bike frame. |
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These cranks didn't have 64mm bcd chainring mounts drilled and tapped. I fixed that; after making a 6Al/4V Titanium M8x0.75mm tap (foreground).
Yes, the BCD looks a little bit skewed. I'll call that a clamping error (rush job). It does match the intended rectangle of 1.790" and lines up with the 104mm BCD holes. |
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A jig made for Kiki to let me trim screen retention clips to length. |
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I made some blade arbors for Kiki's riding mower.
Kiki got and paid for the material, cut as cold rolled steel pucks, to let me have an easier time of machining. |
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After using Kiki's riding mower to mow a couple of roads, yes, I drove the deck into something hard enough that I dented the deck into the path of one of the blades.
Luckily I can also use the MIG welder to repair damage I cause. The blade arbors (I think they're more commonly called blade adaptors) are still fine. |
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The MIG welder at Kiki's place has M8x1.25 contact-tip threads in the gun.
There are plenty of spare contact tips with an M6x1 thread. This is a brass M6x1 - M8x1.25 thread adaptor. |
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So, I can stick weld cast iron using the COLD method... no more than 1/2" at a time in the Canadian winter at -20ºC (-4ºF).
The repair lasted during a power failure when Kiki needed the manual pump for water. The repair failed as I was getting water for the garden. I had drawings and metal standing by in case the weld failed. Some of my core design principles were applied. I would do it differently if I did it again. Worn boring bars bore tapered pressfit bearing bores... my trusted methodology failed due to tooling... I need to bill for tooling costs. Bearing bore correction and some Loctite™ 680 fixed that. Bolts came from my local Canadian hardware store. The assembly sat on my dining room table until a visit allowed installation. It doesn't actually look too stupid... |
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I turned down the diameter of the fitting for a pressure washer hose, then made the o-ring groove diameter smaller, and then sharpened the barbs.
I cleaned and repaired the threads of the collar using my 60º threading boring bar - by hand. Several hose clamps, clamping the external cover of the three layer hose to the fitting collar, double clamping to the barbed fitting, and then making a "whip-stop" cable was my hope at handling 1800psi. Kole makes an appearance as my assistant on this project. |
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Stabilizer bars for Kiki's snow blower. |
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A welding jig. |
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Another welding jig. |
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CatLander Night Shift set-up the machining process for the I.K. Jig project. |
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Quiet hole-saw work; bored out. |
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I do not want to do this again. |
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Through. |
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Done. |
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In the time from when this hub was made to early 2017 *somebody* lost the left end cap.
New end cap made from donated bag of offcuts of 1 1/2" round bar aluminum in lengths just under 2". Not enough material in a big machine shop, more than needed to make this part. I had 2024-T3 stock in 1 1/8" round bar. That would have saved a bunch of machining; I would have had to cut a piece off with my hand saw. |
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I've updated the process and it saves a bunch of time.
If you've had knee surgery or just have short legs, you can't always find an affordable crank in an appropriate length. I shorten crank arms. OK, I drill/mill and then tap a new threaded hole in crank arms, but then I take a hacksaw and shorten them. In case you're interested, the procedure is: - Centre Drill (left top) - Drill 1/4" - Drill 3/8" - Plunge a 1/2" endmill (upper right) - make a 3/4" flat with and endmill - Drill to 13mm* (mid left) - put a brass centre in the drill chuck to align the taps (lower left) - tap by hand with 9/16"x20 Right or Left hand taps (lower right) - light chamfer/deburr. (left bottom) - Repeat for each crank arm. If you can find and afford a commercially offered product, that's a really good option. *I used to bore out from 1/2" to 33/64" with an adjustable boring head... Kiki suggested I simply buy the correct size drill bit. A 33/64" drill bit would give a 72% depth of thread, I picked 13mm to get a 78% thread depth. |
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Axle spacers.
Ya know, we could have trimmed the axle. |
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Apparently, in addition to not knowing how to say "no" if it isn't the truth, another one of my problems is trying to make sure that I make what a person NEEDS when they ask for
what they WANT.
Kevin asked me to make two more tubes like the ones in "The Fool Bus" "Boring Project"... What Kevin needed were "hubs". Here's a 20x110mm and a 12x150mm bad idea. |
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6Al/4V Ti |
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These are some strut extensions for a bicycle pannier rack.
They will be installed in a way that they'll look like they were installed upside down. Triangles forming a rigid structure only applies if you point triangles at triangles. If these were made to be installed long pointy end down then they would work as Bell Cranks. Yes, I threaded the furthest away hole M5x0.8. The closer spaced holes are just over 5.5mm (I used a 7/32" drill) to allow for the fact that the measurements were taken with plastic calipers. I've decided that these are really braze-on extensions. This project was fun to do, I now wish that I had captured video. |
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Kole is a movie star.
This is some Monday Night Machining. The parts to be modified were picked up in the U.S. and brought to the day job shop Monday. The next scheduled machining day was Wednesday; the parts needed to be ready Thursday morning. In just over 2 minutes of video you get to see 3½ hours of machining. |
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The frame shipped with a rubber plug (for Di2 wires) instead of the aluminum cable stop.
I just made one. |
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I had just finished some of the most beautifully precise 28.4 x 8mm reducers that I have ever made from 2024-T3 round bar.
Unfortunately I then remembered that one of those 8's was supposed to be a 6. No, not the 8 that could have been trimmed to a 6; the fatal flaw 8. The set on the left is correct. |
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A freehub body spacer. Dimensions: 20mm O.D. x 15mm I.D. x 13mm stack. Turned, faced, bored and parted off from a 1" 2024-T3 round bar. At least the dimensions were similar to another part that I was making. |
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Jizza (Broker 18) is running an Alleycat in conjunction with the Mallets of Mayhem North Side Polo Tournament September 8th and 9th, 2018.
I told myself that I would never do this again; I got a bandsaw. I was advised that the 3's should have all been face up; the presentation was corrected. |
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Indicate the angle vise for square with the stock secured. |
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To the bandsaw! |
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chamfer the blocks in the angle vise. |
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Inspection. |
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Indicate the vise for square and bring your dot matrix calculations. |
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Run a spreadsheet to calculate the depth to provide balance. |
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Edge-Find for absolute position; then the same position at the next block is equal to the distance between plus the width of the block. |
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Indicate for reproducibility. |
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A kickstand mounting plate for a Salsa Vaya. Bottom view left - recess for a kickstand. Top view right - to clear cable mounts.
...and again a few years later. |
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RockShox Boxxer damper shaft washers/lowers adapters...
There are two set aside at a distributor but our next order won't arrive until the day the rider leaves for Whistler. |
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Shock mounting hardware for a Marin Team DH....
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Mike doesn't have fingers.
Allen key handles. |
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4130 CrMo Anti-slip washers. |
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177x12 and 142x15 end-caps trimmed down to 170x12 and 135x15
Not my first end-cap project; the first based on an internet search that found this website. |
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Some more work for Woven Precision....
A 12.00mm (+/-0.005mm) No/Go/No Gauge and some end caps bored out from 10mm to 12mm. Axle in background served for clamping in the lathe's chuck; Maxle used as the original No/Go Gauge. I do end caps all the time... I'm pleased with the gauge. |
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A new pivot sleeve for a Norco Team DH.
I made it thicker due to the noted breaking point of the original and used an o-ring to seal the bearing. |
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Another main (BB) pivot made for an older Norco something or other...
If you notice that I don't counter-bore enough to fully recess the bolt head then you have the first hint of the problem with the original design. The diameter of the outer flange is smaller than the original. I use an o-ring to add another level of sealing out dirt from the bearing. I used a smaller bar stock because that's what I had handy. Projects like this feel like making a toothpick out of a tree trunk. ...and then I noticed that I had already explained most of that... |
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An older Shimano freehub with a brilliant, but abandoned due to outside reluctance, extra high aluminum spline; machined away for continued compatibility.
narwhal Narwhal |
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The local bike club children's program runs on a lot of donated, super high end, several years old, equipment. Two wheels were brought into the shop with lost bits of the axle. We ordered a similar axle
and after too many hours of fiddling with a belt sander and the similar hardware I decided that for the second wheel I would just take the bits home and make the piece that was missing. This was early on in
my habit of doing this sort of thing and for that reason:
The new piece is the end cap on the left and is made out of 7075-T6 Aluminum. It matches the original to within 0.03mm (0.001" - read: "thou"). This was for the front wheel of a race bike for a child... I wouldn't let myself use 6061-T6, I turned 7075-T6. I have since developed a more realistic perspective. |
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An extension of a 25.4mm seatpost terminating in a 22.2mm clamping diameter.
My regular joke is that if you need an elevator-shaft bushing to go from here to the moon without ever binding, tell me that you want a press-fit... I'll undersize the press fit just perfectly enough to not even let the ether of space get in the way. As it turns out, this was measured to be a slip]\[09***-fit... my calipers must be out...e4a5qw5454*** This went from a measured slip-fit with retaining compound plan - to a wailing away with a swing-press reality. I used 2024-T3 primarily for its 140:96 Fatigue Strength ratio over 6061-T6. I made the 6061-T6 collar because I was afraid of the possibility of a splitting failure. ***Do you know what it's like to try to update the Internet with a kitten jumping on the keyboard???? Kole Typing (emphasis added) Cats are extremely proficient typists; that spell worse than I do. |
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A pulley assembly for a recumbent trike.
Made from what I had on hand. |
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A pivot bolt cup.
After too many mis-ships from a bicycle company I just made one of the parts that the customer needed. |
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Poker Dice.
Each die is just under 25mm (1") across faces and was made from abut a 6" length of 1"x1"6061-T6 aluminum square bar. Made as a prize for the Mallets of Mayhem Bike Polo Fund raiser Poker Run/Alley Cat. They're not perfect as they are out of tolerance up to 0.16mm, for perspective a typical piece of copy paper is about 0.09mm thick. I make bike parts and trinkets... not artificial heart valves. There was also a machining fail... A 1/2" two flute endmill had one of the tip break off as one of the die lifted in the milling vice. |
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This is a rip-off of a P a u l - G i n o (I don't want search engines bring this image up).
The device made by the original(?) designer of this part doesn't over charge and offers colour options... We weren't going to be able to get the part in time... I didn't ask to be paid for this. |
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A bottom bracket shell for a tandem bike. |
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An endcap for a hub.
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We sent the rider to the bearing supplier with dimensions. The bearings were delivered the next day and did not fit.
When I heard the confirmation reading of 9.5mm (with the plastic calipers) I knew that the bearings may be Imperial, not Metric.
They're Imperial. We'll order the kit from our distributor across the country as the easiest way to get R2 bearings. I designed a temporary replacement. |
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Done. |
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Installed. |
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A Delrin™ slide to replace the lower pulley wheel and bearing assembly on a Specialized Demo chainguide.
The plan is to bolt it down static and occasionally rotate it as the surface wears. There is a relief cut into the surface to have the chain run over it on the rollers, not the plates. |
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Machining Compatibility. |
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For the Penguin Project
I made the parts marked with the green dots. Actually Flansberrium cut the discs and I faced them to 31.76mm and then bored them out to 20.25 or 21mm depending on the purpose. It was the left hand 22x1mm threading in 4130 CrMo steel that made this project awesome... The slots in the U shaped pieces were actually cut to 20.96mm - a file or steel wool will take care of the rest. When you're peeling an onion, you gotta know when to stop. |
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A slot (between the green dots) milled in a steel plate from a Phil Wood Spoke cutting and thread forging machine. Trying to smooth damage from use and offer more clearance to avoid threading offset. |
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This is a replacement rear axle nut for a Brodie Romulus.
What look like wrench flats are anti-spin flats that match the flats in the frame's dropout. It's a nice design, but with nothing to hold it in place it is a very easy part to lose... in the shop. |
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So FatBikes used to frequently use RDS (rear disc spacing) for the front wheel. This came from the legacy of using rear hubs for the front wheel. There is a 4mm difference between RDS and FDS. I milled out a few brake adapters to help folks facing RDS/FDS compatibility issues. These are marked as 3.71mm of trimming. There is enough free play in caliper spacing to accommodate for the 0.29mm lateral spacing difference. |
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What does I.S. stand for?
In case you didn't, read the above as if it were the quote: "What does Marsellus Wallace look like?"; thank you. I don't know what the specification was for the manufacture of left and right specific disc brake calipers made by Hope for use with GreenSpeed recumbent trikes... nor will anyone that I know tell me. This will be the progression sequence that I leave up (in the past I've replaced proto-images with updates until completion). First is the initial sketch... please note that I am not using CAD, I'm using vector/scalable graphics. Next you see the first proof of concept test pieces for WTF to I.S. disc brake adaptor adaptors. P.S. on the I.S. If you haven't been able to find the specifications for I.S. brake mounting: HERE IT IS! Updates: I found a plate of 7075-T6 in the offcuts section of a local metal supplier. The metal supplier cut two 3" x 6" x 5/8" blocks from 3" x 6"+ flat bar; P.O. 1145 - in the offcuts. Both adaptors fit on one block, yes I would have done it differently; now. I had my goto welder rough cut the parts from the block. The saw took too long to get through 7075-T6; some grinder work was involved. I started cleaning up the grinder marks and we now have the rough shapes ready for surface facing. September 28th, 2016 - They were ready for a test fit... issues were identified and addressed. The final milling and clean up was done and they are ready for use. |
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Yes, you're looking at the bottom.
This crown "race" has been machined down to fit a different headset cup. Not much machining done but I think that it is 304 Stainless... ...and yes, this could have been done with a broom handle and bench grinder. |
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Reducers for a Santa Cruz whatever... ok , I get why they are a 3/8" internal diameter... but seriously?
I bored out and trimmed down some longer, 6mm bolt-hole, reducers to make the new ones. I was so glad to make these because half of the stock came from reducers that I destroyed with a drill... There is a reason that I do this with a lathe and a boring bar. Now get your bike out of the living room! |
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I lost the spacer. Of course it's a different diameter than everything else. Delrin™. |
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To convert a FatBike 135mm front hub for use in a 150mm spaced suspension fork the hub has to use conversion caps and a rotor spacer. This is a rotor spacer made out of a rear hub that was absolutely not going to make it any further on the cross-Canada documentary tour that it had endured. |
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For my Dad. |
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A steel pivot for a Devinci Remix.
A customer kept breaking the stainless steel threaded rod between the aluminum pivots in their frame. I made them a threaded rod from a 12.9 steel bolt. Then the pivot broke. Here. A steel pivot made from a through axle. |
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Headset compression cones that were no longer available |
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A fixture to clamp a 135x10mm swingwarm in the mill - project cancelled. |
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An arbour for a circular saw. |
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This is now a 12-10mm conversion bolt.
A ten year old DH bike needed new dropouts. The only ones available were some 12mm axle versions. The bike had a 10mm bolt-in hub. The sleeves are threaded M10x1.5 I.D. and are 12mm O.D.; they also capture the washer. |
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A chain tensioner.
Might have over done this. |
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A spacer to put between the freehub body bearing and the drive-side end cap of a hub.
A frame manufacturer might have forgotten to check for clearance between the frame and the chain. I gave the rider a temporary spacer that sat between the frame and the hub but that wasn't ideal. This does produce the issue that the hub will be spaced for this particular frame, when the bike is sold it should come with that original spacer. I've done this sort of thing before. |
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Another adjustable motorcycle kick-stand.
You'll find the first one that I made one later in this list. I've included a video to demonstrate the fit of the parts. The video is better if you can hear the sound at the end. In the video the mandrel is still press-fit into the end of the machined tube since the methodology was based on the Proof of Concept. The mandrel was then later turned (let the pun ride) into the smaller of the two RockShox Boxxer damper shaft washer/adaptors. |
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What I call "Cake Decorating".
Style: Dragster Drilling. Consequence: burnt out the motor in my mill. |
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Rad mounts for the same SuperDuty as the battery box straps above.
Machined parts for welding. Ran out of time on a Wednesday cleaning them up after outsourced welding and grinder work. |
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I made spacers tonight. |
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- 1 -
Some people's names become verbs. I looked at this person funny when they told me that they purchased this bicycle because it was unique. I reminded them who they were speaking to. I started work on a very simple request. Replace any bearings that needed replacing. I like that I can hand a bike back to a rider, with a destroyed derailleur hanging off it, knowing that my work is done. This, unfortunately, was a case where: the reason a mechanically skilled self-supporting rider will bring me a bike for a specific task - was justified. A disintegrated bearing damaged many parts. |
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- 2 -
Some people's names remain verbs. I started work on a very simple request; Boxxer fork service. Of course the base plate adapter that allows the same lowers to be used with different diameters of internals had started to pull apart. I used a bolt as the starting stock. Unfortunately the portion protruding wasn't a large enough diameter and also had an 8mm (across flats) hex in it. The part on the left in the lower photo is the original - you can see where it's separating. The part on the right has been turned out of the bolt in the upper photo. It isn't actually a thicker support for the bolt head - it has a recess in it to preserve bolt thread engagement. |
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- 3 -
This was made from 1/2" Schedule 40 6061-T6 Aluminum pipe. This is a spacer to put under the left end cap of a hub to allow the brake caliper to line up properly. |
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- 4 -
The bike showed up again This time the rear axle retaining nut was missing. I made a replacement and then made a little cap that threads into the end. I'll tap the axle to put a safety bolt into the assembly. |
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- 5 -
The fork showed up again This time I made a steel one of these: |
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- 6 -
Time for the rider to build a new rear wheel. I trimmed each of the hub end caps down by 3.5mm (we had a 157 hub in stock and the bike takes a 150). Then I made a couple more of the spacers to fit under the left end cap as before (#3). |
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- 7 -
I do this often, because of the requestor, this is now a Number 7. |
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- 8 -
I do this occasionally, because reasons, this is now a Number 8. |
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Shock reducers.
These are ones that I simply drilled out from 6mm to 8mm, but I've trimmed longer reducers to length and even made a reducer. Not cost effective; possible. |
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Because you could have done this with a hacksaw. |
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A shock substitute for a Cannondale Super V.
This was a piece of 1" nominal Schedule 40 6061-T6 Pipe that I bought up as a handful of end-cuts. |
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Don't ask.
If you're as deep into and as committed to a project as the person making what this is for, and you're at the redesign phase, again; just ask. |
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This is a replacement rear axle nut for a Transition.
It's a nice design, and there is a set screw to hold it in place. The set-screw was loose, the part got lost. |
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Really?
A 120mm BCD wasn't annoying enough? A threaded chainring that uses a proprietary bolt? Well... forget that. I bored out the chainring to accept regular chainring nuts. |
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A top cap made for a raffle prize for the local mountain biking association. |
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This is a replacement cross pin for a Fox Fork.
Someone called the shop looking for one of these.... I researched the part number, found some in the UK and two on ebay. There is a call into the distributor to see if there are any left in the warranty bin.... yesterday, the day after the research and offer to make one, "That Guy" shows up with the fork... Part made, no charge. |
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No.
Just buy one. But it was Jim asking, Scott said to ask me, Jim had hunted for this part everywhere. nooneelsecanhelp.com I don't ever want to do this again... this is what I do. |
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A truing stand adaptor for 10,12,15, and 20mm through axle hubs.
Making this was facilitated by having a few 3/4" 6061-T6 end cuts dropped off. I like when my starting stock can come from the recycle bin of a larger shop. |
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Ok. This could have been accomplished by drilling two holes in a hockey stick handle.
If you're the kind of person that not only volunteered their truck to go pick up my mill,
but also helped carry it down a flight of stairs into my apartment and a year later up that flight of stairs and three more into my new apartment -
this is how you space your trailer wiring harness to clear your bumper.
They aren't the same height - one is 1.025" the other is 1.030". I didn't correct this for the simple reason that I knew what they were for. These have the function of a stack of washers. |
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Hub bearing press kit to handle 6901/7901 bearings with both 10mm and 12mm axles, 6000 bearings and 6001 bearings for Formula, Origin 8, Miche, Surly New and Surly Ultra New hubs.
Made as a "prize" for the 2-Wheels Ahead bicycle delivery company - 1st year anniversary - race. I had a bit of fun typing up the manual Available here. http://www.2wheelsahead.com/ |
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An Invention to heal a Unicorn. |
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I didn't make these Unicycle Bearing Clamps; I milled 3.5mm off the face to allow clearance for disc brake rotor bolts. |
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Similar idea to clamps above. In this case I clamped them to a dummy bearing and then chucked them in the lathe. These are faced to allow clearance for a geared hub. |
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Milling a flat surface at a 3° angle on a broken titanium unicycle seatpost head. |
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Inspired. I made the flanges for this unicycle hub. It turns out that many unicycle hubs are still for 36 spoke wheels. This hub is for 32 spoke wheels. This opens up the options for sourcing high quality rims. I also milled the flutes in the spindle; I call this process "cake decorating". |
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A guitar volume control knob. |
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I will probably be sued by both the representation for Waldo and The Cat. I will plead "fair use" and absence of "Mens Rea".
These are my: Volume, tone and pick-up fade control knobs for my bass guitar. |
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Vlad needed the upper portion of a chainguide.
I had a block of Acetal (Plastic) that I had picked up as an off-cut. I had some free time; and felt like making this. |
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I made new wedges for an assembly that clamps the seatpost into an exercise bike.
The old wedges are in the background, the threads stripped out of one of the wedges; that's what I was asked to make. I noticed that the other wedge was getting deformed. I made a replacement. I also made a spare threaded wedge. In case you were wondering about the process, the following is how we got here. |
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Bolt the Vise to the table
Indicate in the vise for square Stock width = 0.990" Clamp stock Install 1/2" collet and 0.200" edge-finder Locate edge Move Y-axis 0.100" + 0.495" to centre of part Lock Y-axis Locate end of part Move X-axis 0.100" + 0.268" + 0.195" to first hole centre {Swap R8 1/2" collet and edge finder to R8 drill chuck arbor and chuck Centre drill Drill to 5/16" Drill to 21/64" Install a centre in the drill chuck Tap to M10x1.5 Using the centre to align the tap} Swap drill chuck and arbor to collet and 9/16" endmill Counter bore 0.085" Move X-axis 0.900" to centre of next hole Plunge endmill 0.085" Swap collet and endmill to drill arbor and chuck {Repeat from last drill arbor and chuck tool swap to tapping} Move X-axis 0.900" to centre of next hole Centre drill Drill to 3/8" Drill to 25/64" Swap drill chuck and arbor to collet and 9/16" endmill Counter bore 0.250" |
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Cut parts off with the bandsaw
Trim parts to size on the mill using the vise and 9/16" endmill already set up |
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Remove vise from mill
Install angle vise Indicate vise for square Set angle Clamp two parts and mill angle Replace one of the two parts with the third part Mill the angle in the third part. |
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Hope 15x150mm front hub end caps trimmed to fit Woven Precision front hubs |
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Shims from 22.2mm to 31.8mm |
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Weaver has a motorcycle with two sets of wheels... weekday wheels and weekend wheels... the sets are different diameters.
Mountain bikers may make fun of kickstands... they are useful on motorcycles. The inside diameter of the Kickstand is 0.825", I could have used Schedule 40 pipe at 0.840" O.D. but both the mill scale and the internal welding flash was annoying. I used the proof of concept for DOM tube concentricity to turn down 0.875 x 0.120" wall DOM tube... if you use cutting fluid and a fresh tool bit, the finish is nice. The internal tube is 0.823" in diameter and is a nice slide fit. I MIG welded the internal tube to the upper portion of the kickstand... Kiki was my welding lathe, fighting arcing the entire time... This is as good as my welding gets - it shows a restart... I'm not a welder. |
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A spoke tension device for the calibration of tensiometers for Woven Precision.
This is 1" square bar... if you mean 1" square tube... say tube. |
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Spacers for a Devinci Wilson axle pivot in the back ground, modified shock reducers in the foreground. |
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Another case of trying to machine compatibility.
If your hub or trainer manufacturer has licensed the X D related patent(s) to produce an X D driver for your hub or trainer, but has not yet manufactured an X D R version of it, this can be done. I hold patents, I choose to respect intellectual property.
I'm ok showing folks how to do this because:
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This is the opposite of the ZX project.
Take a 100x15mm Chris King front axle and make it fit a 12x100mm fork. You can use a Chris King 100mm axle to calibrate your calipers. Let's carve it up. Then make the two end caps shown... save time by using a Bosnian 15/32" 8% Cobalt drill to get the desired internal diameter, chamfer the inside of the caps to guide the axle, trim the collar side cap to just under 18.00mm to clear the collar threads. Assemble this silliness as shown. |
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Reducers.
Left to middle background are the originals... they're damaged. Middle foreground is an OEM reducer that I trimmed down from a longer reducer. Right foreground is a reducer that I made out of 2024-T3 round bar. They're not perfect; the width across them is out by +0.09mm, the diameter that fits the DU bushing (of the one that I made) is 0.01mm oversized. |
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Tools; with videos.
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The quote was "I was told that you're gonna need to see this..."
I left the sanctity of the metal box where I service and repair bicycles and headed into the store to find the Zokes that was waiting for me. Sometime between 1996 and 2015, two of the elastomer stack components had dissolved enough to extrude themselves up the rest of the elastomer stack. I made the black plastic stack spacers from a piece of a frame shipping spacer. |
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This is what I called the ZX project. ZX contacted me about making some axle conversion parts to let a 12mm through-axle road bike front hub fit in a 15mm through-axle fork.
The part on the right in a 15-12mm reducer sleeve with a flange. The part on the left is a M12x1.5 threaded flanged sleeve with wrench flats. The part in the middle is an internally and externally threaded sleeve made as an option to the (requested) part on the left. The second photo shows the parts ready for shipping to Singapore. |
