Details details

Updated Oct 6

Back to work this evening. Yesterday I built fillets up on the head tube lugs similar to the seat cluster as seen in prior posts. I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow for pix. Anyhow, these will show how the raw filler looks after washing off the flux. The trick is to melt the filler enough to flow and bond, but not enough to 'wet out' and want to fall with gravity or the pull of heat. So the raw filler looks kinda smooth and lumpy.

This smooth and lumpy filler needs to be made into a finished joint, which is what I was doing tonight. 3 sizes of half round files, 5 sizes of full round files (including regular and chainsaw), plus a few other odd files and various sandpaper are the tools for this project. First, any odd nodules need to be 'knocked' off. A heavy work glove on the left hand allows it to be used as a guide for the bastard (course) files used here. Then a large half round comes in handy to begin shaping the contours.

In an ideal world, filler gets laid down perfectly symmetrically on the joint. But in reality, some of the shaping is to find the lowest common denominator. At the center, the lug spreads the farthest as does the filler, at the sides the lug is narrow and fairly flat, so filler isn't needed. In between, the size of the concave face of the filler varies infinitely - so the contour has to vary infinitely in shape from side to side. And, the shapes should be pleasing to the eye, without abrupt changes. Net net, there is a lot of eyeballing going on. Even when the shape looks good, and I've sanded it smooth, I'll find problems and have to go back to filing. This often happens 5 or 6 times on a fillet. But patience is rewarded with a nice looking fillet that will redefine how the lug looks under paint.

I'd like to say that the joints are all done. They are for tonight. But probably, by tomorrow, I'll decide that they need a little extra work.

I also brazed the rear fender mount tonight. This is a piece of stainless tubing with water bottle mount brazed to the end. The tube has bent with a nice arc near the end. At first the plan was to mount this to a chain stay, but tonight, the right solution presented itself. I trimmed off most of the straight portion and mitered the end to fit the seat tube. Mounting it about an inch above the point of the BB socket leads to having the fitting perfectly positioned for the fender. And the profile is of a graceful arc coming out of the seat tube, ending just above the chain stays.

Most of the flux came off with a wet rag. The rest is soaking should be gone by tomorrow.

At present, I'm thinking that this frame needs a pump peg. Several options present themselves: a) mount it just above the fender mount on the seat tube; b) mount it high on the left-side seat stay, allowing the bottom of the pump to rest on the track fork. The more that I think about it, the more I am leaning toward this latter option, but tomorrow will tell for sure.
Well I tried fitting the pump in between the left track fork and the seat cluster. Guess what? It fits in place beautifully without a peg of any kind.

That's all for tonight. Pictures tomorrow.