Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Bob's Commuter Bike - Rear Triangle

Over the past week I have worked out the rear triangle
and have fabricated parts to split the right rear seatstay
to enable the Gates drive belt to be installed.  I machined
the split from 305 stainless steel and was pleasantly
suprised on how nice it machined on my little Smithy.
Tapping the holes was another story though.  I broke
off my M5 tap while tapping the first hole.  Luckily I
was able to grind out the tap after modifying (grinding
down the diameter) of a dremel grinding stone.  It took
four modified stones to complete the job but I was able
to recover my part.  I drilled and tapped for an M6 thread
(which I think looks better anyway)  and the complete parts
look great.  After that all I had to do was splice the parts
into the right seatstay and then braze the stays into the ear
triangle.  Now it's time to finish these fillets.