I dunno, she just flipped out! Fork? Yup!

[poverty with a view]

Re: I dunno, she just flipped out! Fork? Maybe.

This is Pappa E from the Chopaderos Bicycle. He made these forks.
Almost everything on this bicycle is hand made, one off. :lol:
This day he took first place for best Custom at The Behind Bars, Shiny Side Up Bicycle show last month.

 

[iven]

Re: I dunno, she just flipped out! Fork? Maybe.

This is Pappa E from the Chopaderos Bicycle. He made these forks.
Almost everything on this bicycle is hand made, one off. :lol:
This day he took first place for best Custom at The Behind Bars, Shiny Side Up Bicycle show last month.

i thought if a similar fork once where you weld a loop on the back of the fork and the rocker arm would be centered on the fork with the wheel offset way in the front
'reverse srpinger as simple as it gets.. just one pull spring each leg :shock:

 

[jackdaw]

Re: I dunno, she just flipped out! Fork? Maybe.

Ooh, that sounds pretty cool too. Simple.

 

[jackdaw]

Re: I dunno, she just flipped out! Fork? Maybe.

So here's something weird, these two boxes of 6013 welding sticks are not the same. The grey ones come as one pound, the tan ones as five pounds. They are both marked 6013 on the stick. The grey ones are WAY easier to use, as evidenced by the weld shown, compared to some of the others on this bike. I'm a little mad that I bought five pounds of junk. Oh well, I'm gonna get a MIG, like everybody told me to :roll: when I get some $$$

The forks are coming along well, thanks to Poverty with a View for showing me that I didn't need a bridge across the top, from rod to rod. That will simplify things, though I may still do it for looks. It's gonna work!!

I'm waiting for the shaft collars and I'm going to start on the rockers, I may weld a washer onto the fork end to reinforce the 5/16 hole that will bolt the rocker to the fork. Then I have to decide how to bolt on the spring rods, whether to flatten the end and drill it, or weld a piece on.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Jawon]

Re: I dunno, she just flipped out! Fork? Maybe.

So here's something weird, these two boxes of 6013 welding sticks are not the same. The grey ones come as one pound, the tan ones as five pounds. They are both marked 6013 on the stick. The grey ones are WAY easier to use, as evidenced by the weld shown, compared to some of the others on this bike. I

So it's not user error?! I used the Lincoln brand, same type of stick as you, and can't imagine ever getting welds as good-looking as yours, so maybe I'll change out the sticks too. Prior to this, I've only read that sticks are sticks, there really is no difference, but I guess I need to experiment.

So if you can get good welds like this now with the new sticks, why spend extra $ for a mig? Just curious.

And where did you buy the grey ones?

In case it helps, I met a professional welder at my church recently and will make him weld with my set up. I may just not have the right amperage dialed in, or maybe it's the sticks, or I just have to keep practicing. I'm sure it's a combination of all of that but I'm hoping he'll say my current welder is fine and just give me some specific tips to maximize the welder. Anyway, thanks again for sharing your welding woes, I'll share too on my build post if I learn anything new.

 

[jackdaw]

They are Hobart brand and I got them at a store called Tractor Supply Company, it's just so weird that they are both considered 6013. :? I think that with the DC welder some sticks are way better than others, the Hobart 6013 say for AC, DCEN or DCEP, DC positive or DC negative. I don't know which this welder does. I suppose I could reread the manual :roll: :lol: . I've been running the 3/32 6013 at around 40 plus six lines (which is not 46, as there are only 7 lines between 10 and 40 :? ) I've also thought about switching the leads but haven't gotten the stones to do so yet. I seem to remember HF saying something about three modes or settings? Mine has one.

The reason I would get a mig is because that is the best weld I've gotten and I haven't been able to reproduce it. 'Course I'll keep using this welder until I get a mig, which will be 6 months minimum.

I dunno, we'll see how it goes, if I can get all my welds to look like that I'll never grind again!! That is the one weld on this bike that's not going to be ground, which will look strange if anyone ever looks that close.

 

[Gdcast]

Been in exactly the same situation as you are some months ago. Got my stick welder for 200 bucks, and unfortunately TIGs here are over 2000K, I would get a second car for that money...
Off course, my welds are not professional quality, but good enough to hold a bike together. I would say keep the money, keep practising and at the end of the day, when those welds finally look better, you can proudly say you did it with a stick welder :wink:
Oh, and bike looks awesome, keep up the great job!

 

[poverty with a view]

Been in exactly the same situation as you are some months ago. Got my stick welder for 200 bucks, and unfortunately TIGs here are over 2000K, I would get a second car for that money...
Off course, my welds are not professional quality, but good enough to hold a bike together. I would say keep the money, keep practising and at the end of the day, when those welds finally look better, you can proudly say you did it with a stick welder :wink:
Oh, and bike looks awesome, keep up the great job!

I have to agree with what Gdcast says.
Your Bicycle is coming together great, and looks killer. Your welds are very strong. It takes time to get them strait and clean. Lets just go back a couple of weeks ago and look at your welds. You took a huge leap in your welding. I would like to see where you are in two more months.Get good at the Stick then move to Mig. Having another trade/ Skill in your back pocket never hurts. 8)

 

[jackdaw]

Thanks guys, the welding is getting easier, that's for sure. I'm now dividing my time between two builds :roll: . I'm enjoying myself and am happy with what I'm producing.

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[Gdcast]

Thanks Poverty!

Jackdaw, this thread is screaming for new pics :wink: :mrgreen:

 

[jackdaw]

I'll tell ya Gdcast, just as soon as I get something done I'll post it up. I like to post every little step. i just haven't been stepping much! :lol: I hope to get some reinforcement welded on the fork dropouts tonight. The UPS truck just pulled up, she had my shaft collars from McMaster-Carr. So I'm sneaking up on it.

I've also got myself going on another build so the progress on each slows down by more than half! :lol: But I'm having a blast, it gives me something to think about when my co-worker is blathering on and on about some ....

Thanks for looking!


The next morning...

Yeah, well I didn't do NUTHIN' last night. I was plumb tuckered out, went to bed early, waked up more tireder than when I went to bed! Now I gotta go to work again. I have tomorrow off, maybe I'll get sumpfin done then.

 

[Gdcast]

I hear you bro, between the job and weather, can´t find enough time to work on my build :|

 

[jackdaw]

Got a little more done today, reinforced the fork dropouts and mocked up a new rocker. I also cut one from 3/16 steel, no picture though. The finished rocker is going to have a chamfer around the edges, funny, it'll be a little fancy and a lot of this build just isn't.

The action binds a little, it'll either get better or not, so long as it doesn't squeek.

I work a short day tomorrow so I hope to get the other rocker cut out and get some holes drilled, maybe some bolts in. Slowly slowly catchee monkey.

Thanks for looking.

 

[poverty with a view]

The action binds a little, it'll either get better or not, so long as it doesn't squeek.

I work a short day tomorrow so I hope to get the other rocker cut out and get some holes drilled, maybe some bolts in. Slowly slowly catchee monkey.

Thanks for looking.

Looks great! :lol:
Grease all touching metal parts for the squeaks.
Remember too that your dropouts are now wider than your axle. If you don't do something about that it will suck everything in and it won't work as well and it will squeak.
I hope this photo helps you with how you are going to attach the truss rods
Everyone has their way of doing something. :lol:

 

[jackdaw]

I've been debating whether to heat and beat the ends of the spring rods, to flatten them out and then drill them, or to weld on a piece. Still haven't decided. Probably going to weld on a piece. The hole to bolt the spring rod to the rocker needs to be a little aft of where the rod points, if that makes any sense, ah we'll see it'll all work, it's just fiddling around.

 

[poverty with a view]

I've been debating whether to heat and beat the ends of the spring rods, to flatten them out and then drill them, or to weld on a piece. Still haven't decided. Probably going to weld on a piece. The hole to bolt the spring rod to the rocker needs to be a little aft of where the rod points, if that makes any sense, ah we'll see it'll all work, it's just fiddling around.

It will work.

 

[jackdaw]

So here's the springer so far. There are problems. One, the springs are way too soft, I'll try to find some others. I can also move the axle slots back, giving it a shorter lever. Two, there is a clearance issue between the tire and the springs. I'm going to try to bend the brackets that the spring rods travel in out a little. They are 3/16" and hopefully will bend before my welds break. I can also try a taller wheel, I'm going to have to go with a narrower tire anyway as it's a narrow fork. With the center out in front I could fit a 700 wheel in there, then with a 26x2.125 in back that would look good.

So even with these problems the fork looks really cool I think. I'm pretty happy with it, a little disappointed with the setbacks but they are solvable. I have a back up fork if I need to just build a new one.

I'm also undecided on whether to put on a bridge between the tops of the spring rods, it would have the same stacked look as the fork crown. I may just put acorn nuts on the tops of the rods, just above the shaft collars. Slow process.

The bottom bracket is also way higher than it needs to be, I guess I may cut it off (again :roll: ) and lower it. Maybe.

Anyhow, a little update, in case you were wondering :lol: , thanks for looking.

 

[poverty with a view]

I think it came out great. :lol:

 

[Bigdaddy772]

Set backs are only learning experiences....That looks AWESOME bro!! 8) 8)

 

[kustomkulturebabe]

Pretty interesting build, have any recent pics of it?