Another pre-war klunker project

[sandmangts]

Most of you have seen my 1936 Mercury. It was my first klunker build and it is still my favorite bike. I like the frame for its flowing lines and because the bottom bracket is pretty high. It is also a bit larger than my 41 Schwinn with a longer top tube and seat tube so it fits nice. It has taken alot of abuse over the last 2 years so when I saw a similar frame I had to grab it.

This one is badged as an Elgin however and with the exception of the dropouts the frame is a spot on match for my Mercury. I am asuming they were manufactured in the same factory but I could be wrong.

Not sure how far i am going to take this. As you can see it is just like my Mercury:

I went ahead and cold set the 110mm spacing to 135, I find that using a 2x4 sucks because they flex so much but this steel counter weight is perfect.

Re-aligning the dropouts was pretty easy using a milling vise. I got lucky and got the alignment perfect on the first try. The key is to be gentle and do it in small increments measuring often.

Next steps? Brazing on canti mounts? Hammering down and trimming the dropstand stops to fashion a derailer hanger using and tap and die? Paint? Powder coat? Who knows but it's gonna be fun.

 

[sandmangts]

My idea to trim and tap the dropouts for a derailler hanger worked pretty well. Now I need to decide on powder or paint and colors.
Started like this:

Tapping:

Testing:

Trimming:

Final shape:

 

[Rat Rod]

Nice job on the fabrication there. :wink:

 

[ichi bike]

cool i like your concept of making the drop stand a derailer hanger looks like its comming along nicely

 

[ichi bike]

what forks are you thinking?

 

[rusty1]

...nice job on the derailer; I'm about ready to do the same on my next build; waitin on gettin some rims and other parts in next few days.
I'll be following your build.

 

[scott brownsey]

sweet frame

 

[El Duderino]

man youve already done all my ideas on your other bikes. I cant image what this will turn out looking like.

 

[sandmangts]

Scored some nice stuff at the bike shop today. An Atom drum, dirty but in good shape and 2 Araya 7x wheels. Needless to say the build plans have changed. I didn't feel like spending $50 bucks on truss rods so I got some surplus aluminum rod and made a pair, not sure if I will use them but it only cost me 3 bucks.

 

[Walker]

Looking great so far, lovin that fork

 

[sandmangts]

The drum cleaned up nicely. The internals are in outstanding condition and it works flawlessly. I cleaned it and repacked the bearings.

 

[ichi bike]

i love the forks what are they

 

[sandmangts]

i love the forks what are they

Tange forks. For the truss rods I did not feel like paying a stupid amount of money for a clamp so I just made a copy out of a huge stainless steel spatula that I never used. I bought some electric grounding harnesses and some cap bolts from home depot. Total cost about 8 dollars.

 

[Bendix]

Oh great- now the price of ebay spatulas is going to go through the roof! :mrgreen:

Those electrical connectors really work well for homemade struts, don't they?

 

[El Duderino]

whats the status of this build?

 

[Jpromo]

You should keep the paint on the frame :wink: It looks cool with the gumwall tires.

 

[sandmangts]

The build is coming along nicely. I got some 13/16 rod for the post but the tube gets narrower about 4 inches down just like my Mercury so I had to mill it down a bit. I made 2 of different lengths so my wife can ride and so can I. The bike must be painted because it is bare metal in some places. I am working on the wheels and I found some nice truss rods that were just 5 bucks so I may use them instead of the ones I made if they look better.

 

[sandmangts]

A bit further along, the frame is out for paint and I have most of the parts prepared. I just need a proper handlebar. I plan to try my hand at acid etching a custom headbadge. I got some scrap aluminum sheet for $4 dollars and I plan to cut it up and make a few headbadges with the design below etched in and painted.

 

[sandmangts]

I also got lucky and found a mini version. This is a kids size frame for 24 inch wheels. I am going to build it up for my son.

 

[sandmangts]

Well both frames are out for paint and I got the wheels finished. I decided that instead of spending money on a headbadge I would try doing one myself. I read a good post on MTBR about it and decided to use copper surplus which I can get cheap. They use it to do roofing on mansions and there is always scrap that they sell at the metal supply for like 3 dollars a pound so I bought a few bucks worth and got some pcb etchant from radio shack. They use it to make custom computer and electronic boards. I then fired up the laser printer and printed off the graphic to photo paper and used a hot iron to transfer the toner image to the copper. It is a bit tricky to get a good transfer but after a few tries I got it. Then you just soak it in the acid for about 20 minutes.

Once I had the image etched I just painted it and then wet sanded it removing the paint from the raised areas and then sprayed on some clear enamel. I am going to experiment some more with different colors and maybe some brass.

Here is the badge from my Mercury. I restored it by polishing it and painting it but it looked to new. Now it looks old like it should.

Here is the first headbadge. I used the clear coat to give it a cracked old patina but I didn't like it much.

Here is the second badge. I used a negative image this time for the dog which showed up much better.

Here is the initial transfer for the seat tube badge. Just to give a custom touch for the wife.