"BLACKJACK" MiniVelo FatBike BUILD. (New owner, new progress soon!)

[LukeTheJoker]

I say go with the mountain bike discs as they will be easier to get replacement parts if you need them. Those are going to be some heave wheels though...

I admit they are heavier than standard wheels, still far lighter than some I use on my bikes!

Luke.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Started work on the drive and brake adapters for the rear wheel, started with these washers:

Sanded the gal coating off and welded them together:

A little work on the mini-lathe and you can see how this is going to work, the original disc will get cut down to just the mounting plate and the washer welded inside it and I will drill and tap the 6 bolt holes for the brake disc in the washer:

The drive side is simpler, I will use one of the big washers welded inside the other cut down old disc and simply weld a threaded hub end to the washer.

The front wheel has a different bolt pattern on the hub, so it will be a bit different again, but pretty sure I have figured a way to do it, picked up some stuff to help out with it earlier, so should be able to finish the rear wheel and front wheel in one sitting next time I am working. Then I can get an accurate measurement of the hub width to work out the crank axle width and housing...

Luke.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Marked out the holes for drilling tomorrow, not much to show, but at least it is some progress!

Here are some pics to explain what I am doing a bit better:

Drive side on the rear wheel is the simplest, basically cut the disc down along the black lines, weld big washer in the middle and weld the threaded hub end to the washer:

Rear wheel brake side is similar, cut disc along black lines, weld in modified big washer I built today, drill and tap the 6 bolt holes for the disc to mount to:

Front brake is a bit harder to show as I have not removed the disc yet, but the disc sits shallower on the hub so I needed to raise the level of the disc mount outwards, so it will be mounted on this small section of tube which in turn will be welded to the old front disc:

Then the washer will be drilled and tapped again and the disc can mount as per normal:

Fiddly work but I think it is worth it to run more standard MTB discs, lightens the look a fair bit too!

Luke.

 

[raggedjim]

Luke, you amaze me...

Great work, Rg

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Luke, you amaze me...

Great work, Rg

Thanks RJ, hopefully it all works as intended!

Luke.

 

[dracothered]

Nice work...

 

[LukeTheJoker]

A productive day in the end today after quite a few hold-ups...

First off, sorry about the blur spot on most of the photos, apparently got some cutting oil on the lens yesterday, didn't realise till I had nearly finished...

Started by cleaning up the old discs into the mounting plates:

I started then with the rear disc side adapter, used an axle and a spacer tube to make sure it was fully centred and bolted the plate down hard and welded the washer in place:

Mounted on the wheel:

Then on to the drive side, the drive side had a slightly different bolt pattern, so I slotted the holes to allow it to fit, it still centres on the mounting spigot, so no worries about bolting it out of centre, then mounted it and welded it up:

Then removed it from the hub and flipped it over to weld the threaded hub end on:

Mounted on the wheel:

Next up was the front disc mount, started by welding the washer to the spacer pipe and then cutting out 4 slots to allow clearance for the mounting bolts:

Then bolted the mount to the hub and welded it up:

Here is how it will look when finished:

Here are the three adapters done for the day, I finally found my 5mm thread tap and matching drill as I was packing up, so these are not drilled and tapped yet:

The remains of the discs:

Sitting here tapping threads before I go and have a shower, 3 down, 9 to go...

Luke.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Threads all tapped, so I can call the hub adapters pretty much done at this point aside from a little cleaning up!

I had to re-drill and tap the threads on the front one, I must have missed the mark with the centre punch on 3 of the holes, so just rotated the disc and drilled new holes between the old ones and re-tapped the threads, all good now, just have to find the missing bolt I dropped somewhere...

Also more good news, the shifter arrived today, very happy with it! Love the way it looks, will suit the build well and the capacity to down shift multiple gears at once is awesome!

Also love that the main body, clamp and main trigger lever are aluminium not plastic!

Luke.

 

[dracothered]

Great work...

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Great work...

Thanks Drac!
You sure are right about builds outside the build-off not getting much attention this time of year!

Luke.

 

[Rhys]

Looking really good Luke
Can't wait to see it with them big tyres rolling


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Kroozerdave]

Looking good Luke.
Now with all the adaptor making remains you will have plenty of doo-dad parts for other build dressing up.
Like that you have been using that lathe too.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Well today was going to be a big frame building day... But... Middle of winter, started off with a corrected temp of 5 degrees and 20 mph winds...

Never-mind, it is meant to warm up by the afternoon!

So, now sitting here now in the early-mid afternoon, listening to the hail bouncing off the tin roof and being told we are under severe weather warning...

I did however get out and pick up the "Joker" frame from the powdercoaters, they did an awesome job, so will definitely be using them for this build too, when the frame finally gets built that is...

Luke.

 

[Moisstink]

I wish I had your welding set up not to mention your skills. So cool.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

I wish I had your welding set up not to mention your skills. So cool.

Thanks Moisstink!

Luke.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

The weather is going crazy here at the moment, I had enough today so put up a temporary screen out of roofing iron to protect me from the wind, it worked well enough that I got a good amount done on the frame at last!

Started by getting the loop and top curve bends ready, from a set of drop bars:

Then the top tube/seat stays with holes drilled, sleeves inserted and holes plug welded:

Then tacked all those together:

On to the other tubes, drilled, sleeved, plug welded:

Both loops all tacked up!

Looking good! Very happy with how it is coming together!

With my health I can only work for a limited time so that was all I could do for today, pretty happy though!

Normally I would just leave these tacked until the whole frame is built, just to make sure nothing needs adjusting, but some of the welds will be hard to get to later for cleaning up, so next step will be to fully weld them and clean them up, then on the the other half of the frame.


Luke.

 

[deven_science]

Your fabrication skills are outstanding.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Your fabrication skills are outstanding.

Coming from a Guy who builds some very awesome bikes, thanks Deven!

Luke.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Tried to make some good progress today, but when the hail rain is coming at you sideways, it is probably time to take a break!

I did get the donor BB off the bike, I think I know now why it was so hard to get apart:

A good clean up and some new bearings will sort that out, next step will be to widen it from a 67mm shell to a 181mm shell...



Luke.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Worked out the cranks and bottom bracket today!

Started by cleaning up and cutting in half the original bottom bracket shell, cutting a piece of fence pipe stripped of Gal the right length, splitting it lengthways down one side and drilling 4 holes in each end:

Inserted the ends of the original shell inside the two ends of the new shell, tacked inside the two holes furthest from the lengthways cut and then clamped it in the vice and welded the cut back up:

Fully welded all the holes:

Now all I have to do is clean up the welds and I have a finished BB shell!

From there I moved on to the crank axle itself, I did my usual thing and split it, insert in tube, weld back up, only this time I used heavy wall box tubing as it was the perfect inner size to hold everything perfectly, I leave the pedals on to do this as I can double check everything is straight by laying a big metal rule across them and making sure they line up.

They are not as strong as they would have been originally, but compared with the cost of getting a custom axle machined, this is easily strong enough for what I will put this bike through!

I forgot to get a pic of the cleaned up loop pieces, so I snapped this one as I was packing up:

Luke.