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I like where this is going. Beautiful curves!
Are those dropouts milled from one piece?

And I'm guessing you are welding in a different space?
Or else you might get holes in your shoes :rofl:

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Since we are quoting song lyrics...
" Well, you say you got the blues, you got holes in both your shoes"...

 
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I’ve been (hobby-level) at it for near a decade, and still goober it up rather often. But It’ll stick together.

Working with 0.049” wall this go round. Not as light, but more forgiving—and WAAY less $$ per foot than 0.035”.
 
Started welding up the seat tube plates.
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But I started to get subtle signs I was out of Argon…
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That second pic is tricky to see the signs! 🤣

Checking for square:

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More progress, more gas, next week.

Enjoy the holiday weekend and remember the reason.
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I'm really digging this design. It reminds me of the Hawthorne Twin frame that I used for starsNbars in BO9.

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John, your welding skill is moving along at an amazing rate! I'm not sure everyone realizes this is what, just the third bike frame you have built (at least in RRB-ville) ever? Your ideas, methods, jig building, and the actual welds are really top notch-ed! (welding pun intended)
 
John, your welding skill is moving along at an amazing rate! I'm not sure everyone realizes this is what, just the third bike frame you have built (at least in RRB-ville) ever? Your ideas, methods, jig building, and the actual welds are really top notch-ed! (welding pun intended)
I've been working on it slowly, watching a lot of tutorial videos and reading a lot. Wasted a lot of steel just practicing, too.

First RRB was BOTEN (Build Off Ten, 2015) with The Scrapper - DNF due to distractions and, well, I welded the BB in backwards....TWICE! 😱
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Second RRBBO: Mid-Western Flyer X16 BO11, 2016. First time Finisher. Light, but twitchy due to head tube angle/trail. Maybe could'a fixed it with a different fork, but, oh well. (though that seat, handlebars, and crank keep making a comeback1!)

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BO13 in 2018 saw me try a recumbent, Black Cat 13. Hey! that rear wheel and derailleur look familiar! Handed it off to somebody else who needed a recumbent. (I have another.)
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2022 saw A Zombie Reborn in BO17. Hmmm... maybe I kept the cranks from the Black Cat? This seems to be when I built the jig (>insert Irish dance joke here<) Didn't keep it despite the cool factor because it was a bit heavy, steering weird, and other things. Great learning experience.

Also, reminds me of It's a Bird, a Winter BO2018 that I did not finish, but was some inspiration for the Zombie, and also details my perforated tube jig and "Shower Saver" tube cone hack. Though, seems I never got to welding that.
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And then there was last year's 5-G Conspiracy - the Great Green Grocery Getter, Greyhound edition. Hmmm... those cranks again....

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So, 5 is the RRB scratch count.
Zombie Resurrection raises it's hand (and the dead). er-hmmm...
OK, 6 scratch built frames documented on this forum. Resurrection was never made into a bike, but was a quick and fun project for practice.

So, yeah, started with a simple Everlast welder nearly 10 years ago, lots of tutorials, some prior exposure to welding, and TONS of failure practice. TIG can be done for not a lot of money, just be willing to learn and find the cheapest sources of steel you can to practice with. I think it's a much cleaner method than MIG with just a slightly higher learning curve. Of course, taking a course or two and having professional guidance will speed things along.

PRACTICE MAKES BETTER
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Thanks for going down memory lane with me. Now back to your regularly scheduled Build Off! :)
 
So cool to see your other builds again. I really liked that Fireboltish Scrapper frame back in BOTEN
 
I don't remember your BO 10 and 11 entries at all, and had forgotten about the recumbent. So that's where my 3 came from.
 
I was such a noob! 🤣
And some of those were from non-main buildoffs, or none at all, and I skipped years or did regular/class 1/traditional builds. Hard even for me to keep track of all of them. Was fun to pull ‘em all together though. 😎
(and now I have a bookmared index with links for myself! Muh-ha ha ha!)
 
I can smell what you're cookin' with that gas!

Sniffing The Rock GIF
 
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