Jukadi

[Kevin Kanouff]

What am I thinking? A real piece of poo. This bike seems silly when I look at it. I wonder if I even should finish it? My real Klunker made from a CWC frame gets comments on the trail like "your nuts" and weird stares. I take those comments and stares in a good way but sometimes I feel like a cross country skier on a downhill race course. The ultimate would be to finish the Jukadi and run it in a single track race, with the goal of finishing before the bike disintegrates and beating someone. I probably won't finish it in time for the big local race, the "Ore to Shore".

Looks good to me. I like the shape of the frame and the bars. Just need a bigger tire in the back.

 

[order99]

What Kevin said. Not only does that frame look awesome (and will look even better once painted) I for one would be glad to trust my 225 lbs on that frame-I have no doubt it would get me to my destination in one piece.

Well, once you have a chain and brakes on it of course.

As to Firepit Brazing...I have no idea what to tell you regarding that, i've never tried it...I normally use MAAP and 3/16" bronze rod with its own flux coating painted on at the factory-it's much easier than brushing on my own flux paste,although i'm told Plumber's Flux paste will do the job.

 

[MazdaFlyer]

Like your battery welding setup. I was watching a 4wheel drive Alaska adventure on TV and they resorted to doing welding with a battery to make a repair.


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[us56456712]

I built my Bendix manual 2 speed hub today. I used two to make one. I had 3 axles and used the only one that was straight and not thread stripped rebuilding my friends Schwinn American. I straightened and rethreaded the best axle but I don't know if it up to the task. These old Bendix manual 2 speeds seem to have a lot of axle abuse. They are machined with internal threads and slots cut in for the shift plates so a regular straight axle can't be used. I hope this works? The track style dropouts I tacked on my frame with axle stabling washers should help keep things straight with the rethread. This is the reason I went with this style of dropout, to try and stabilize the axle with poor threads. I hope it works? I had to use spacers on the brake side to get beyond the area where the threads were beyond salvageable. I hope this doesn't mess up the chain line?

 

[us56456712]

I started working on the front wheel, Its a Bendix RB2 coaster hub. I might have to use it on the back if the 2 speed doesn't pan out. I have all the guts for another RB 2, minus the hub so I am going to disable the clutch by welding it together. With a spare clutch I could still use it for the rear. The Bendix 2 speed has a lot of rear chain travel before the brakes lock up. This could be a problem with a small front sprocket as it would increase the rear pedal motion required to brake. The RB2 is disassembled and soaking in a can of acetone. It is cold out, 46F for the high today. It's been in the 30F range most nights. So I worked inside on the wheels. Tomorrow it is going to be 60 and then cold and rain until Tuesday. The plan is to ride tomorrow and then work on the wheels until it gets warmer and dryer.

 

[us56456712]

The clutch is welded into one piece on the RB2. The hub is reassembled and the wheel is on the bike. It seems to work good as a front brake and grabs each time from the same position so it should work for a front brake. I started to fab a front brake activation lever to replace the drive cog. I am trying to come up with a torsion spring to return the brake to coast instead of the usual extension spring everyone uses on these. I haven't figured out exactly how to do this yet?

 

[us56456712]

I was battery welding today, or at least attempting it. I couldn't get any penetration and my electrodes kept sticking. I thought it was the hardened cog wheel steel I was trying to weld. It was frustrating as my welds kept falling apart. Tonight I checked my marine battery and it was down to 13% charge. My truck battery (second battery for welding) gets charged when I drive. Apparently battery welding drains a lot of juice. I will try to weld the hardened steel tomorrow when the marine battery is charged. My guess is that any battery not used in a vehicle needs to be toped off every day? Another explanation for the rapid power drop is that the marine battery is on its last legs? Hopefully with fully charged batteries I can finish my tacking of the cog.

The next project is to tune up the wheels I built. Then I should be ready for final welding of my tack job. I still have to tack the front coaster brake lever on and the front coaster brake retaining tab to the front fork. After the wheel tune and welding the bike should be ready for assembly and a trial run to see what works and what doesn't. A lot of what doesn't work is a concern, the two speed and the front brake are real experiments in using junk so I may have to abandon these ideas?

 

[LukeTheJoker]

I was battery welding today, or at least attempting it. I couldn't get any penetration and my electrodes kept sticking.

Definitely sounds like you need more power...

Luke.

 

[Flying Sheepdog]

I was battery welding today, or at least attempting it. I couldn't get any penetration and my electrodes kept sticking. I thought it was the hardened cog wheel steel I was trying to weld. It was frustrating as my welds kept falling apart. Tonight I checked my marine battery and it was down to 13% charge. My truck battery (second battery for welding) gets charged when I drive. Apparently battery welding drains a lot of juice. I will try to weld the hardened steel tomorrow when the marine battery is charged. My guess is that any battery not used in a vehicle needs to be toped off every day? Another explanation for the rapid power drop is that the marine battery is on its last legs? Hopefully with fully charged batteries I can finish my tacking of the cog.

The next project is to tune up the wheels I built. Then I should be ready for final welding of my tack job. I still have to tack the front coaster brake lever on and the front coaster brake retaining tab to the front fork. After the wheel tune and welding the bike should be ready for assembly and a trial run to see what works and what doesn't. A lot of what doesn't work is a concern, the two speed and the front brake are real experiments in using junk so I may have to abandon these ideas?

Keep calm my friend, I know that frustration. I've done the battery welding in Afghanistan as well as with another odd Afghan contraption I think my guys found just to make a bet. That was a great day - and old homemade welder from the 70's with several holes like a switchboard that you would pull the stinger plug out of with a great shower of sparks and thrust it into another hole in order to get the right amperage. Everything was written in Urdu.

Here is a pretty good source on using an alternator and adjusting the vehicle electrical current in order to dedicate volt and amperage while welding in a pinch while on the road. You have my respect - I've chewed that dirt.

http://www.opensourcemachinetools.org/archive-manuals/TIG-Welder.pdf

 

[us56456712]

Keep calm my friend, I know that frustration. I've done the battery welding in Afghanistan as well as with another odd Afghan contraption I think my guys found just to make a bet. That was a great day - and old homemade welder from the 70's with several holes like a switchboard that you would pull the stinger plug out of with a great shower of sparks and thrust it into another hole in order to get the right amperage. Everything was written in Urdu.

Here is a pretty good source on using an alternator and adjusting the vehicle electrical current in order to dedicate volt and amperage while welding in a pinch while on the road. You have my respect - I've chewed that dirt.

http://www.opensourcemachinetools.org/archive-manuals/TIG-Welder.pdf

Thanks, fascinating. I have an old Miller stick welder that must weigh 75 pounds. It's under a shelf in my garage on a cargo dolly. I hate it as it is so cumbersome and heavy. It needs new leads. I was going to buy them but I think putting my $ into a MIG would be a better idea. Sounds like you are ex or current forces? I was drafted in 1967, but drafted doesn't count the same as the current situation. I know they manufacture a regular type welder in Afghanistan as I have seen them on the net.

 

[Flying Sheepdog]

Thanks, fascinating. I have an old Miller stick welder that must weigh 75 pounds. It's under a shelf in my garage on a cargo dolly. I hate it as it is so cumbersome and heavy. It needs new leads. I was going to buy them but I think putting my $ into a MIG would be a better idea. Sounds like you are ex or current forces? I was drafted in 1967, but drafted doesn't count the same as the current situation. I know they manufacture a regular type welder in Afghanistan as I have seen them on the net.

I like the new 110 migs and Thermodynamic has a shoebox arc/tig that is pretty good as well. Thanks for your service. As far as anything made in Afghanistan I have not seen a welder for commercial sale. Funny

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[us56456712]

Charged the marine battery and I am now welding as well as before. I fixed a broken seat spring for a seat I may use and welded the brake activation lever together. I rewelded the front coaster tab and the coaster brake clutch as I was not sure they had good penetration as the battery seemed to start to get weak on these earlier projects.

 

[Flying Sheepdog]

Charged the marine battery and I am now welding as well as before. I fixed a broken seat spring for a seat I may use and welded the brake activation lever together. I rewelded the front coaster tab and the coaster brake clutch as I was not sure they had good penetration as the battery seemed to start to get weak on these earlier projects.

Very clean

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[us56456712]

Battery welding with 2 batteries doesn't work when they get below 70% charge. It might be better with 3 batteries? I spent the morning enlarging the cog mounting hole in the cheap kids China bike coaster cog so it would fit on the Bendix Red Band 2. Lots of filing. I didn't want to ruin one of my Bendix cogs. The China cogs are not as thick as the original Bendix so I had to make a spacer. Lots more filing. It is the shiny metal disc in front of the brake activation lever (old China cog). The new cog/brake pull is tight with the spacer and doesn't wobble, thanks to thickness filing. I also tacked on the brake cable guide/adjuster onto the fork.

 

[Fv2]

I've seen battery welding before but had no idea it would work on bicycle tubing. I have a 110v stick welder and it just melts through bike tubing

 

[us56456712]

I've seen battery welding before but had no idea it would work on bicycle tubing. I have a 110v stick welder and it just melts through bike tubing

I never tried it before but I have been itching for years. I always read on the net you needed 3 batteries, but then I saw where someone was using two batteries. I already had two jumper cables. The heavy duty set is the one I use for the ground and to hold the small vice grip that holds the electrode. The light duty jumper cables are used to connect the two batteries in series to get 24 volts but the red lead has quit working and I am now using the black lead (I hope that lasts) for the series connection. Both sets of jumper cables came from the thrift store. You use the positive for the ground. You might be able to use one set of jumper cables and a few strands of Romex house wiring for the series connection and hold it to the batteries with vice grips. I bought a small package of 1/16 inch 6013 electrodes because the package said it was for welding bikes, trailers, swing sets and fences. The package said it was the easiest to use and is for 20 to 50 amp welders. It was a shot in the dark but they work. I don't want to experiment with different electrodes, I figure stick with one and learn how to use it. I cut them off short into thirds because I shake so much I loose the arc. Every time you stop welding or lose your arc and you have to drag the electrode on the cement or nip of the end with wire cutters to get rid of the slag. A wire brush and a small sharp tool to bust the slag is all I have been using. I had an old set of welding gloves I bought years ago for grilling and I use those. You can burn through the tubing. I keep the arc moving in a circular motion around the area I want to weld and have not burned through. I welded the chain stays on the inside of the bottom bracket shell and melted the end off of one of the chain stays in the inside of the bottom bracket shell, but it looks like a good weld. I didn't keep the arc moving. It really doesn't take that much practice. You need to charge your batteries up after about a half hour of welding. If you don't keep your batteries up you get no penetration and your nice looking welds just fall apart when you remove the clamp, or bump it. I am thinking about using battery welding for everything on this bike except the lucky 7 style seatpost. I don't want to be impaled. Disconnect your car battery before you do any connection. Everything in my truck is incorrect, radio, time etc, ha.

 

[Fv2]

I like the technique, I'm the son of a hippie and a hillbilly. If it works fork MacGyver it works for me. I'll have to practice more with the stick welder.

Can't blame you on the seat post,none of us wants to be impaled or see anyone impaled. I can't wait to see this finished.

 

[us56456712]

Off to camp until Tuesday. I am going to work on my storage shed. I ground down the welds and I think I can weld the whole project up with batteries, at lest that is the latest plan.

 

[us56456712]

I pretty much finished all the welding tonight. The batteries need charging, so I had to quit just shy of finishing. I got better at welding slowly at first but now I am getting better faster. Still noting to write home about as the welds are globy. I can now keep the arc much longer to get better penetration. I like the stick welding better than MIG for some places on the frame. You can reach a stick into tighter places than a MIG welding gun, like between the chain stays on the bottom bracket and on the head tube where the down tube and cross tube meet. These places I can't reach with a MIG gun. I think I have an idea for a tank. I am going to try and mount a stainless steel water bottle between the top tube and the cross bar and use it for water. I still can't figure out exactly how to mount a torsion spring in the front axle to return the Bendix to coast. I started to make a torsion spring but need to come up with some form of bearing for it to rotate on?

 

[us56456712]

I finished the frame. It is now 3 shades of green. I had a little hunter green from painting my trailer so that is what I "touched up" the frame with. Used an old brush I had laying around but if I didn't have one I would have used a broom. Jukadi is all about function, using whatcha got and not bothering to make it look pretty. Next up, put on some old wheels and take it out an the trails and see if it breaks, then finish building the wheels I intend to try and use (assuming it doesn't break).