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Man this is so awesome!
Inspiration for sure. I hope to weld a frame someday.
Lookin rad man!
Inspiration for sure. I hope to weld a frame someday.
Lookin rad man!
NonGoose 26 BMX project
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I'd say practice is key. A nice welder helps, sure but I'd say most of it lies with the person over the gear. I have good equipment, I am not using the pulse feature on my welder where you can get a very consistent weld pattern from. I am trying to develop my hand welding skill and I have seen marked improvement in a short span of time. Already I see improvement just doing this project.
however,
Many people are hyper critical of welds, how they look. I went to the Smithsonian in December and saw the Apollo 15 rockets and your BMX nerd/keyboard cowboy would scoff at the welds on the rocket engines that took men into space. So being someone who had made lots of bikes through the years I'm not so critical, but there is the expectation of perfection of how a weld looks and it is a silly thing that people have chosen to hang onto and point out over and over again while having never done anything themselves... Understanding that I have to meet that expectation regardless of how absurd and ignorant of a stance it is.
however,
Many people are hyper critical of welds, how they look. I went to the Smithsonian in December and saw the Apollo 15 rockets and your BMX nerd/keyboard cowboy would scoff at the welds on the rocket engines that took men into space. So being someone who had made lots of bikes through the years I'm not so critical, but there is the expectation of perfection of how a weld looks and it is a silly thing that people have chosen to hang onto and point out over and over again while having never done anything themselves... Understanding that I have to meet that expectation regardless of how absurd and ignorant of a stance it is.
Rat Rod
Owner & Founder
I guess that is the difference between building something for yourself vs. building a product for the mass market these days. If most bikes being sold have super clean welds, people just expect bikes being sold to look similar. Not that they all look like the photo I posted above.
I don't know enough about welding to know what constitutes a good weld vs. a bad weld other than by the way it looks. There are probably ugly looking welds that will hold up to any abuse and good looking welds that wouldn't.
Perhaps it is more of an aesthetic issue more than anything else.
I don't know enough about welding to know what constitutes a good weld vs. a bad weld other than by the way it looks. There are probably ugly looking welds that will hold up to any abuse and good looking welds that wouldn't.
Perhaps it is more of an aesthetic issue more than anything else.
Well a good weld is one that holds! If you look at structures and under cars you see "ugly" welds, but strong ones. When I weld a down tube to to a bb shell I look inside and see if there is a ring shape in the bb shell, that way I know I have good penetration all the way through the metal. I've seen pretty weld fail and be cracked right through them, so looking good does not equal being good.
Non Goose project by Paul de Valera, on FlickrYou can see what I'm talking about here. The cigar box is welded good almost all the way around, It has a couple bad spots where you don't see the discoloration in the metal, the rest go good penetration. I figure it won't matter much there as that piece is overkill anyway.
Got all the triangle pieces done, my homemade dimple die machine was too big to dimple the metal as the bracket was too small so just a hole. Oh well. I had to make each one different as each frame has hand-bend loops and thus no two are 100% alike. Anyway they don't look too bad.
Non Goose project by Paul de Valera, on FlickrThen we apply the ancient art of eye balling it, I used a rim and got the frames mostly straight by putting them in the vice and bending them side to side so they don't have a banana shape to them.
Non Goose project by Paul de Valera, on FlickrSome of the loops were a little catiwampus so we applied Archenemies to the equation.
Non Goose project by Paul de Valera, on Flickr
While not a perfect knock-off they look ok.
Non Goose project by Paul de Valera, on FlickrGot three mostly done today, been at it since 7am and it's 1 pm now. Welding make your mind tired like driving a long distance. Enough for today, perhaps a couple weeks left before I can think of how to build one up.
Non Goose project by Paul de Valera, on Flickr
I just got a motomag frame the other day, and it has good welds...but, not great welds
Jason
Jason
Yeah, you know as a kid of the 70'S and 80's I don't think we ever knew to look at welds or a lot of things that the over grown children that we are now pay attention to. I remember getting my "BMX" parts from thrifty ice cream..
Thrifty Ice Cream!? Well, I like the concept...get your parts AND a milkshake! 
My bikes were either roadside debris or garage sale finds...and all my BMX parts came from Western Auto (if I was flush with cash
) or, more likely from one of two old guys that fixed bikes in their garages for retirement income.
I will say, however, that I saw my first PK while in grade school and was completely mesmerized by the welds. I didn't know why they were cool...but, it is why PKs and Race Incs are still my faves today
Jason
My bikes were either roadside debris or garage sale finds...and all my BMX parts came from Western Auto (if I was flush with cash
) or, more likely from one of two old guys that fixed bikes in their garages for retirement income.I will say, however, that I saw my first PK while in grade school and was completely mesmerized by the welds. I didn't know why they were cool...but, it is why PKs and Race Incs are still my faves today
Jason
KMart also used to have a line of BMX stuff back then. You could buy V-bars, pad sets, goosenecks, knockoff Cobra grips....it was awesome.
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The bikes are near all alike, they have the same front triangles because I was able to use my jig for our Article 1,2, & three frames for that. The rears are slightly different from each other but we're talking 1/8 inches here, so pretty much the same. So some tweaking done here and there. I finished one early and it took 4 hours to weld up 5 of them, I have two more to go before I make the coaster brake brackets on them.
Here's one with a fork and wheels for a mock up. I compared it to my Schwinn cruiser I use as a single speed mtb and it looks like it will be a nice riding frame as Schwinns ride so good, the geometry was similar.
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on Flickr
And all that practice is paying off, here's a seatpost I made for a pal who bent his brand new Redline 26 post right away. A 4130 .065 tube with an old post welded to it ans sleeved with a 7/8 allot bar because he's 300 pounds!
Anyway welds are "good" haha
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on Flickr
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on Flickr
Here's one with a fork and wheels for a mock up. I compared it to my Schwinn cruiser I use as a single speed mtb and it looks like it will be a nice riding frame as Schwinns ride so good, the geometry was similar.
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on FlickrAnd all that practice is paying off, here's a seatpost I made for a pal who bent his brand new Redline 26 post right away. A 4130 .065 tube with an old post welded to it ans sleeved with a 7/8 allot bar because he's 300 pounds!
Anyway welds are "good" haha
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on Flickrnon goose project by Paul de Valera, on Flickr
Got all the frames done. Went over them with a flap wheel and smoothed out the rough spots. Welding is finished except for the coaster brake tab which is what I'll be doing next.
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on Flickr
When you weld a seat tube you have to hone it out to take a post. The honing tools are for larger diameter tubing than this (7/8) so a big drill bit will do the trick.
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on Flickr
Cut all the brackets for the coaster brake torsion arm:
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on Flickr
Then I drilled a bunch of holes:
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on Flickr
Then I used a grinding bit I found in my junk to hog out a slot:
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on Flickr
I'll need to file them and shape the outsides before I weld them to the frames. I wanted to have the caliper brake bridge that came on later models but there was not enough room for the bridge and the wheel so just coaster brake which as you may know, I am biased too.
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on Flickr
So next then will be me building up one...
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on FlickrWhen you weld a seat tube you have to hone it out to take a post. The honing tools are for larger diameter tubing than this (7/8) so a big drill bit will do the trick.
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on FlickrCut all the brackets for the coaster brake torsion arm:
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on FlickrThen I drilled a bunch of holes:
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on FlickrThen I used a grinding bit I found in my junk to hog out a slot:
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on FlickrI'll need to file them and shape the outsides before I weld them to the frames. I wanted to have the caliper brake bridge that came on later models but there was not enough room for the bridge and the wheel so just coaster brake which as you may know, I am biased too.
non goose project by Paul de Valera, on FlickrSo next then will be me building up one...
\m/
non goose
