SIDEBOLT

[Danny Lopez]

turn up the heat and slow down the wire speed. i suggest starting on the third heat setting try a couple test passes on some scrap pieces. practice makes perfect. we all have to start somewhere. best of luck!

 

[Glen]

OK.. Turn it to high and think of it like putting down a row of spot welds one after the other without giving it time to cool.. kind of a 1 second move a 1/8 inch , 1 second move an 1/8th, 1 second.... a little practice with some scrap metal goes a long way with one of those.
and if the wire is trying to burn into a little ball on the end you have to turn the feed speed up or back off the work piece a little.. if the speeds too high it will push out too much wire.. try and keep the tip no more than an inch from what your shooting at.

Also clean metal is key.. scrub it good with a wire brush before you go at it..

you'll get it!!

You using any kind of shielding gas? What kind of wire? Hard wire or flux core? Maybe clean the tip and use a setup piece to get feeds and speeds down. Shielding gas would make a massive difference.

turn up the heat and slow down the wire speed. i suggest starting on the third heat setting try a couple test passes on some scrap pieces. practice makes perfect. we all have to start somewhere. best of luck!

Thanks for all the advice.

No shielding gas as it's a gasless welder. I use 0.8mm "Flux Cored Gasless" welding wire by MECHPRO. I might need a new tip.

The machine I have only has two settings… MAX and MIN.

I am thinking I might switch to a different build and save this for the next build off. That way I'll hopefully be a bit better and I can go with the RHS steel as originally planned. So I'm just thinking about things at the moment.

Glen.

 

[OddJob]

As kingfish said elsewhere, we are only half-way home, so plenty of time to change your "travel route" .....looking forward to your new idea Glen!

 

[Funkme]

Yeah... guess you're right. My welding seems to be getting worse rather than better. I've watched videos online about it and just can't get the hang of it.



Glen.

I went to that stage.Then this past year my welding started to improve. The more practice the better you will become.

 

[Glen]

Well, over the past week, I have been to-ing and fro-ing and um-ing and ahh-ing over whether to continue with SIDEBOLT or change to a cargo bike build that's been on my mind. So I went to get a haircut... and when I got back I had decided to stick with SIDEBOLT.

I'd done a bit of joint notching, which was all rather tricky and time consuming, so it seemed a shame to waste all that work. Here's a couple of shots of what I'm talking about...

I'm a bit happier with my welding now too. Here's a shot of some tacks on the fork...

I added some plug welds on the back of that piece too...

So I'll keep plodding away and hopefully get a rider by the deadline.

It'll get done.

Glen.

 

[Kev Higgins]

Glad your persevering. I'm feeling the time crunch too because i know the next 5 weeks are going to fly by....and my painter is useless when it comes to deadlines

 

[Chad T]

Long as you got a grinder you can make it pretty. Looks like you're getting better already.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

I added some plug welds on the back of that piece too...

.

Looking good Glen!

Luke.

 

[Fv2]

The welds are looking better,its all about practice.

 

[Glen]

I struck a small problem with my head tube. The headset I need to use with the fork came out of an aluminium bike and I can't weld aluminium. I don't have any headtubes of the right diameter in steel as you can see with this one...

So I slit it lengthwise and pried it open enough to force the cups in...

I then tack welded that extra piece on and tacked on the top tube...

So it's coming together slowly and haphazardly

Glen.

 

[Fv2]

I struck a small problem with my head tube. The headset I need to use with the fork came out of an aluminium bike and I can't weld aluminium. I don't have any headtubes of the right diameter in steel as you can see with this one...

So I slit it lengthwise and pried it open enough to force the cups in...

I then tack welded that extra piece on and tacked on the top tube...

So it's coming together slowly and haphazardly

Glen.

MacGyver would be proud

 

[Glen]

The frame is taking shape now...

It's a good thing I have such professional equipment as a pallet and some concrete blocks, otherwise the frame wouldn't be the straight-as-a-die masterpiece that it is... having a quality jig is very important you know.

Glen.

 

[kingfish254]

Sweet Giggity Jig!

 

[Fv2]

A jig by any other name is still just a pallet.

Nice work on the frame tho.

 

[Glen]

I just had a visit from a real nice RRB member, Endlesschain, who purchased two of my bikes. He is now the proud owner of Rattled and Number 9.

Rattled...

Number 9...

I'm sad to see them go, but happy they went to a fellow RRBer who will appreciate them.

Thanks mate

Glen.

 

[Endlesschain]

Glad to help you out Glen,the stars were aligned and in my favor,when I saw Rattled I wanted it to be mine,a payout was coming my way around the same time bada bing bada boom,liked No.9 too so deal done,Sidebolt is looking primo especially to see it in the raw with my own eyes,its gona be a beauty

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Awesome progress here Glen! The bike is looking great!
Glad @Endlesschain picked those bikes up, I know he will enjoy them!

Luke.

 

[kingfish254]

It's always cool to see RRB bikes make the rounds to fellow RRBers!
Anything new on Sidebolt?

 

[Funkme]

Big Jim has a brother from another mother in the making,by the looks of this.

 

[Glen]

Anything new on Sidebolt?

Yeah...

Big Jim has a brother from another mother in the making,by the looks of this.

Nah...


Not anywhere near the standard of Big Jim I'm afraid, but I now have a roller. No, not a Rolls Royce, just a rolling, flimsy, tacked together pile of metal tubing with extremely heavy car wheels...

I now have to slowly make it a bit stronger with copious quantities of hot burny metal at the joiny bits.

Then I have to add the brake master cylindery thing to get the fluidy stuff to the round turny things.

And a sprockety type gizmo will be needed to attach to the rear turny thing to get the whole shemozzle moving forward so that the brakey thing can do some braking. And I mean braking, not breaking.

It's almost time to sit on it...

Glen.