SWB0 The Flying Dutchman

[ChaOs]

Can you please give me a little bit of your talent and skills? Just a tiny bit. I could really use it.

 

[bikewhorder]

I got the second half of the down tube glued up tonight. I had to adjust my spacer block because it couldn't physically clamp to the first shape that I made and i'm glad it didn't because I like the second Iteration much better. If you look closely you can see the seam where I had to add a piece to the spacer.

 

[Jude Ephesus]

-this thing is unbelievable!

 

[bikewhorder]

Every weekend I think I'm going to get so much done, And then the weekend flies by and there's almost no progress. I was hoping to have all the frame and fork parts laminated by the end of january. We're getting into the end of february and i'm not even done with what actually is the easy part of this build. Putting all these parts together is going to be quite a challenge. Definitely starting to panic a little. I'd say I'm about twenty five percent done and I actually had a minor set back this weekend. I overclamped part of the top tube and had to redo it on both sides. It still won't be perfect but it should be a lot better.

 

[bikewhorder]

I did a little time lapse photo shoot of the glue up for the down tube. Also here's a picture of my top tube redo side by side. I'm glad I fixed it.I couldn't live with it like that.

 

[bikewhorder]

My "headset" parts arrived today from mcmaster. Like everything about this bike it's a little unconventional. It's basically going to operate like a hinge instead of a traditional headset. It's going to consist of two sets of five 1/2 inch thick aluminum plates about seven inches long and two inches wide. Two will be attached to the frame and three attached to the fork. I came up with this because it occurred to me that it was difficult to attach a head tube to the wood but it was easy to bolt on flat plates with a hole drilled in one end. I think it should work.

 

[ChaOs]

Unconventional yet awesome!

 

[bikewhorder]

Ill admit I wasn't too sure about this idea but it's exciting to see it coming together. I was really nervous that I was going to invest all this time and energy (and money!) only for some unforeseen miscalculation to make it totally not work. Having access to some serious tools makes it relatively easy and I think it's going to work fine. It might be the worlds heaviest headset though, lol.

 

[BartRidesEternal]

It might be the worlds heaviest headset though, lol.

Curves are looking good!

 

[bikewhorder]

More glue ups tonight. This will be in between pieces for the fork "tusks" that the headset will attach to. I also decided this weekend that I need to remake my seat post Parts that I had already invested a good bit of time into. Due to multiple factors they are not going to work as made. I probably won't be posting too much because it all just looks the same. Hopefully by the end of this weekend I'll have all the components made except for the handlebars. Definitely feel like i'm running out of time here though. This will likely be another DNF. but i'm going to ride it out to the end.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Looking good!

I've been wondering about using a router on aluminum for a while. What type of bit did you use? Just a normal bit for wood?

 

[bikewhorder]

Looking good!

I've been wondering about using a router on aluminum for a while. What type of bit did you use? Just a normal bit for wood?

Ayuh. A spiral cutter probably would have been a lot better but I couldn't find one with a bearing. I would definitely make sure you have a router with a speed control and go slow. It's pretty nasty but it works.