Originally Posted by
unterhausen
that was a pretty nice solution to the problem of stainless lugs intersecting with seat tubes. They must have done the welding before brazing the lug because silver interacts badly with Tig.
Thanks. The welding was done before brazing as you suggest. The framebuilder, Dave Wages, explains:
"...I fully set up the bike in the fixture and mitered the seat stays to fit against the seat lug. One of the welders then tacked the stays carefully onto the seat lug. After they cooled down, I took the unbrazed tubes out of the fixture, the stays still tacked to the seat lug and Sean, the welder, finished fully welding them to the lug. I then ground all the excess weld that had penetrated the lug, finished the welds, and then prepped the lug for brazing. Back to the fixture and everything gets reset, fluxed and tacked. I brazed the frame, did all the finishing, alignment and then it's off to the polisher for the final buff. So, to answer your question, the stays are TIG welded to the lug, but then all the other parts are silver brazed on your frame. If we had silver brazed the stays onto the lug, what ends up happening is the silver gets undercut during the polishing process and then it can discolor over time. Really not a nice look, and possibly not as strong either."