tips on building 1/2 toe clips ?
 

I saw these posted in C&V

http://brucegordoncycles.bigcartel.c...trapless-clips

this looks like a good project for a build to learn on.

Any thoughts on material (stainless steel tubing), bending techniques/sequence, brazing rod, etc.

this seems like a good project to use as a learner/starter

thanks

that looks like it was the product of a standard tubing bender. Ridgid, Parker make the best ones, the Swagelock benders would be great but they make a very tight radius bends. I would think that 3/16 stainless would work fine. McMaster Carr sells some cheap welded stainless tubing which works well. You have to work a little harder to polish it. .028" wall would probably work fine, but it might be worth going a little thicker

I looked at the pictures. Looks like they would a simple built project (expecially give the rather spendy price they are quoting... wowsers). My real going in question is along the lines of "why". I am just not seeing what they would do to improve the riding experience or quality? They certainly aren't going to aid power transfer...so why bother?

They work with a build I am doing taking a '83 torpado that had been abused (outside no covering for years..took weeks to get the seat post off) and turning it into a simple "cafe race" bike. A cool look, simple (not straps), and add some foot positioning if I use the build as a fast commuter. And they look cool. An top it off with a simple no risk way to play with some basic skills ( I have done some silver smithing, sweat soldering copper plumbing pipes so I have some ideas of what is going on)

and of course they look cool

those are sweet looking but they have a big gaping hole in the center, I would like to see 2 more braces up front or wider braces instead of thin rods. I've been very happy with my sawed off plastic jobs but I know they are not slick looking

I have a Ridgid 3/16" 403 bender like this one on ebay. I waited around until I found one for a price I liked since it was not going to be used much. Small benders usually go for $40-$60 unless it's a swagelock in which $200 is not uncommon. I can't comment on the suitability of the triple benders (3 sizes of tubes) for this particular job, but the one I got from Harbor freight did a horrible job on 1/4" so I'm gonna say that they aren't worth bothering with. If you don't care too much about looks, it is functional. Bends are too ugly for me though.
Tubing I have been using for racks is type 304 welded stainless from Mcmaster.com In 3/16" you could look for 8989k16

I have looked at making those, though more like this, as I have those pedals:

http://brucegordoncycles.bigcartel.c...trapless-clips

The only tip I can think of is that as you bend tubing it is not symmetrical, the tailing piece tends to be parabolic. So it pays to make the bends starting from the inside, or outside, make 90 degree bends and join them. In this case I would probably make the bend at the top, to start with, then flip one for right, and one for left, then make the bends down to the pedal. Being able to bend left and right like that may affect the choice of bender.

I made my bender, and it works great. Another use for the mill table, though it is not required.

If you have a photo of it I'd like to see it. thanks, Brian

I have 1/4" SS tubing from aircraft spruce and it's pretty easy to bend it around a pipe or something else tubular if you're just making a couple of bends don't drop dollars on a bender for such a small project. My bends look really nice too, not a single kink or dimple. I'm almost done bending my copy of a gran-compe mini-rack for centrepull brakes. I'd buy a bender if I were making more than one rack or had plans to make a small run of racks. The aircraft spruce tubing is nicely finished already so it'll polish easy. I think these would be easier to make by hand bending anyway, it looks like it's just two operations. First bend you make a V-shape (a non-pointy V) and then bend that V around 3 or 4 inch piece of pipe until you get the curve that matches your boots. You can stick rods inside or slip another tube over the 1/4" tube to get the leverage you need to do the bends. I could probably knock these out pretty quickly once I got into a rhythm or by making a little jig.

If this is your first brazing project it might be harder to learn... brazing SS in small sizes is more challenging than regular steel in bigger sizes. Find a few scrap forks and cut the steerers up for some practise... I use steerers from the co-op's scrap bin since there usually isn't a lot (or any) paint on them. I'd do a few bigger joints before trying it on the small stuff.

the videos I've seen of the person from King making bottle cages looks like they are using home-made benders. I have some home made benders for larger radius bends, and you can also use pulleys to bend with. Hard to find pulleys that have a 'v' small enough for this project though.

Oh, ok. I understand now. Re-reading the thread today, I started thinking they would also look cool on a urban Mixte bike... might be enough to get the spouse to stop pedalling her single with the middle of her arches. Of course when I tried to convert her stoker role to clips and straps (SPD's failed badly with her as she forgot how to get out of them...) she tended to just put her feet up on the lateral bar (scuffing the paint, but not really reducing the team's power that much anyway). [;)