Two part reply---

Brian- I just sanded down (I have a belt sander) the nails' diameters as needed to fit tight in the ST and loose in the seat stays. Then tapped the pins into the ST lug and could slide on and off the stays during my mitering of the drop out ends.

What did I find out? Not too much, but there is a bit more slop in how the stays are held in place. I think securing the pins (or the "fitting" version) in the stays might be a better way. Certainly this is what I'm more use to.

All-- I think I'm done with the brazing steps of my frame. This weekend I added the bridges, BB cable tunnels and rack mounts. I felt my old self with smooth mitering, no surprises in set ups and the brazings went quite well. Next up is some final filing/sanding, the machining steps, aligning and the drinking of the beer while I wonder how I'd do it differently the next time and how the paint will go.

I'll dangle a nuget in that since I started this frame I have added to my alignment tooling and changed the process. So stay tuned.

Here's a shot of the BB shell cable tunnel braze on jig that I made, in use on this frame. Andy.