Checking back in. Over the past 2 weeks, I spent a week in California for work so, today was my first day where I was able to spend much time in the shop.
Not really related to this project, I experimented with Phosphoric Acid to clean off surface rust after soaking the flux off. I had a conversation with another builder who gave me some tips on how to use phosphoric acid to get rid of rust during the building process so that was a good jump forward in making it nicer to work with a partially built frame or fork.
Also not really related, I have been following threads on propane/oxygen concentrators and have been patiently waiting for a concentrator to show up on Craigslist. An estate auction house listed something and I won the bid at $52! I brought it home and plumbed it into my OA set up to test it and it works wonderfully. I ordered up an elbow and TEN-5 tip to go on my Victor 100 torch. I also ordered arresters and propane regulator. I estimate that I'm into the set up for around $200 not including the torch handle and hoses. I will be using propane/Oxygen with the big torch/tip for crowns, lugs, and plug dropouts. Fillets, I think, will be better with A/O and smaller tip. I'm amazed at how well the propane set up works. I don't know if it's the bigger tip (previously, my biggest tip with O/A was a Victor #3) or propane heating properties but, the following CS joints were a breeze! I also did some testing flowing brass into a sleeve an immediately had my best results yet. I was able to flow brass about 40mm down a .058" walled sleeve without any burning or external flowing of brass. Again, it could just be that a bigger tip makes the difference. My Acetylene tank is too small to drive anything bigger than a #3.
On to recent progress!
I have decided to do the fillet finish work to fill in short time spots in the shop. I'm realizing there is a lot of finish work to do!
Top tube is done, downtube needs work:
Seat cluster/top tube:
Aligning the rear end with a known good wheel.
I got them all tacked and aligned, brazed and chased:
Then I put a dummy headset in and some wheels to see where I was.
Then I started working on the seatstays:
The cut stays, with pre-forms for brazing. Need to clean them up and they are ready to go.
Three day weekend. Might have them done by Tuesday!