I'm considering buying a used frame that has numerous braze-ons that I have no use for and since I hate the color, I'd be repainting it anyway. Is there anything I should know before putting a torch to the frame?

I would consider grinding and filing (very carefully) rather than putting the tubes through another heat cycle. Especially if they're adhered with brass instead of silver.

I appreciate the input as I was wondering about that. I like the idea of getting them hot and just popping them off as this would be a lot of grinding. It's a basic double-butted 4130 frame, nothing super thin, if that matters. The coaster tab, pump peg, and 3-speed cable guides would all go.

Take the paint off first and see if you can tell whether it's brass or silver. If it's silver, you might be able to do it without much damage. Use some vise-grips to hang some weight on the piece, then carefully and evenly heat it up until it drops off. Use a soft flame and don't let it get to red. You'll still have some residual silver to sand down, but a lot less than grinding and filing the whole thing.

I'm trying to decide if it's all worth it. I wonder how long it'd take with a die grinder?

depends on how good you are with a die grinder. I use a hacksaw and then a file. Depending on the braze on, of course. If the braze on doesn't have a lot of contact area with the tube, you can concentrate the heat on the braze on and not put much heat at all into the tube. But it looks like most of the ones on that bike are going to be hard to get off that way. And it's possible they are welded, in which case you will destroy the frame using heat to remove them.

My first thoughts were to reconsider if removing the braze ons is really in your best long term interest. We get a new toy and have all kinds of new dreams about how we're going to use it. Then time, changes in our lives and the very real possibility of another new toy entering our stable (and juggling the bike's marching orders) happens. I don't know how many times I've wished I either had left on or had added to begin with braze ons after the frame was painted, often a bike later.


If one must remove braze ons I strongly agree with Eric. A hack saw and file. will do FAR less damage then a die grinder. If one has to ask about this one doesn't have the experience to handle said grinder in a manor that prevents damage possibility. I resort to heat rarely but do use it sometimes. No matter what I use I will have to file and sand the, now, razed spot. Often there will remain a visual evidence of where the bit had been located, a slight depression (especially if brass was used) and or ripple to reflections. Of course if powder coating is to be done this will help hide that. Rarely I have had to drop a spot of silver onto where the braze on had been to fill what was the resulting surface after removal.


Here's a shot of a drop out being pulled with a vice grip as the weight. Note the tether to control where the hot drop out falls to (as in away from my OA hoses).


Also here's a link to a Flicker album with my tandem having many braze ons removed and installed with some text for each shot. https://www.flickr.com/photos/731955...57676883117315 Andy.

Wow, that's quite the labor there. For some reason, brazing on a couple things always seems like a little job in my head, but all the "little jobs" I have in my head always take 2-3 times as long (and twice as many trips to the hardware store) as I predicted.

I consider doing frame repair much like roofing repair work. The newbie sees a small hole through the shingles and makes all kinds of plans/assumptions with this view. Then the shingles are removed at the hole, then the underlying sheathing is found to be bad so more shingles come off. Then the sheathing is removed and one finds the rafters are rotted. by the time all is done and over the little 4" hole has become a 10' area of new shingles and all.


The current frame repair i'm doing, posted on C&V ( https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...h-score-3.html starting at post 64) is such an example. Andy.

Appreciate the input guys.

And position the work over a bucket of water, so when the hot piece falls off, it lands in the water.

Concentrate the heat on the braze-on, not the tube.

While the silver is still molten, take a wire brush and simply brush off as much as you can. Often you'll find very little left to file off when it cools.

Is the consensus that using a torch isn't the best idea?

Torch isn't the first choice. But can be a good one depending on the situation. Andy.