2 local shops....but on my side of the hill don't know if the mentor but may be fun looking at https://www.silvacycles.com/ and dale saso https://sasobike.com/

Well Santa brought me a jazzy 10 and it's way better than the regular gas lens that came with my CK torch. It seems to have two diffusers in it and I can run it with the same or even less gas than the CK No 8 (about 5 lpm = 10 cfh) and much more stickout. Seems just the right compromise for reaching into tight spots.

I never got one of these before because they are 3/32 electrode and I assumed I wanted 1/16 because if you aren't using 1/16 on 0.8mm wall stuff then what is it for? But I don't really know what the point of 1/16 is because 3/32 seems to work just fine on 0.8mm stuff.

You can use the Furick cups with a 1/16 tungsten, even though he doesn't recommend it. I ran 3/32 for a while, because I was switching back and forth between steel and aluminum and I didn't want to keep switching gas lenses and collets. I do prefer 1/16 for steel and I switched back to it for the last 2 steel frames.

guy153,

I am fashioning a simple jig for a fillet brazed frame for myself. I was considering ordering steel cones for BB, HT, and ST. After seeing your setup, I was wondering what materials your was made of. Some look like rubber barrel bungs, and wooden stoppers. Am I wrong? I like it either way.

Gearloose

They're all made of wood. If any are a darker colour it might because they're a bit burnt They hold up OK for TIG tacking, not sure how they'd work if you were using a gas torch. I've found a few pictures including the "lathe" on which I made them, the other component of which was me attacking the bit of wood with a 30-grit flapdisk on a grinder while it spun round in the drill. I drilled them first, then sawed them into a roughly conical shape roughly in line with the hole I'd drilled, and then spun and sanded.

I've found a few pictures. The one with a head-tube in it shows some extra large cones I had to make for that crazy fat tapered MTB head-tube. Those were bigger than my actual bits of wood (I think 2x4s or something) so I just glued some together to make a bigger piece and spun all that down as well. You can also see that there's a big home-made square washer behind the cone so the nut presses on it evenly. And my extremely fine 0.04 degree tolerance on the head angle for this long low slack MTB frame

I actually have a mini-lathe now so I could make some nice aluminium ones. But the wooden ones are actually fine and I've used them for 6 frames now.

That is awesome. I totally applaud that kind of ingenuity. Thanks for sharing that.

This thread reminds me I should get the taper attachment on my lathe working

I don't have a taper attachment for my lathe. I just turn the compound and crank it in and out by hand for short tapers like head tube cones.

Yes that's how I've always tapered things the one or two times I've done it. Didn't know there was such a thing as a taper attachment.

This is perfect for a taper attachment and the compound on my lathe is a bit annoying to use. I overstated the issue, I think it is actually working because I cleaned and lubed it recently. It's possible that there is a part that isn't installed, I'll have to try it and see. Stupid thing takes up quite a bit of space, so I might as well use it for its intended purpose.