imabeliever1

Currently, I am in the process of building a long wheelbase recumbent. This will be my forth build. Used a NOS 80's lugged frame for some parts and bought tubing from Aircraft Spruce. Low fuming bronze rod was used for all the fillet joints.

Now my concerns. When aligning the dropouts, one of the chain stay to dropout brazes cracked. FYI, I was using the factory braze joint here and it is a forged steel dropouts.
I rebrazed it and then thought it might be a good idea to re-braze all. Got a bit over anal at this point because of fatigue and hurrying . Ended up reheating the dropouts several times getting everything stuck together to my liking..

Now, my question, because of the multiple times each joint was heated , probably 3 heats each, are there likely to be cracking problems with the forged dropouts?

Second, I can get some mild steel dropouts cut at work. Am considering track style dropouts. If fitted to new stays, how deep should the slit be in the chainstays to receive the dropouts? Maybe 3/8" ??? Or ???


Thanks for your time,

JohnDThompson 

The dropouts can take it, but the tubing is another matter.