After having a bout of migraine the whole day, I slowly did my overdue list of to-do's. I get weaker when I remain in bed, but I didn't risk working today and instead opted to be within reach of my comfort. It was already past 12MN that I finally recovered somewhat, which gave me ample time to get up and weld the spacers on to the die. The previous setup had the shaft bending to the enormous pressure generated by the 12-ton jack. I should have used tool instead of mild. Drat.. still, wanting to salvage what I already have I made two .825 inch spacers to accommodate that space in between the jack base and the die.
Didn't care much that it was well past midnight as my grinder whined away to reveal the bare metal underneath all that cover. This is to prepare it for a clean weld. Can't weld on paint. Can't weld on rust. Has to be clean. Using acetone for the tungsten and welding rod as well so as not to contaminate the weld. Using the shaft as guide to hold the spacers in place, I was cautious to warp the metal and made beads 90* apart and around. I figured if there was a part that would certainly budge here it would be the shaft. True enough. But again, having to make another would mean the bender only getting stronger for its use.
Here are the twins after. Two tube clamps - one shorter, which was the reject, and another longer. Although its a reject in this instance because it doesn't fit the .125" configuration. I could definitely use it for smaller tubes. Fits just right in the setup. A couple more things I need are the tension springs I called in for this morning. The email about the product line including the compression springs for the custom springers I was CAD-ing in the computer were supposed to be sent, but I didn't get any, which means more follow up calls tomorrow. Also found a supplier of stainless steel seamless tubes, not pipes, thankfully. I thought I was gonna be stuck with having to use schedule pipes in making the frames and forks. Worried about it being covered in soot and rust, as pipes do tend to get rusted. One small speck in the weld and the contamination would spread all over inside, and one day while doing the ziggies in Marilaque the neck of the frame snaps off.. you get the point.For now the finished bender is clearly already visible in the horizon. What sets the shop apart is its idea of building bikes from the tool up. No hurries. Just following the right way of doing things.
