Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Frames are back from powder coating

After many changes we decided to go with an off white.   Unfortunately the shop was out of off white so we went with the basic white.  We are very pleased with the outcome.  Aside from a few blemishs the frames look great.  Next we are going to paint the lugs, clear coat the frame, and then put the stickers on.  So very excited about moving closer to being able to install parts.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Still Cleaning up the Frames

This part of the frame build is more daunting than we thought.  You can always find another blemish.  Plus you have the fact that we are not the best brazers thus leaving huge globs of silver and brass to knock down. 

However over the past few weeks we are starting to develope some good techniques.  First off getting an entire file kit is a good idea.  That way you have everything from big files to little files and assorted coursenesses. 

The little files also come in handy for those little hard to reach spots that your fingers can't get to.  Wrapping the file in whatever grit sandpaper or emory cloth proves most useful in reaching those tight spots. 

Patience is important.  Find a spot and don't loose focus on it until you are done with it.  It's hard to do when you feel like you are making no progress on that spot.  As you can see below eventually it starts to change slowly but surely.

Also don't loose your cool and take some kind of power tool like a dermel or drill to the spot.  You can use a dermel but be careful not to go down into the metal too far.  You will create ruts that take forever to fix.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Sanner Cycles Video

Dan from Thrillist Magazine came by Tim's shop to shot a quick video. 

***Video of Tim's Shop***

Monday, August 30, 2010

FRAMES DONE!!!

Finally at the end of the day as we are coverd in dirt and metal shavings the frames are done. 

They don't look like much now but they are strong, solid, straight, and ready to be prepped for painting.  Once we have filed and sanded off all the clumps of silver and brass we left on the frames and smoothed everything out we will bring the frames back to Tim's shop for powder coating.

Day 4 - Finishing the frame build

The frames are very close to done.  Today we are going to add the braze-ons for the water bottle cages, cable stops, the rear brake calipar, and Katrina's rack mounts. 

Since my bike is more of a racing geometry I opted not to have the rack mounts.  I am also only getting two water bottle cages. 

Katrina's bike is going to be more for road biking and some light touring so her frame will have 3 water bottle cages and rack mounts. As mentioned before has more tire clearance.
Also because the heat has caused the tubes to shrink slightly we then had to ream out the seat post tube to make sure the seat post would fit.

We also took a break to challenge Tim to a game of ping pong before finishing our bikes.  He slaughter me 4 to 21 but Katrina managed to lose by one point. 

Day 3 - Braze braze braze

On the third day we finally get a reprieve with the weather.  With temps in the triple digits last weekend we had a nice little nip in the air bringing temperatures down to the mid nineties which made the temperature perfect in the shop. 

Today we have to braze all the lugs we tacked with exception of one, the seatpost lug.  That is a tough braze and we need to have everything else done before hitting that.

Because the need for our braze to get all the way into the joint and under each lug we used silver on these sections.  Silver is tons more expensive than brass but it's easier for us novices to use so Tim has us use silver on most of the frame.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Ordering Paint

Today we ordered the paint for the bike.  Even though we are having Tim's painter powder coat the bikes we wanted to make it look custom.  So we decided to paint all the lugs in an emerald green.  Tim told us that "1 shot paint" is excellent for doing that.   We can brush on the paint and then heat it and it will smooth out and look professional. 

In addition to that we ordered some metallic silver paint to outline the lugs.

After that we ordered some holographic metal flakes to mix with the green paint.