Decking About

I haven't had a great deal of time in the last few weeks to work on the facile. My time has been spent on other stuff, mostly making the most of some good weather to crack on with my lovely wife's new deck. I've also been working on Tweed Pete's new saddle and painting some pinstripes for him. In addition, fellow quiz member Brian asked me to make him a temporary doohicky to turn his fully suspended MTB into a hard tail whilst he gets a replacement for the rear shock. None of it is hugely time consuming but it all adds up.

To recap, I'm trying to capture the style of an early 1890's saddle. Here are a few examples of what I mean with the dates of the publication I found the illustration contained in.

 Cyclist Annual  and Year Book 1892.

Cyclist Annual  and Year Book 1892.

Cyclist Annual  and Year Book 1893.

The Cyclist Year Book 1894.

The Cyclist Year Book 1894.

Pete came up trumps with some copper rivets, exactly the right size and easy on the wallet at only 9c each. They are designed for installing new brake or clutch linings on large vehicles. I'm going to buy a few spares whilst I can. The two side rivets on the nose were quite hard to set, the deep flaps made it hard to get in to head the rivets. I ended up making a device to squeeze rather than hammer them.

Knackered Wright's saddle.

Replacement Knight's saddle showing the 

fabulous new stamp that I forgot to mention ages ago now.

Another gratuitous photo.

The steps used are previously documented here and here when I made the saddle for the facile.

I broke my mill this week. The casting at the top of the column became loose on the column. This happened gradually, I couldn't understand why my cuts seems to be varying regardless of the dial settings. The casting is glued with Loctite to the column and the repair, once I'd identified the problem, was relatively easy. I simply heated the casting with a torch to destroy the remaining Loctite bond and then wiggled it off, a very good clean up and then re glue with some fresh Loctite. It appears to be OK now. The original Loctite has only lasted 37 years, I'll have to have a word with Dad about his workmanship.


In other news, my cycling has suffered since the bridge over the Ashley River has shut. All the good local cycling is the other side of the river, this side is the Canterbury Plains, flat, straight, boring roads. In desperation to find a hill to ride, I rediscovered the joy of riding a road bike on gravel roads. It can be a little hit or miss but at this time of year the roads are usually damp which keeps the dust down and often have a super smooth strip where vehicle tyres run. This strip is often smoother than the usual coarse chip of the sealed roads. I fondly imagine it is similar to how the Victorian cinder velodromes rode with a narrow, very smooth racing line.

Things get interestinger

Apart from optional extras such as the rear mudguard and a few other minor parts, I only need to make the driving gear to complete the bike. I've been looking forward to this bit for ages, most of the hard stuff is behind me and the bulk of the remainder is straightforward machining, I even have most of the steel I need. The only parts I'm still trying to work out how to make are the levers. Being hollow, elliptical, tapered and bent, they present an interesting challenge to make strong enough and yet still reasonably light. They will be the last parts to get made, I may as well finish on a high. But all in due course.

First I'm going to make the cranks and planet gear assembly. These parts are the heart of this wonderful little machine. I've had a good long think about this assembly over recent months and I've planned the order of machining so that that everything fits properly, the gears line up, are correctly spaced and both sides are equidistant from the centre line. This isn't trivial as I'll try to illustrate over the next few weeks.

One of the things I still need to determine is how I'm going to attach my cranks to the live axle. This is another case where every example I have seen has used a different method. The original I am copying has both cranks screwed to the live axle and then locked in position with taper pins. Others I have seen use Renouf's patent wedge, modern cotter pins and taper pins with a split axle. I need to investigate taper pins to see if I can get hold of a suitable reamer. Taper pins were extensively used to secure collars and pulleys to shafts back in the day, properly made and installed, they do not come free. More later.

The first part is to make the adjustable bearing cones for the live axle and the planet gear.

When I measured and photographed the original bike I didn't realise that these are interchangeable and I diligently measured each one separately. These will be made from 4140 chromoly and nitrided as with all the other bearing surfaces. As usual here is a pictorial list of the various machining processes to make them.

First drill and bore the hole to the tapping size for 5/8" cycle thread.

Then tap the bore. My father gave me a full set of cycle thread taps and dies some years ago. 

It's his fault that I've ended up like this.

Machine the bearing surface at 45 degrees to start with...

...before using a form tool to complete the shape.
Polish and part off. Repeat.

Then make a small threaded arbor for the next job. 

I used a collet chuck for this so I could ensure easy concentricity when taken off and remounted on the dividing head.

 I only have two collets, I wish I had a full imperial set, they are jolly useful.

Using the same highly contrived setup as before  when machining the locking slots.

In other news, work on my lovely wife's deck is progressing. I've called in a few favours this weekend to get the post holes dug. I simply can't do hard manual digging any more, my back lets me know very firmly that it is not happy and it wants me to stop. Unfortunately the rain has been persisting down again and work has had to stop. We got 11 out of the 15 holes dug, these are now full of water and dangerously hidden. The deluge has caused a lot of damage locally and nationally and one landslip proved fatal when it destroyed a house. My lovely wife failed to get to work as the flood has removed a necessary bridge and I've restricted myself to riding the motorbike in daylight hours as many roads are flooded and unlit. We are due for an Antarctic blast later this week. If it snows and I can't get to work I'll be forced to work from home <cough> shed </cough>.

Also, Tweed Pete's new saddle is coming along, I've worked out a quicker method of making the laminated wooden block. Pete has lots of useful contacts and I recently had a riveting conversation with him. I've run out of genuine Brooks rivets so I needed a local supply. I gave Pete the important dimensions and asked him to see what he could do.

The Brake Lever

I was supposed to be working on the new deck for my lovely wife this week. However rain stopped play so I've been forced to take shelter in my shed and inconvenience some bits of steel. Sigh.

As appears to be usual with the surviving examples of these bikes, of those that still have their original brakes, they all differ slightly. This shedweek I've been fabricating the brake lever based upon photos of originals and the tracing of a casting taken from an original.

As with the spoon last week, the lever is made from Bisalloy 80, first job is to mark the plate based upon the outline of the tracing from the casting. The lever is quite  broad, something that I would not necessarily have picked up on from photos alone.

Then chop out the shape and rough file it, also drill the two holes at this point. 

I forgot to mention last time, but when I was drilling the spoon pivot, I didn't clamp the work to the drill table. I just held it with my fingers. Bisalloy 80 is relatively tough to drill and it picked up and spun the blank around. I got some reasonably good cuts from that experience. I didn't repeat it this week.

The next job is to bend the lever to match the handlebar profile. 

I used a round form tool and a G clamp to apply measured pressure until I had the shape I wanted. It required considerable force to bend which is reassuring given it's purpose.

The next bit to fangle is the thumb grip at the end of the lever. Brake levers on bike with T grips are often designed to be operated with the thumb only. This is the case with the geared facile, so I made a little wooden mock up to work out the correct placement for the lever and my right thumb. That's the beauty of bespoking a bike for yourself, you get to make it a very good fit.

Wooden mockup to get the correct placement of the thumb grip.

Then I need to bend a section of bar stock to approximate the 3D shape of the grip. I happened to have a piece of square section that was roughly the right size. This was clamped firmly in the vice and then twisted and pulled with a long length of tube until I could see the lever contained inside it.

Long thick wall pipes are your friend when bending stuff.

Then get busy with the files. First the outer profile...

... and then the inner profile. 

I actually used a carbide burr in an air die grinder to remove the bulk of the material. 

The curve inside the lever made it tricky to file.

Then mount on a suitable jig and take it to Tweed Pete to weld on for me. 

At the same time I asked him to build up a blob of steel for the return spring screw bulge.

Then clean up the lever to grip transition and make the bulge look presentable.

(Gets harder to do this as you get older)

the rear side of the bulge is machined to locate a spring and screw, it's quite elegant really.

Next make the return spring. A good tip if you need to buy a small amount of spring steel is to go to your local hardware shop and harvest a suitably sized paint scraper. You do get a few odd looks when you take a micrometer in and measure the thickness of the steel. This particular one has a tapered blade as an added bonus. Unless you want to go down the anneal, cut, re harden and temper route you need to grind the blade to shape and that includes the hole. I used my Dremel, I love my Dremel. Finally bend around a mandrel by hand to achieve the desired profile and spring rate.

I can recycle the handle for a file.

The screw is made to fit neatly into the recess so that there are no sharp edges 

to catch clothing when bent over, slogging up a steep hill.

In other news, I've received my first commission for a new saddle top. It's in return for all the welding that Pete has been doing for me. He's building a spiffy new 27" double top tube racer and he needs a suitably old fashioned saddle. Foolishly he's given me free rein to do as I please. I'm going for a late 1890's look based on a much more recent Wrights frame. I'll be sure to let you know how it works out. I'm going to do two at the same time as I have a need for a saddle of the same era.

The Spoon Brake

I've spent this shedweek making the spoon. Of the various original geared faciles that I've personally seen, I've yet to find one with it's original brake. Even the one I am copying has a modern replacement, it's just a rough casting that still requires finishing. I've seen a few others that look like they are made from the same casting but never an original. So this week I have been in touch with a well known collector from the States who has owned two originals and still has one of them. I discovered that he is the source of the castings that I've been finding scattered around the planet. He had them cast using one of his originals as a pattern. He also very kindly sent me some good clear photos of how his looks when mounted. My lever will be slightly different since I have the deep drop bars but I can adapt the style to suit. I was also interested to discover that his estimate for the total surviving number of geared faciles is only 12+ worldwide. In return for all of this information, I've promised to send him a scan of an original 1885 Ellis & Co. brochure from my own archive.

When I measured the original bike I traced the outline of the lever and spoon even though they weren't original parts. This was fortunate since they were cast from originals and so are accurate (if slightly too small) to copy. What I wasn't sure on was how the lever and spoon interacted, the photos cleared this up. Choice of material is important when making these parts. Even though you are only applying hand pressure, the force at the spoon, due to mechanical advantage, is considerably (3 times in this case) higher. I'm pretty confident that I could bend mild steel of this gauge with 3 times my hand force. I searched around for some higher tensile plate that would take the force, I ended up buying some 1/4" Bisalloy 80 (roughly 3X yield strength of mild steel) mostly because the local supplier had some offcuts and it was cheap. Except when I got it home I found it was 6mm. Unless I use shims I'll have that authentic brake rattle common to most antique bicycles.

First mark out the shape of the spoon using the original as a pattern and roughly cut it out. Then drill the pivot hole. Bisalloy 80 is hard to drill, the manufacturer recommends cobalt drills. I just used HSS at a lower speed and it was OK. Then assemble and mark where the spoon will sit so that it contacts the tyre with as much surface area as possible.

The spoon itself is made from a scrap piece of thick wall water pipe.

Make a jig to hold it all in the right place...

...and take it to Tweed Pete to weld up. 

I asked him to build up a decent fillet so that...

...I could then dress it off and make it look organic and beautiful. 

Like melted cheese or something.

Then make the top pivot pin, this is machined in the lathe from a high tensile bolt and then the upright is shaped so that it sits at the correct angle relative to the lever. This angle is important, the angle when it is in the off position should be the same as the angle in the on position relative to the brake lever it passes through.

Reuse the same jig and take it back to Pete...

...to get it welded up. The thread is just used to hold it in the jig.

A stunningly bad photo of the finished spoon in situ.

Next week I'll start on the lever itself. It's a little more complicated than the spoon.

In other news, I was riding the motorbike to work this morning. Taking a right hand bend into a T junction when, accompanied by a loud report, the rear tyre parted company with the rim. As you can imagine this is not an ideal situation to be in when leant over on two wheels on a frosty morning. For safety reasons, I tend to prefer my tyres to be firmly attached to my rims. By sheer skilliance I was able to not fall off. I pushed the bike home, changed my underpants and then had to spent the morning running around like a blue arsed fly trying to get the tyre replaced. It's an odd size (of course). Unfortunately this time I can't blame Mr. Middleton for my two wheeled misadventure.

I've also lashed out on some modern riding gear. I last bought a motorcycle jacket when I was 17, a long time ago. I still think it's the height of fashion, an opinion not shared by my children. Or my lovely wife. This new one has all sorts of body armour and such like contrivances to assist your comfort level when sliding down the road. My wimp glands decided it may be prudent to invest in suchlike technology.

The bike has been causing me some trouble just lately, first new chain and sprockets, then new front tyre, then the starter motor packed up and now this. I'm having to bump start every day since I'm still waiting for a moron on Trademe to send me a replacement starter motor but that's a story for another day...

Road Trip

America is quite a big place you know. I know this to be true because over a period of two and a half weeks I dragged the extended whanau around California and Nevada in a big van.

A big van last week.

Since we live in New Zealand and all other family members live in England we consulted a globe and decided that California is roughly midway. About a hundred years ago I spent time working in various parts of America but I'd never been to the west coast. Well goodness me, isn't San Francisco a pleasant city? I was very taken with the place and it's people, a view probably enhanced by the kindness shown to us by a local wheelman. I would like to publicly thank Christian Wignall and his family for going out of their way to make us feel welcome and entertained.

Almost as soon as we arrived I had been loaned an 1888 New Rapid for a guided tour of the area. New Rapids have a well deserved reputation as high quality machines and I was very excited to have the chance of an extended ride.

Christian with some wonderful engineering and a big bridge in the background.

Christian has done extensive research into the company and he had published this a few years ago in the Veteran Cycle Club journal. I thought that I recognised the name. An online version is available here, I urge you to take a look.

The next day Christian took me to meet Greg Barron of Rideable Bicycle Replicas. I needed to buy some tyring (or tiring since I bought the US system) and Greg was very happy to give us a tour of his workshop and his collection of antique bikes.

Greg's unique storage solution.

Whilst there I was pleased to be introduced to a few other wheelmen.

Greg Barron, some other bloke, Christian Wignall & Mike Walker.

Later we drove down to Half Moon Bay to visit Jack Castor and his amazing collection. I had briefly met Jack once before and it was good to renew his acquaintance.

Shite and Briny the next day we picked up the van and started the road trip. Highlights in no particular order would have to include.

Yosemite National Park, all of it. 

We stayed here for a few days and did and saw many exciting things.

Black bears, a mother and her cub just a hundred meters or so away. 

Quite close enough thank you very much.

Yosemite does waterfalls very well indeed. This is Vernal Falls.

Snakes and lizards, my son was in heaven, my lovely wife less so. 

This dinosaur was *this* big.

White water farting. 

Ghost Towns in the desert.

Death Valley, what a fascinating place! We stayed the night at the aptly named Furnace Creek, being spring it was only a mere 115F (46C). I was pleased to find an early example of Mr Starley's tricycle balance gear on an 1894 steam tractor. More massive but just the same technology.

How do you differentiate between different differentials?

Dried up and not quite so dried up salt lakes, the most famous being Mono lake. 

Ducks float ridiculously high in the water.

A helicopter flight into the Grand Canyon. It really is a very big hole indeed, so big that our feeble minds can't really comprehend the scale even when you are there staring at it and you know the statistics.

The Colorado river is a mile below us.

Riding over the Golden Gate Bridge. Christian once again assisted us with a loan of a bicycle each and also acted as our tour guide. Later we had a personal tour of all the really steep streets in San Francisco that they don't put in the guide books. Not on bicycles I might add.

The cable car museum, my son and I spent a very happy afternoon here. We now understand how the cable cars can cross other cables. Of course we immediately had to go out into the street and find examples of all the engineering solutions we had just seen described.

My idea of heaven.

Meanwhile my lovely wife took my daughter shoe shopping. I had failed to warn the shoe shops in advance but I think the staff coped reasonably well. Details are unclear at this stage of the volume purchased but I've found at least two new pairs in her shoe room.

Because the light is better in my workshop, that's why.

Las Vegas, not my cup of tea I'm afraid. I tapped a bronze statue outside Caesar's Palace to discover it was fibreglass. Pretty much sums the place up.

Outdoor Escalators. Seriously?

Normal service will resume next week.