Got the forks painted again. The tire fits without rubbing so I'm ready to put the bike on the road except I can't find the locknut for the headset. :confused:

Its laying around somewhere. I'm having one of those senior moments but if I can't find it I may just make one on the lathe. The threads are 1x24 so that shouldn't be a problem.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1690151428.jpg

I found the locknut. For a long time I've wanted to try sand casting so this is a good excuse to experiment and the only way to learn is to try it.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1691203533.jpg

I got a Folgers can full of brass scrap; 22 cartridge casings, old VW valve guides, and bits of plumbing. A bag of play sand from Home Depot and a jug of kitty litter.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1691203996.jpg

I'm just winging it. I took about a cup of kitty litter and crushed it into a powder and mixed it with a amount of sand. I added enough water to make it damp and tamped it around that bit of brass round bar that I used as a form. The mold is sitting outside drying. I don't want any moister in it when I do the pour.

Going to do the melt tomorrow.

progress

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1691277184.jpg

Did not burn the shop down :)

dum dee dum..

didn't catch on fire

no steam explosions so my mold was dry enough

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1691277502.jpg

lessons learned

need finer sand, and more kitty litter or some other, more effective binder

I now have a lump of brass that I can work on.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1691278218.jpg

Damn Otto... Wow, cool :)

I was really wondering if this was a good idea today...

My brother made a set of tongs out of rebar to move the iron pipe cap that I used for a crucible. The cap was glowing cherry red. Its his furnace so he did most of the work.

Iron glows cherry red at 1900 F and brass melts at 1700 F so that was my touchstone on the temps inside.

I wore a long sleeve shirt and my steel toe boots and gloves.. just in case I had to do something if something went haywire.

Jobst, Peter Johnson and Tom Ritchey, Star Hill Rd, Santa Cruz Mountains, 1982

(I was 17 when this photo was taken)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1691358046.jpg

Look at the headtube on that frame!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1691633157.jpg

I skipped a pic of my first cut on the diameter and the drilling and tapping the center hole. Here I'm cutting the flats. I've never done this before so I made a few mistakes but nothing big enough to have to start over.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1691633358.jpg

Back on the lathe. Now I get to teach myself how to cut threads.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1691994083.jpg

I got a new skill under my belt. Thats always a nice thing. I had some aluminum round bar stock with a slot laying around so I cut off a half inch to experiment with. I may as well make a nut out of aluminum now that I have the threads cut.

Nice work Otto. You guys make me feel so unskilled.

There is a lot of good "how to" vids on youtube. When my door handle broke on my Suburban I found a step by step guide on how to fix it on Youtube.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1692149514.jpg

Finished the aluminum locknut. It works as good as the original Shimano 105 locknut I have.

Its time to put the 4 jaw chuck back in the lathe and finish the brass part.

Nice work!

Just because (not my photo or bike).

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1692990791.jpg

Otto... Trust me champ. You'll like this.

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Finally took the new to me Green Gilmour out for a ride. Its bee sitting around the living room for a while. I rode it to coffee once and had some problems. Those got fixed; bars too narrow and stem too long.

The weather was perfect. The only thing left is I need to get decals. It rides nice. Not like a new modern carbon fiber bike with electronic shifting and disc brakes but still pleasant. I have 32mm tires so there is something to take the bumps.



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1739755499.jpg