Tuesday, June 2, 2009

The Stainless Report: XCr - 04

Yet another early morning stainless session. I couldn't resist any longer, I had to weld her. I checked Bella out on the surface plate to figure out my welding sequence, then set her up in the welding stand, fit her up with all of the purge fittings/heatsinks, sharpened my tungstens and laid some beads.

The XCr tubes welded like butter. Very clean and predictable. The seatstays were mighty thin but welded up fine nonetheless. Below are a couple of shots of the raw hedtube welds, still ragingly hot.


Upon completion of the welding of the main frame I checked her out on the alignment table and only found minimal distortion. I gave her a slight nudge and put her in the parts making area.

The next step is to cut the brake and chainstay bridges. That will have to be later. There are quite a few customer bikes that need welding.
It is here that Bella will rest until the next installment of: The Stainless Report.

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