Laser sintered titanium disc mount dropouts with internal strengthening ribs(this is a cross section). Pretty far out!

On the outside..

Another angle.

I had to cut the crown race seat to fit the headset crown race. I did this in the big lathe in the machine shop. This Italian lathe has a double-vee bed, taper turning and high-speed reverse.

I used a 1″ collet in the collet chuck.

Carefully dialling in the cut.

My in-house-made fork blade bender made a nice smooth radius with no creases or marks.

It was easy to rake both blades to 50mm.

I had to be sure that both fork blades were the same length when they were pushed fully home into the crown sockets.

I marked a thin line to shave off with a file around the top of the blade. When the line is just invisible everywhere I stop filing.

Checking the blade is filed squarely.

I find it easy to use these adjustable parallels.

Here I can see that both sides match. I know that the rim is true and correctly dished.

This time I used my ever-evolving home made fork jig, but I now have all the parts to make a more permanent version in metal with built-in rulers/scales/graduations/thingies.

But this time I had the faffing with a height gauge and calculations.

Winding up the Myford vertical slide which holds the dummy front axle.

After brazing – a soak in the water tank and a quick sand it started to look like a fork. I will sand it up some more.

This is the package I bought from Transwave. The 3 phase motor is very small but kicks out 3/4 hp. It even has a large fan built into the back.

The soldering and wiring took a little while but the instructions were easy to follow.

The inverter with the cover back on. I have 3 phase power in the workshop but I decided that this single-phase to 3 phase inverter was cheap, sufficient and more flexible.

I bolted the inverter/VFD inside the old cast iron flypress stand. Out of the way. Think I’ll paint this grubby old stand up.

Next I drilled some mounting holes for the Ajax mill.

Here you can see the mill setup with the remote unit bolted to it. It has start, stop, forward, reverse and jog (inch) functions. The bottom knob is the motor speed control. The motor can be seen behind and will have a slotted plate to slide laterally to enable belt tensioning. Needless to say, that’s a Torch and File mitre cutter in the collet.

A sketch for a drawbar to fit my little horizontal mill. I’m going to make it on my trusty little Myford ML7 lathe.

Makin’ swarf on my 1957 lathe, “Peggy-Sue”. I totally rebuilt this old girl and she does come in handy for smaller work.

Chugging along happily via the powered leadscrew.

I cut it dry as it was a lead-bearing length of hexagon steel. It’s only a drawbar.

Bish bash bosh.
John advised me to leave loads of material on the hex end for when the threads wear out. Then I can just chop off that bit and cut some more thread. Now if I can find that die I’ll be in business..

The campsite in Frome, Somerset. I was the only person there. I got a bag of firewood and made a fire in the car wheel provided. During the night a field vole came and snuffled around me.

Andrew talked me through laying a nice fillet.

We spotted that I was bridging my fillet a bit, and we cured it there and then. Andrew has developed some techniques to get a smooth start and finish.

I managed to pull my bead tighter under instruction.

We covered tacking, making full fillets that can be filed easily if required, and recommended fillet throat depths.

It felt weird to be allowed to take time over my brazing!

Back to Skool.. I found it helpful to make notes and sketches.

This is the torch I used in the class.

Neat economiser setup.

A Gasfluxer puts flux into the acetylene so powder/paste flux is only needed where capillary joining is required.

It’s not all work, work, work.. An apprentice takes aim with a Nerf gun!

Quite a cool way to diffuse the frustrations of frame building.

The Academy offers cycle fit/sizing courses. Here lead weights are attached to the wheel rim of this sizing frame to more realistically simulate spin up and spin down. Resistance can also be adjusted.

There are lots of tubes in stock.

All the lugs, crowns and braze-ons a student could dream of.

This sight was familiar to me as I sanded tubes daily during my 10 months as Brompton’s Repair Brazer before I moved to production brazing.

A Sputnik Tool frame jig, like the one I’ve ordered. Except I’ve ordered more standoff on Andrew’s recommendation.

Academy Tools’ own frame jig is in development and should be available to buy soon.

A surface plate with stays and various bits ‘n’ bobs.

An evil Nerf gun lies menacingly on a fly press set up to dimple stays for chainring clearance.

Balance bikes made for children by students have been painted and will soon be enjoyed..

Be careful folks..

All the tools you’ll need.

Crowdfunded!

Africa bikes hang on the wall, each one made by a past student.

Staff and students chat by the kitchen/coffee area. I found it a really nice environment to learn in.

A student finishes his frame.

brazed inserts allow a 1 inch steerer to be used in a large diameter head tube. This allows for easier brazing without ovalising the downtube on the Africa bikes.

Another view of the workshop. Photos of some past pupils are stuck on the wall to the rear.

A pupil’s leaf design seatstay cap.

There were some interesting items and books on display.

Riding back to the campsite, there was a beautiful purple sky.

Frome is a lovely place to ride around. Even at night.

I got back to the tent just before dark.

Next morning, after a coffee in the town I rode out to Longleat. I saw these hops growing wild in a hedgerow.

It was a really fun descent to the house.

..Then a big climb out again after a visit to the cafe.

Should be good for another 70 years. It runs like a whisper and is very rigid.