I say almost because there is one task remaining - to re-shape the headtube which distorted during brazing - but more on this later!
So the first task was to add the "braze ons" to the frame, this includes the bottle mount bosses and cable guides.
Clearly in order to add the bottle bosses I would need to drill holes in the tubes - I'm not sure how established frame builders do this - whether they do it before brazing the frame together or not I guess is the question. I decided that I didn't know to a sufficient degree of accuracy where I wanted the bottle bosses before brazing the front triangle together - as such I ended up having to drill the holes after brazing.
This wasn't too much of an issue but I did need to purchase a special 90 degree attachment for my cordless drill to enable me to get in to the tight spaces - see pic below:
As it happens this worked a treat with my trusty stepper drill, after centre punching and centre drilling pilot holes first.
In order to position the holes I just taped bottle cages onto the frame where I wanted them and marked the rough centre with a permanent pen - job done!
So with the holes in the frame (and in the correct positions) it was time to braze them in - I think this was possibly the easiest and most satisfying job I have done yet on the frame build - they essentially brazed themselves on - all it takes is a bit of heat and the rod just capillaries into the gap - job done.
Next up was to fettle and hand finish each brazed joint and fill any pitts with new braze and re-fettle etc etc.
The finished (except for one final final polish scheduled for this weekend coming) brazed joints can be seen below.
And finally for a full shot of the frame.....
As described earlier, next up is to straighten the head tube and then carryout one final joint fettle and polish and then she will be going off to Brian Rourke cycles to be painted.
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