Starting on rack building

I finally made the plunge and bought the equipment necessary to braze racks out of steel.  I spent a lot of time asking Alistair, framebuilding members, and random people at NAHBS what I should buy and finally ended up getting a Victor Superrange II.  The torch is a little bigger than ideal, but the price for the whole kit was a lot cheaper than putting together my own kit with good regulators and a smaller airplane torch.  The included regulator was also compatible with propane (I'm using Oxygen/Propane instead of the more common Oxygen/Acetylene).  I also bought a Ridgid 3/8" tubing bender, stocked up on files, and ordered a bunch of tubing from Aircraft Spruce.

The first project is a handlebar bag rack for my Trek road bike.  It has caliper brakes and I'm not crazy about the common designs for racks that would fit. 

Tonight I got home and built the platform:

It's not perfect, but it'll be perfectly functional.  I messed up when measuring the platform and was off by about 1/4" where it the two ends of the outer tubing join each other.  I brazed in a little filler piece of tubing to make it work.  The joint isn't perfectly smooth, but I think it'll be okay after I sand it out.  The perimeter of the rack is made out of 3/8" tubing because that is what works with my bender, but I'm using lighter 5/16" tubing elsewhere.  Click the picture to see more photos.

I'm excited about building some more and finishing up this.  I think my second project will be a good lowrider rack for my Bike Friday, the stock one is terrible.

Lessons learned so far:

  • Measure carefully when making the perimeter for a platform
  • The flux that Henry James sells is much nicer than what I picked up from the local welding store.  I can't wait for my HJ order to arrive.
  • Measure more carefully when trying to make things look balanced.  My middle-stay is slightly off center.

 

Published 13 March 2007 05:50 AM by AlexWetmore
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Comments

# billc said on 22 March, 2007 12:56 PM

I was about to email you about this very topic, based on your questions to the Frame forum, when i found this post. Making racks seems like a great entry into brazing bike parts (though still not cheap), and i'd like to give it a try too. Any info you can post on the equipment and experience will be very helpful. Thanks!

# Dan Goldenberg said on 22 March, 2007 02:40 PM

Hi Alex,

I'm curious what model ridgid tubing bender you ended up getting. I've long been interested in brazing racks, and already own an ancient Victor Oxy-Acetylene torch. I'd like to buy a good tubing bender and was looking at the various ridgid ones and they make several 3/8 inch ones.

Thanks!

# Justin Miller said on 26 March, 2007 12:49 PM

Alex:

Thank you for the blog post.  When you said on one of the lists that you were going to learn brazing I thought to myself that we would all benefit from your experiences.  Now I see that I was right.

How are you going to mount the rack to your bike with caliper brakes?

Justin

# AlexWetmore said on 17 April, 2007 08:53 AM

Dan: I'm using the Ridgid 506 tubing bender.  The Swagelok bender for 3/8" is another good choice.

Justin: The rack mounts behind the brake caliper using a small piece of plate that sticks up and bends forward.  

# AlexWetmore said on 17 April, 2007 08:55 AM

Bill: I'll do a followup entry showing the tools that I'm using for rack building and giving a cost breakdown.  It isn't cheap, but it is cheaper than building frames and also more approachable due to the lower material costs and the shorter build times.