Painting the metal drop outs.

My pal Lew Gardener kindly brazed up the rear drop outs for me again having also done the brazing on the bottom brackets and head tube fixings. It is a tricky job as there is a big difference in thickness of the drop out and the tubes. Also the alignment of the tubing had to be good to my wooden frame and not necessarily square and as there was no jig to hold it all in place we resorted to the method we devised on the plycycle mk1. This involved me offering up the rear stays and fitting the wheel with it all essentially loose. Then when I was happy with the alignment I tacked the metal parts together with tiny dabs of a super strong epoxy. This held the pieces in place until Lew could tack weld the components then burn off the epoxy. Not ideal but it worked. We bolted the drop outs onto an old axle and surprisingly they lined up perfectly together, my frame turned out remarkably true.

Drop outs tacked and ready to braze.

Drop outs all brazed up.

Drop outs primed.

Drop outs all sprayed and lacquered.

 So the next stage is a big one. Fix the back end of the frame together. The end is in sight, after the final structural bonding there is final shaping and sanding, fitting the cable guides and finish the seat post fixing then I can varnish and fit components........ Ooooooh so close.