Frame building?

rick81721 said:
Haha I think just buying one is the way to go. On the 2 year frame welding school - isn't that kind of like taking a 2 year course to learn how to build 1990s desktop computers?
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Once you know how to Fab and understand tempering and shit it's just take these dims and lay down some metal
 
mattybfat said:
When @jimvreeland lands he can chime in on his experience with brew bikes class. I think he still rides rusty.
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I'm under the impression you cannot learn to build a frame without a class of some kind. There's too much that goes into it to just noodle around with a welder and get something rideable. For $1200 the class is well worth it, especially if you commute to class through the Blue Ridge everyday like I did.
 
jimvreeland said:
I'm under the impression you cannot learn to build a frame without a class of some kind. There's too much that goes into it to just noodle around with a welder and get something rideable. For $1200 the class is well worth it, especially if you commute to class through the Blue Ridge everyday like I did.
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Maybe years ago. I took a class in 2009 and between the costs of the class, travel and time (1 week) I wish I could go back to the start and just bought a welder first. At the class I coped the tubes, made a disc tab out of 1/4" plate, and set everything up into the fixture which was not that hard. Geometry and tube choices I already knew. The welding was not done by me so I never felt I really built a bike frame (and I have never built that frame up or ridden it). I've been TIG welding for the last 7 or so years as a hobby and have done various items on my Land Rover restore including making steering components, building a full SS exhaust, rebuilding a bulkhead that should have been scraped, and reparing aluminum sheet on many body panels (hard as hell!). I could build a frame but my friend that took that class with me is a fabricator with much much better skills that I work with him for anything I want to ride. His attention to detail is amazing, his welds have little to no HAZ and the frames come out straight as an arrow.

Search IG on the #tigweld #framebuilding #framejig and follow the good builders like @strongframes (and see who he follows).

On my search the kid from Cobra Framebuilding came up on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBIJI-omNmRdt_4LsF-2PrA

I haven't looked at all the vids but sampled a few and he has some very good information. I would say watching his videos would teach you more than I learned in the class I took.
 
don said:
Maybe years ago. I took a class in 2009 and between the costs of the class, travel and time (1 week) I wish I could go back to the start and just bought a welder first. At the class I coped the tubes, made a disc tab out of 1/4" plate, and set everything up into the fixture which was not that hard. Geometry and tube choices I already knew. The welding was not done by me so I never felt I really built a bike frame (and I have never built that frame up or ridden it). I've been TIG welding for the last 7 or so years as a hobby and have done various items on my Land Rover restore including making steering components, building a full SS exhaust, rebuilding a bulkhead that should have been scraped, and reparing aluminum sheet on many body panels (hard as hell!). I could build a frame but my friend that took that class with me is a fabricator with much much better skills that I work with him for anything I want to ride. His attention to detail is amazing, his welds have little to no HAZ and the frames come out straight as an arrow.

Search IG on the #tigweld #framebuilding #framejig and follow the good builders like @strongframes (and see who he follows).

On my search the kid from Cobra Framebuilding came up on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBIJI-omNmRdt_4LsF-2PrA

I haven't looked at all the vids but sampled a few and he has some very good information. I would say watching his videos would teach you more than I learned in the class I took.
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I get classes for a one off but for a hobby those hand full of days don't do much for me. I took a 3 classes for woodworking between highschool and college, out side of being able to say I took classes from Christopher Scharwarz I can't say I learned anything youtube couldn't teach me. With that being said I do see the value in confidence building but I'm not fragile minded, failures are on the road to success. If I built a frame I don't expect to be successful overnight and I expect to take at least 4 times longer but I'm 100% sure those hard learned lessons would be cemented into my brain.

I just want to justify to my self building a frame on my own is worth the struggle over buying one and what process to chase; Brazing or DC Tig.
 
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Miracle Max Loves Garbage said:
I get classes for a one off but for a hobby those hand full of days don't do much for me. I took a 3 classes for woodworking between highschool and college, out side of being able to say I took classes from Christopher Scharwarz I can't say I learned anything youtube couldn't teach me. With that being said I do see the value in confidence building but I'm not fragile minded, failures are on the road to success. If I built a frame I don't expect to be successful overnight and I expect to take at least 4 times longer but I'm 100% sure those hard learned lessons would be cemented into my brain.

I just want to justify to my self building a frame on my own is worth the struggle over buying one and what process to chase; Brazing or DC Tig.
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The mistakes I have made welding were the best lessons for me. On one of my first projects, a tailgate, I didn't tack a brace. The heat from a full pass made a tube bend and now I see a wave in it everytime I open it. It's small but I see that bend and it's cemented into my brain just like you said.

Another thing about just buying a welder vs going to a class: if you buy a machine and you don't like welding you can sell the machine and get some money back. If you buy it at the right price then you won't loose much. After reading your first paragraph I think you have the right mindset to do it.

You could do some baby steps like design the frame you want to build in CAD. That can take a while to learn the program and model the design. That Cobra guy has a recent video of him using BikeCAD:

After that then buy some 4130 tube and play with cutting and notching it. I have some BB shells and HT's if you want some to mess with.

By the time you get to that point you might have a better idea if you want to braze or TIG or figure out that it's not worth the struggle.
 
don said:
The mistakes I have made welding were the best lessons for me. On one of my first projects, a tailgate, I didn't tack a brace. The heat from a full pass made a tube bend and now I see a wave in it everytime I open it. It's small but I see that bend and it's cemented into my brain just like you said.

Another thing about just buying a welder vs going to a class: if you buy a machine and you don't like welding you can sell the machine and get some money back. If you buy it at the right price then you won't loose much. After reading your first paragraph I think you have the right mindset to do it.

You could do some baby steps like design the frame you want to build in CAD. That can take a while to learn the program and model the design. That Cobra guy has a recent video of him using BikeCAD:

After that then buy some 4130 tube and play with cutting and notching it. I have some BB shells and HT's if you want some to mess with.

By the time you get to that point you might have a better idea if you want to braze or TIG or figure out that it's not worth the struggle.
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While looking around for a Tig I've only considered small machines(95amps DC only). As someone with no interest in aluminum ever, do you have any recommendations or features I should look for.

I get buying blue or red but I couldn't justify that considering the machine would be used a handful of times a year and that's it. Sure once you have it you'll find other uses like brushing your teeth but outside of that I can't justify anything bigger
 
A few years ago I got a propane-fired forge for my son. That's been a ton of fun for figuring out metalurgy and making some fun blades. I'm not ready, but the plan is to eventually get a digital AC/DC TIG so we can play with everything...automotive fab to bike frames.
 
i was talking to one of the certified welders at work (dont even ask about the specs these guys have to certify too, they are well above and beyond what you see in most private industry shops) and they were saying there are only a few mfg for welders and not to worry about a brand name, i havent taken the specs over to show them the new vulcan lineup from harbor freight, but iv been eyeing up one of their multi-process welders for a bit now . . . seem like a quite a big bang/buck if they are good. Will try to remember to report back with comments, no promises)
 
shrpshtr325 said:
i was talking to one of the certified welders at work (dont even ask about the specs these guys have to certify too, they are well above and beyond what you see in most private industry shops) and they were saying there are only a few mfg for welders and not to worry about a brand name, i havent taken the specs over to show them the new vulcan lineup from harbor freight, but iv been eyeing up one of their multi-process welders for a bit now . . . seem like a quite a big bang/buck if they are good. Will try to remember to report back with comments, no promises)
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Keep us in the loop on this. Learning to weld is on my bucket list
 
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