How to Miter Bicycle Tubes with a Hand File | Framebuilding Tips
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- čas přidán 13. 03. 2019
- If you don't have a milling machine and you want to miter bicycle tubing to build a bike frame, you should consider mitering with a hand file. It's a simple, old-school approach that I learned in my framebuilding class with Doug Fattic back in 2010. We built lugged, brazed steel bicycle frames, and the equipment it required was very minimal, centered around a workbench, hacksaws, and hand files.
In this video, I demonstrate how to miter bicycle tubing in a simple workbench with a hand file and fit it up to another tube. I also cover how to miter at a specific angle with a bevel protractor, as well as how to hold the tubes in your vise without crushing them or having them slide around on you.
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This was very helpful. Thank you for sharing your experience.
So refreshing to see someone do things the way most of us would do things. I have a vise, files and a hacksaw. Most guys just want to show off all their fancy stuff that I don't have. Your videos are the most helpful I have found. You are teaching not showing off. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I will be watching I can find that you do.
Very nice tips (again), IMHO you deserve many more subscribers, such great & honest content!
I remember watching this video a while back. It inspired me to finally get started on my first frame that I’d been thinking of doing for a while but didn’t have any fancy tools. Thanks for the great content!
Another cool tip that I learned from Marc-Andre Chimonas’s book Lugged Bicycle Frame Construction is to wrap a bit of sandpaper facing outward around the other tube and grinding out your mitred tube using that after you get pretty close with hand files.
Just flicked through the comments and saw someone mention that trick already and you mentioned it’ll be a slightly larger diameter than desired which is also true! You’re right that maybe using a slightly smaller diameter would help.
Also, really enjoy your videos, thanks for sharing....
Thanks for watching
excellent camera work
hey very good chanel! How to miter down tube for tapered head tube ?!
Dude, you’re da beeest!
Sir my frame cant accomodate 700c x 28mm. Can i hand file the bridge where the rear brake is installed? I need to reduce 10-20%
Great video. I'd love to see a series where you build a simple frame with nothing but hand tools, just to show that it can be done.
It can be done, but boy is it tedious. I probably won’t make that video series, but it would be cool.
interpolating......glad I got a chance to talk to you at NAHBS
I was wondering if it would be ideal to wrap a tube in sandpaper to make a final pass and have a exact and uniform radius? Lets say for brazing where its more critical
You can do that sort of thing. Wrapping a tube in sandpaper will increase its diameter by a significant amount, so ideally you'd use something round that was slightly smaller in diameter than the tube you're trying to fit it to. And that would also require that you could make a "file stroke" exactly at the angle you wanted and centered perfectly left to right. If you use a file or sanding method that is slightly undersize on the radius, it allows you to sort of "chip away" at it and sneak up on your fit, and that seems to work really well when you get a feel for it.
how many mm gap is acceptable before joining tubes for a fillet, lug, or tig weld to be safely strong? thanks for amazing vids.
Get it as tight as you can. Less than a fingernail gap is a good starting place. As you develop skill it becomes easier to get the good fitup. If you're REALLY good at welding you can fill some gaps, but it's not recommended and it's certainly not easy at all. Much better and easier to start with tight fitting joints.
Do you have a favorite brand or model of hand file? Or what to look for in a good hand file?
If tubes are double butted how much of a butt must remain after cutting tube length before tube structure is weakened? Thank you!
Just curious, what kind of tubing do you use on a bike frame
For steel bikes it's generally 4130 tubing or similar.
ok, lol should have watched video first, chrome moly.