The Proteus Framebuilding Book - Proteus Bicycles

FINISHING BLADE AND STAY ENDSThe ends of blades and stay can be finished in an infinitenumber of ways. I am only going to discuss a few of the techniques.From these discussions you should be able to make any variationsyou ipight like. There really doesn't exist much difference betweenblades and stays, so I'll just discuss them as one group. In anycase always be sure that you finish the end so the other end of thestay or blade will line up as necessary. For example, a fork bladecan only fit on a crown on one possible position. Therefore theslot for the front dropout must be precisely positioned on the endof the blade.The first possibility is getting a tube set with the ends domedand slotted by the manufacturer. In this case there is usually onlyone problem, the slot is not wide enough to accept the dropout. Thesimple solution is to file -the slot wider. It is almost always moreadvisable to v/iden the slot rather than thin out the width of thedropout. Even if your set was predomed and slotted it may be necessaryto cut off the end of the blade or stay to shorten the lengthor rake. In that case you will need to finish the ends yourself.First you must decide on how deep you want the slot. Tliis is amatter of personal taste. To make the slot you can use a file orhacksaw. The hacksaw will work faster and the file will be easierto control. On either case the largest you should make the slotis 5mm.. The best idea is to start with a smaller slot and thenwiden it. Make your slot. (Fig. 1) Next close the end of the slotby squeezing it in a vice or tapping closed with a soft faced hammer.It should look like Fig. 2. Again file or hacksaw the slot. Itshould only be necessary to cut the slot where the ends have been50