rody
Member
While browsing the framebuilders archive on bikelist, I ran across a thread on Fat's domed stays.
Really enjoyed reading peoples hypothosis on how the stays were fabricated, then Mike Flanigan chimed in with this...(copied from bikelist.org)
Fat City stays were first domed on a lathe with the aid of an oxyacetylene
torch. You would chuck the tube up [straight non-tapering] get it spinning
add heat with the torch mounted on the lathe and then run the cutting tool
into the tube causing a cone to form [which would also create a hot cone
chip on the end that would go flying off!]. This was a sh#t job for new
people in the tacking department. Then the domed stay was slotted on a
milling machine [this machine is still in use at Independent Fab. and its
name is Dorothy].
The first domed end was made by Gary Helfreich and was hammered on a curb
outside the shop. Chris had been filling the tube ends with brass [which was
very time consuming, because the tube end was so large] and this drove Gary
to make the dome. Later a lathe was dedicated to this job.
When we started making Titanium bikes we wanted to retain the Fat City look
on the stay ends, but Ti could not be domed in the same manner [we still did
this to the steel bikes]. We came up with the domed shape end cap that was
welded on and then slotted.
Not long after we were making Ti bikes we were bought by Serotta. I am not
sure why Serotta dropped the domed stay and went to the welded end caps for
the steel bikes too, but I imagine that it was because no one wanted to do
that job.
Mike Flanigan/ANT
I enjoyed the personal insight, hope you did too.
cheers,
rody
Really enjoyed reading peoples hypothosis on how the stays were fabricated, then Mike Flanigan chimed in with this...(copied from bikelist.org)
Fat City stays were first domed on a lathe with the aid of an oxyacetylene
torch. You would chuck the tube up [straight non-tapering] get it spinning
add heat with the torch mounted on the lathe and then run the cutting tool
into the tube causing a cone to form [which would also create a hot cone
chip on the end that would go flying off!]. This was a sh#t job for new
people in the tacking department. Then the domed stay was slotted on a
milling machine [this machine is still in use at Independent Fab. and its
name is Dorothy].
The first domed end was made by Gary Helfreich and was hammered on a curb
outside the shop. Chris had been filling the tube ends with brass [which was
very time consuming, because the tube end was so large] and this drove Gary
to make the dome. Later a lathe was dedicated to this job.
When we started making Titanium bikes we wanted to retain the Fat City look
on the stay ends, but Ti could not be domed in the same manner [we still did
this to the steel bikes]. We came up with the domed shape end cap that was
welded on and then slotted.
Not long after we were making Ti bikes we were bought by Serotta. I am not
sure why Serotta dropped the domed stay and went to the welded end caps for
the steel bikes too, but I imagine that it was because no one wanted to do
that job.
Mike Flanigan/ANT
I enjoyed the personal insight, hope you did too.
cheers,
rody