Workshop tricks


slotted aluminium angle, stops files banging about and makes them easy to find


Vertical post welded on a piece of square tubing slides in bigger tube bolted to the workbench and  is easily removed. You can put up the frame by the seatpost for milling the BB or fitting bridges, you can put up the frame by the headtube (saves it from dropping of the bench) or stick the frame up by the BB shell (on the larger diameter) to ream the seattube


Plastic (HDPE) V-blocks. The groove along the back fits securely over the smooth jaws of the vice. If you remove the workpiece they usually stay in place


Supports for mounting cranks on the mill for shortening, made from old axles


Adjustable support on the mill table, made from a drive flange and a large nut and bolt



Very short tubeclamp made from some aluminium scrap. Short enough so you can file both ends of the bridge without unclamping, making it easy to get the fishmouths lined up


Clamp modified to position pumppegs



Fitting a brazeon


Temporarely tying the small bits to be brazed to the workpiece works well. You get a better heattransfer, a smaller gap and the expansion of the piece is better controlled. And you can see if the piece is properly aligned! Once you've got some silver in place you can snip the wire and finish the joint



I use a square awl to hold, flux and insert bottlecage bosses



Alignment tool made from an exhaustclamp to ensure the numbers are stamped straight


A height-gauge, made from a drive flange


The workstand is suspended from the ceiling. Makes those dropped bits much easier to find!





Measuring the butts and variation in wallthickness with an improvised tubing gauge. The bar is normally used to knock the drills out of the morse taper of the lathe

BTW the foot of the dial indicator is made out of an old loudspeaker magnet


drilling fixture for bottleboss inserts