Show me your unicrown fixtures!

[steve garro]

Bending blades, mitering, all that.
- Garro.

[Rody]

All my stuff here...

Groovy Cycleworks 330-988-0537: Martins 15mm thru axle ti fork...

FWIW, mitering/coping unicrown blades is so much easier on a horizontal mill, had a vertical set up for years with a standing tee-pee fixture, worked but it was less than ideal.

I've also upgraded the bender with a power unit and internal madrel that allows .035 to be bent consistently.

rody

[Mike Mcdermid]

I misread that as UNICORN ...............then i thought about it

[Rody]

Steve,

I assume you are asking because you are looking at changing up your process?

What are you currently using and what are the shortcomings you hope to improve upon?

r

[steve garro]

Steve,

I assume you are asking because you are looking at changing up your process?

What are you currently using and what are the shortcomings you hope to improve upon?

r

Well, I was hoping to see some ideas on mitering with a vertical mill, as I just don't have the room for anything else in the shop - lathe, horizontal, nothing - I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out a new floor plan to fit more, but I need extra room to turn around, stuff like that......

Of course I could hand miter them, sure.
I really like the look of a straight blade unicrown, and was hunting for ideas, that's all.
- Garro.

[fortyfour]

Well, I was hoping to see some ideas on mitering with a vertical mill..

Here you go Steve. Recently finished this one up. Very solid. One thing I do though is I tack the two tips of the fork legs (top and bottom) before mitering. I have a set of 100mm modified Anvil dummy axles that have the same center relief as Don's 135mm dummy so everything is interchangeable. Not to mention a tad bit more rigid. Dummy axle then can follow the assembly through to the fork fixture.

One leg shown in place:



Both legs rough cut in place but not tacked:



Close up of dropout assembly - 135mm dummy in place for fat fork:



On the mill with right angle attachment in place:



Mitered and drops tacked in fork fixture:

[EricKeller]

so will the typical right angle milling attachment work on Steve's mill-drill?

[ToddFarr]

You could use a Verti-Vise and Hang it off the edge of the table. We use it all the time at the shop for drilling the ends of large bars.

It also came in handy when I changed my mind and wanted a quill stem.


Adding some threads by FARR Frameworks, on Flickr

[Jonathan]

Kris, how long does it take you to set up the right angle head?

Thanks,
JG

[Imperial Bikes]

I made this one.. It has swivel that turn to rest on the tube and a pressure plate to hold it down. Seems to hold things well but.. I don't have anything to compare with. I do use it on a vertical mill bolted to a big 90deg block I have with the legs hanging over. I feel your pain with space HaHa!

[EricKeller]

Kris, how long does it take you to set up the right angle head?

Thanks,
JG

if you have a bridgeport and do it occasionally, it's pretty quick. Now I want one, unfortunately my BP is NMTB30, not R8

you need an extra-long drawbar

[blasdelf]

modified unicrown fork leg mitering jig by Garth L'Esperance, on Flickr

[Rody]

Steve,

Your limiting factor will be bed to tool space...how much vertical room do you have on your mill/drill to work with if the bed is lowered all the way?

r

[steve garro]

Steve,

Your limiting factor will be bed to tool space...how much vertical room do you have on your mill/drill to work with if the bed is lowered all the way?

r

You know, someone back in the thread had a good idea - I have a 2-way on the end for SS/CS fixtures, if I swiveled it to where it was facing away from the cutter........it might work.
I'll look closer today.
- Garro.

[EricKeller]

one of the long paragon hole saw shafts might work with an upside-down setup. Or a short arbor in a extended collet chuck

[steve garro]

one of the long paragon hole saw shafts might work with an upside-down setup. Or a short arbor in a extended collet chuck

Exactly what I was thinking.
Thinking this one through before I start fab'ing something up.
- Garro.

[fortyfour]

Kris, how long does it take you to set up the right angle head?

Thanks,
JG

Not counting the first time I set it up... about 2-3 minutes now perhaps? There's an order for this tooling setup which took a some time to do the first time. Now that I know what that is, it's not too bad. My shop is 440 sq. ft. I have room for more machines and if I want I can expand into the back room for an additional 200 sq. ft. but I kind of like the coziness of the shop as it is along with the smaller space to heat in the winter.

There's still room for a tooling room lathe however...

[FCToronto]

Thanks to this thread, I made one too!

75998A3C-6C27-4806-890A-2B105B8417F3.jpg
196A3AEA-5367-4CBD-8385-45F8653B671C.jpg
F8C10042-0A3F-48BC-AAE9-B6A7F55EB7A5.jpg
B253210B-C506-48B3-B144-DF65E43DEDEF.jpg

Fernando

[FCToronto]

I also copied Paul Brodie’s fixture for coping the drop out end of the blade

23CCFF9B-0CFE-4254-8436-7FC093F2AE9B.jpg
A97929F5-74C4-416A-93D4-F862085D68B9.jpg
06298C90-C13B-441B-B843-E51F066E52D5.jpg
2CF725F3-683A-4D56-88E5-537E4DB09C1C.jpg

[Rody]

Right on! Glad to see folks mining info and putting it to use.

Rody