Friday, July 24, 2009

Friday...Ti bars and dirty pups

Hey folks,

Friday brought on the completion of the Ti bars for the July delivery...spent most the day parting off a bunch of Ti and getting it prepped for bending and welding.

Here Kalten caught me at the lathe mid process, using a flat second cut file to shape a slight "V" into the cut to allow the larger chip to exit without binding against the cutter. Gotta support your arm and have a steady hand so as not to introduce your hand/fingers into the quickly rotating chuck...that would suck!
After about 4 hours, 1400.00 bucks worth of Ti is parted, faced, deburred, and sorted for the next step. Here we have center sections and grips for 26, 28, and a few 27 inch bars.
The FedEx guy was good to me today, bringing some goodies from White Brothers and tubing supplies. Here's a big ol' box of steerer tubes for the final 10 forks I have to build.
After receiving over an inch of rain yesterday, the sun was shining high and begging us to come out and play. I finally decided at 1900 hours to close up the shop door, go home and get the dogs, and run out for a quick ride before the sun dropped behind the hills for the night.
Frankie is quite excited to be headed to the trail...
I would not suggest taking a pic like this yourself...at 45mph on a twisty road is NOT the time to try and look into the view screen to see if the dog is in the picture :) Let's just say that either I need to pay better attention or the road needs to be a LOT wider!
The ride was nice...I've not been able to get out much the last three weeks and the stress of working too many hours without play has been showing on the bathroom scale. So, it was nice to get out and spin with the dogs for an hour. I think they had a better time than I, as at the end of the ride they both laid down in a 6" deep mud puddle to cool down, just their heads sticking out. The ride home was a muddy mess. Why is it that dogs only want to sit on your lap when they are filthy? A question that has no answer ;)
Hope all is well with y'all. Gonna be back in the Fire Department tomorrow and am lamenting the probability that I'll not be able to see the Mount Ventoux stage of the Tour. Hope everyone is enjoying it this year, I know that I have.
cheers,
rody

3 comments:

IF52 said...

Cool stage. Nothing earth shattering. I think Lance did way better than his results may indicate and played an outstanding teammate, more than I'm sure Alberto appreciates.

steve garro said...

nice shirt! are Aki's bars in that batch? Steve.

Rody said...

Yo Stevo, Aki's bars were sent out and returned cause you're never in the shop to sign for the delivery confirmation...always out playing :)

Going back out Monday to ya...stay at home!

cheers,

rody