A useful metal-working technique

bluegoatwoods

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I've just about perfected a way of making good, stout brackets for mounting to frame tubes, chainstays, etc.

I can imagine a number of uses for fastening stuff to the bike. Cargo racks, cable & wire mounts, stuff like that. Here's an example.
finished bracket.jpg
I started with a caliper to measure the diameter of the tube with reasonable accuracy. In the example below one of the tubes was 43 millimeters across. After a bit of experimentation, I decided that the length of the arc I was going to make should be 2.2 times the diameter. So in this case I needed 43mm X 2.2 = about 94 mm. But you need more for the 'ears'. About 25 mm each works well. So you need 94 + (25 X 2)= about 145 mm total.

Now find something round and tough that measures 43mm across.

Sockets work well
bracket step 01.jpg
bracket step 02.jpg
bracket step 03.jpg
bracket step 04.jpg

I wouldn't drill the holes you need for mounting until after the bending. Those spots are liable to be a bit weak and might bend there instead of where you want it to.
 
That snout on your vise Blue is made for that, lil heat helps doesn't have to be red hot. In the ole days they called that blacksmithin.
 
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