I guess I know about how Beethoven felt when he wrote the piano rondo, (“Rondo alla ingharese quasi un capriccio in G major, Op. 129”, better known as “Rage over a Lost Penny”.) I have been making little doo-dahs for the new bicycle. I needed a dozen or so braze-on binder bosses and a dozen or so water bottle bosses. What I have been doing on the cold mornings is to get in my trailer with the electric heater. I set up the Smithy Lathe with a steel rod and start turning out bosses. Today I was finishing up some water bottle bosses. They are three eights of an inch in diameter necked down to nine thirty-seconds. They are about five sixteenths of an inch long and are drilled and tapped for a five millimeter bolt. I whack it off with the hack saw and dress it up a bit with a file. It takes me about fifteen minutes to create each one.
You guessed it. I whacked one off and it spun out of sight behind the lathe. Now there is not much real-estate back there so I should be able to find it. A quick visual inspection revealed that a quite a bit of lathe turnings and other debris had accumulated in that cramped space. I tried getting at it with my fox-tail brush and dust pan but they were simply too big and awkward. I finally found a wall board taping knife and a paint brush that fit perfectly. An hour later I had a nicely cleaned space, but still no sign of the wayward water bottle boss. I got out my magnetic wand and searched under the motor and in all the crevices and still no boss. By this time I could have made about six more of these little suckers, so I gave it up as a lost cause.
Path got a nice little tune up today. Earlier this week I removed the front suspension arm and wheel to get accurate measurements of the joint. I need to replicate the joint on the new bicycle. What I discovered is after nearly ten years the bearings were in really bad shape. There was nearly a sixteenth of an inch of radial play in each of the bearings. That means the suspension arm can wobble, tip and veer as I try to steer the bicycle. I bought new bearings and installed them today.
We immediately took Path out for a romp around the island. Wow, what a difference!
Even ordering the bearing turned out to be a challenge. The shaft size is three eighths of an inch and the outer race press fits into a one inch shell. All of the sources had no bearings that fit that specification. A couple nights ago I woke up with a brilliant idea. I would fit the one inch shell and then sleeve the shaft to fit. I couldn’t wait to search the internet the next morning. I searched for a one inch outside diameter ball bearing and to my amazement the first bearing in the list fit a three eighths inch shaft. Not once but each vender had the same sizes when you search by O.D. There must be some logic there somewhere, I just can’t see it.
It is time to wrap this up and ship it off. We are still at the Beachcomber Resort in Lake Havasu City and the weather here in the Sonoran Desert is getting warmer. Today broke into the seventies.
Gary and Judy