FREE BUILDING, RESTORATION & REPAIR with EPOXY Number 44 Spring 2017 In this issue EPOXYWORKS ® Editor/Designer Jenessa Hilger Managing Editor/Copy Editor Grace Ombry In This Issue Contact/Subscriptions Mari Verhalen Contributors Aaron Holmes, Bruce Niederer, A Wooden Bicycle Frame 1 Clayton Woods, Don Gutzmer, Ed Stubbs, Joe Epoxyworks reader Aaron Holmes makes a beautiful Llewellyn, Mark Bronkalla, Mark Copeland, Mike black walnut wooden bike frame. Lance and Tom Pawlak Stayin’ Awake at Daryl’s House 4 Epoxyworks is published twice a year by Gougeon A standard coffee thermos is not enough for Daryl or Brothers, Inc., Bay City, MI, USA. Bruce. They each build a custom insulated box which can hold up to 2½ pots of coffee. Product Number 000-605 © 2017 by Gougeon Brothers, Inc. Reproduction in any form, Sunfish Wood Restoration 6 in whole or in part, is expressly forbidden without the written Years of weathering have taken their toll on the consent of the publisher. mahogany dagger board and rudder from a Sunfish. Epoxyworks is a registered trademark of Gougeon Brothers, Inc. Don restores them to like new condition. WEST SYSTEM, 105 Epoxy Resin, 205 Fast Hardener, 206 Slow Hardener, 410 Microlight, G/5, G/flex and Six10 are registered trademarks of Epoxy Bowl 7 Gougeon Brothers, Inc. 207 Special Clear Hardener, 209 Extra Slow Burls and rotting wood typically aren't good for wood Hardener, 422 Barrier Coat Additive, Episize and Scarffer are turning, but with a little epoxy, they can create one-of- trademarks of Gougeon Brothers, Inc. a-kind pieces. Subscriptions, US and Canada Epoxyworks subscriptions are FREE to US and Canadian WOW 17 Years Later 8 addresses. Subscriptions do not expire. To start or Builder/owner Mike Bronkalla shares what he'd do a little stop a subscription, change address or subscribe for differently if he were to build his 20' runabout again. a friend, complete and return the tear-out mailer or call 866-937-8797 toll free. You may also subscribe One Small Trailer and a Teardrop 12 An experienced boat builder tries his hand at building via e-mail to [email protected] (be sure a home away from home. The trouble is he does such a to include your mailing address) or by filling out the good job that his daughter wants one too. subscription form at epoxyworks.com. Our mailing list is strictly confidential and will not be sold or used for Self Defense Canes 14 any other purpose. A Cane-fu class inspires the pursuit for the perfect self- Contribute to Epoxyworks defense weapon/medical device. If you have completed an interesting project, or developed a useful technique or a practical or unusual Tunnel Hull 15 use for epoxy, tell us and your fellow epoxy users about Among other things, G/flex epoxy can be used to it. Send a photograph or two, or e-mail digital photos permanently mount documentation numbers on a hull. (about 300 dpi). Include a note describing the project and how we may contact you. By sending photographs My First Cadillac 16 Purchased for a dollar, a 1954 Cadillac 14' Runabout you are granting permission to publish your photos is being restored by technical adviser Bruce and his in Epoxyworks and other Gougeon Brothers print and brother Nelson. online publications or promotional presentations. Mailing address Epoxyworks You Can Build It With Fiberglass 20 P.O. Box 908 Epoxyworks reader Clayton gets creative building Bay City, MI 48707-0908 cosplay helmets, props and armor out of epoxy and Email [email protected] fiberglass. Bonding with Fillets 22 Epoxyworks Online epoxyworks.com Fillets are an important structural component in many Browse back issues or look for specific topics. projects. Here are some tips for creating the right size fillet and make it look nice. GLBBS 2016 24 Congratulations to the Great Lakes Boat Building School's graduating class of 2016. A Wooden Bicycle Frame By Aaron Holmes For the past ten years I have enjoyed an Design increasing passion for cycling. It’s the perfect One of the first steps of my project was to decide combination of effort and motion for me. I'm what type of bike to build. I settled on a touring fascinated with the details and getting “hands on” style road bike intended for comfortable road with bicycles, both designing and building them. riding, designed around efficient, large volume All types of bikes have interested me: road bikes, road tires. I began filling in the details of the Cover Photo: cross bikes, gravel bikes, mountain bikes, and design, choosing wheels, crankset, handlebars and Wooden bicycle designed and built more. I ride these bikes several thousand miles each more. With these components identified, I started by Aaron Holmes. year on all types of terrain. designing the frame. As my interest and passion for bikes and cycling Using free CAD software, I began defining the grew, I discovered the world of custom, hand-built geometry of the bike. The topic of bicycle geometry bicycles. Expert craftsman work through every is thick with details. I chose a conservative detail of design and fabrication to deliver custom geometry for this bike for comfort and stability. frames and completed bikes to their discerning I drew the shape of the main triangle and then customers. The imagination and touch that goes defined the rear triangle with the head angle, into these bikes is impressive and stirring. seat angle, chainstay length, wheelbase, stack, Inspired by custom-built bicycle frames, I and reach. wanted in on the action. I decided I would build Of particular challenge was fitting the rear tire my own frame. For several years I considered a into the frame with adequate clearance for the frame building class or even going at it myself, chain ring, crankarms, and heel clearance when but I realized I’m not set up to do metalworking. pedaling. My friend Rody Walters, the mastermind Interested, yes, but it was not a match for my of Groovy Cycleworks, is particularly adept at experience or workshop tool arsenal. In the spirit of manipulating his custom designs to accommodate “run what you brung,” I began to consider another larger tires. Rody passed along some good frame possibility: building a bicycle frame of wood. design ideas and helped with metal fabrication I grew up in my father’s woodshop and had a support later in the project. front row seat for the design and building of many The main triangle of the frame would be made impressive furniture projects. These experiences from custom laminated right and left halves. set me up for the possibility of building a wooden These blanks would have pockets hollowed on the bicycle frame. Having seen some wooden frames inside and then be cut and formed to shape on in pictures, the question in my mind was always the outside. Full-size drawings were used to create just how functional are these wooden bicycles? external and internal plywood templates. Meeting Jay Kinsinger of Sojourner Cyclery clearly The rear members of the frame would be made answered this question for me. from solid, bent laminations. Again, full size Jay has built a dozen or more wooden frames drawings were printed and these were used to and graciously shared his methods with me. create plywood bending forms. Furthermore, he has tested his frames in a laboratory setting, and in real world testing, on Construction some really epic rides. Wooden frames have proven Excitement high, I made a predawn visit to functional, dependable, and durable, and I was an Amish lumberyard to purchase several black going to build one. walnut boards. It was time to turn a couple months Number 44, Spring 2017 1 triangle and then follow a pattern to route its external shape. In a similar process, the seat stay and chainstay components were made from laminations. The grain on these pieces all went in the same direction and thin plies were clamped in a form to achieve their shape. I made a mistake of not leaving one of the chainstays in the form long enough to fully cure. It may have also had a dry joint from excessive clamp pressure. In hindsight, I would make the plies thinner for these pieces so they would require less clamping force to achieve their shape, and, of course, not rush the cure time. During this phase of the project, further design was needed for the rear dropouts. I guess this was my time to learn some metalworking and I did it Each half of the main of design and planning into flying sawdust and the in a very manual way. The dropouts are the pieces triangle bicycle frame building of a bicycle frame. that join the frame members at the rear wheel axle. is made up of four The rough sawn boards were resawn, planed, and For my design, they also accept mounting of the layers of 5mm black sanded to 5mm thickness. I made a lamination rear disc brake caliper on the left side as well as the walnut. layup drawing to show each of the four layers that rear derailleur on the right side. I worked through would comprise each right/left half of the main five design iterations, testing each one with triangle. The grain orientation of the pieces in each plywood mockups before committing to a whole layer was varied for strength at the high stress areas lot of effort with a piece of 4140 pre hardened of the frame. chro-mo steel. Using an angle grinder, drill press, After an informative technical support call files, rotary tool and ambition, I handcrafted my with WEST SYSTEM, I began laminating both one-of-a-kind custom dropouts.