Proposal for Bike Maintenance and tools

that space is already earmarked for the incoming lathe, I believe.

I brought it in last night. It’s sitting at the back of the steel topped bench next to the offhand grinder.

At the moment there are no gauging stations attached to it, so it should be used with a magnetic base test stand and a DTI, so it has to be used on the steel topped bench.

The incoming lathe will go against the wall between the mill/pillar drill bench and the steel topped bench.

Howard @howard points out that swopping the positions of the mill and pillar drill would make it much easier for the mill and lathe to used at the same time.

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Do we both of those items?

Yes, lots

Just want to say a big thankyou for the people who loaned the bike tools and setup the board, they were very useful last night to do an emergency replacement of a snapped spoke. (back wheel on the drive side, of course)

Jan

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It was @VerityNichols

We also have the Appreciation Thread which is for exactly this sort of stuff!

I was playing with setting up the wheel trueing device this evening, as I wasn’t sure what it looked like or what a magnetic base test stand and DTI was. Here’s a picture in case anyone else was curious.

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I’ll advise you to remove the tyre and put a second measuring tool pressing on the top of the rim.

IS there any scope for someone knowledgeable to show me how to use this, properly? I’d love you forever.

As soon as the lathe is operational, I want to re-cut some parts of an internal gear hub that I ‘over maintained’ a few years ago, but the wheel will need re-lacing after that :frowning:

I’ve used one many year back knowledge is dusty but I can try to give you the base after that wheels building is mostly feeling and lot of practice.

Also, rear wheels are harder because the’re asymmetrical.

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You can make use of a dishing tool (either home made or purchased for about £20), people often use them because most modern trueing jigs are not very stiff. You’re not going to deform my cast iron jig and if we make a fitment to register the DTI with the frame, you should have no problems just reversing the wheel in the jig.

Another thing comes to mind - shouldn’t the metal area have a really flat ground reference surface for measuring and marking precisely? like a tile of granite or something (ground steel would be better though)

A flat table would be amazing! They’re on eBay a lot but often need picking up. They are heavy!

Thanks to everyone that has contributed to the bike tools!
Very useful!

I just bought a bike today that needs a serious tune up! Did a maintenance stand ever make it into the space? Or anyone come up with a way to suspend the bike to adjust gears etc?

Thanks in advance!

We didn’t get a stand. But one would be really useful

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Agreed that a stand is almost essential for the kind of projects discussed on this thread. I brought this up about a month ago and it got good response. It is also an important safety requirement, especially in our cramped space where a falling heavy bike could be dangerous for both the fixer and other users. A lot of Makerspace users are cyclists, so I think a stand would be a popular and well-used addition. Also, it seems that bike repair acts as a kind of “gateway drug” for repairing and ultimately making - people develop rudimentary mechanical skills from working on their own (or their kids) bikes, then want to do more.

So, how about we buy one? I’m new to this, so don’t know how this kind of purchase is proposed or funded. Looking at:

there seem several good options ranging from £60 - £160. I don’t know enough to recommend a particular stand, but am sure someone here knows about them and can point us in the right direction. We probably should get a reasonably sturdy one because I suspect it will be well used, i.e. we should not cheap out. Storage is a factor as well, so a collapsible one would be good.

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This looks great. I’d suggest if there is enough interest, maybe this could be a pledge drive?

I think this would make a great addition to the makerspace. I have two bikes in need of a service and would like to attempt doing it myself.

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I’ll start a pledge