Originally Posted by
dschad
I was consider doing the same when I came across a stash of 4130 in my shop. How do you finish the ends? To you flatten and/or taper them? Fill and shape with brazing material?
I weld my frames, and use "bullets" or plugs for the end of the stays when I'm using plate style dropouts. For hooded dropouts, I just squeeze the end to slightly ovalize it for more room to weld it to the hood.
This picture shows the type of flat dropout plugs that Paragon Machine works sells, which are also visible in the other picture I posted. They get welded to the dropout and the tapered end allows them to be welded at an angle to the tube. I don't think these would work very well for brazing.
This picture shows some "bullets" that I made on the lathe. These would probably work for brazing and then the end of the bullet would be slotted for the dropout. Paragon used to sell a similar bullet, but they no longer have them listed.
