Rocket-Sauce 

Very, VERY cool project. Can't wait to see the results and hear about how they work.

ColonelJLloyd 

Henry, did you design the cages to use 10 tooth pulleys? It'd be cool to modify the design to use 11 tooth pulleys as sealed bearing models are plentiful and inexpensive.

unworthy1

Only name I can remember is the venerable Spence Wolf of Cupertino (CA) Bike Shop who IIRC pretty much invented this modification. His cages were not so very "refined", as these CNC-jobs promise to be...hand made with hand tools, IIRC.
https://cupertinobikeshop.com/history.html
BTW, this is a great project, best of luck!

lostarchitect 

Very, very cool. I'm all Autocad all the time, FYI, so if you need anything let me know.

jeirvine 

+1.
I am amazed how hard it is to find decent affordable pulleys for Campy NR=-era stuff. Unless I'm looking in the wrong places.

Henry III

What would need to be done for it to accept 11T pulleys?

ColonelJLloyd 

I don't know for sure. I assume the distance between the centers of the pulleys would need to be different than it would be for 10 tooth pulleys.

The fact that these come with all sorts of spacers would seem to make them an inexpensive way to them out. I would think you could just measure the centers of the pulleys on a long cage modern derailleur that uses 11 tooth pulleys, but maybe it's not that simple.

rhm

I don't know either, but I think it's a good idea. The old grey Campy pulley wheels are often cracked, so they need replaced anyway. My approach would be to order some 11T pulley wheels and play with them; once you have them in your hands, I'm sure you'll find it easy to figure out what they need.

By the way I, too, have a NR derailleur I'd be happy to turn over to you for experimentation, in hopes I get it back in modified form. I'd ride my next century on it, I promise!

ctmullins 

Sorry to go quoting myself, but - does anybody know the answer to this question definitively? I mean, I have a SR and a Triomphe (and a 980) at home, and a casual glance looks like they would be swappable, but I don't know for sure, and even if they are, I don't know if this would extend to the other vintage Campy models. I can experiment myself, but I thought perhaps this would already be part of the C&V lore.

Anybody?

mkeller234

I'll pony up for the grand cru pulley wheels, since I feel lucky to try this out. PM on it's way.

Henry III

Let me just get these cut out first and then we can start adding more wood to the fire. lol. These have 10T pulleys on it right now. Baby steps men...baby steps.

-holiday76

thats the one I was thinkin of, and thanks for linking that as it's very close to where I'm about to move to and I've been looking for a decent vintage shop!

Henry III

Finally an update!!! I was having issues with the artwork when I was preparing it for a file that the waterjet would recognize it. Just a bunch of small things like overlaping lines, unconnected lines...it's a very picky program but I stayed after and was burning the midnight oil. I waited three hours after class while one of the instructors was cutting something for the school.

The Omax Make program(Omax is a software company like Adobe and Make is like a Photoshop, Illustator program) is pretty cool as it will give a bunch of info on your file your cutting...cost to make the part(factors in the amount of abrasive material(Garnet), the amount of water used and some other things and gives you an amount. These cages were $115 since it used like 21lbs of abrasive material just to cut. That doesn't factor in the 316 stainless steel. To cut eight sets of cages it took an hour and fifteen minutes. My only downfall is that one of the cages feel between the slits that hold the material up and fell to the abyss of the waterjet never to be seen again. But these are just the prototype of the stainless version. These still have to get tapped and I was going to counterbore the holes in the drillium version.

Well I'll quite my babbling and put up some pictures. Sorry for the crummy pictures but all I had on me at school was my Ipod touch.






And for the weight weenies in us... These are cut from 1/8" 316 stainless steel so they have a bit more girth from the original aluminum Campy cages. I'm hoping to cut some aluminum cages next week and then get closer to the original cage's weight.

rivas7200

Awesome! This thread is inspiring me to take on a project of my own.

degan

I have no idea about how to do all that metal fabricating jazz, but the cages I'm currently whittling out of wood are looking pretty nice.

pastorbobnlnh 

Henry,

What a cool machine. Don't we all wish we had one in our basement shops, even if just a 1/5th sized version.

Does the school charge you to use it?

BigPolishJimmy

Me Too.

Nice Work!

Henry III

No charge for the students which is a bonus. I just can't start pumping these things out in production numbers as it takes awhile to cut these as I have to stay there and watch it the entire time.

Grim

Subscribed!
Great thread!

As you can see there is a market from all the interest.You have a marketable product that might be able to offset some schooling cost.

I understand the school not being able to let you run a cottage industry on their dime. That said if some become available I'd be interested. I might even be able to find somebody to cut them if the CAD file was made available.

I'm currently trying to put a bike back to close to its former Super record glory but at 45yr old and 230lb I need some hill gear here in North GA. To be able to swing a 32 tooth gear would be really nice.

I'd be fine with the weigh of the stainless version simply for its ability to hold threads better then aluminum.
Now hopefully I can find a derailleur soon. Off to CL and the for sale forum.

mkeller234

Looking good! I'm really excited to put these to use on my Raleigh. I'm going to test it with my small freewheel first, then test with a larger toothed one. I don't mind additional weight, as long as the Campy body can handle it.

Thanks again!

mkeller234

With a little time and a file, someone could always take the edges down like the original cages. That would reduce the weight slightly I suppose.

Henry III

This weekend I'll try to make a version 2...weight weenie hogged out version. I'm out to find some taps for the cages.

unworthy1

Snazzy!

you

Soma makes a repro-NR jockey wheel that's 10-teeth. They're more expensive than the VO ones that've been posted ($32), but are designed to work on things like this.
https://store.somafab.com/sonujowh.html

Grand Bois

I tried a Rally cage on a NR derailer, but I didn't like the way it shifted. I ended getting a first generation Rally and I'm happy with it. It's no Suntour, but nothing is. It seems to me that Campagnolo would have sold the NR with the Rally cage instead of going to the expense of developing an entirely new derailer if it worked just as well.



This Sachs/Huret shifted great, but it's too modern for the bike.

The Suntour also shifted great, but it's too Japanese for the bike.