Custom Chain Ring Clearance

Thought I would show you a little process that I use to create chainring clearance on my cross bikes.  Its fairly easy and looks more custom than indentations.  Here is the cut chain stay with the cutout filed into it.  

I use head tube material to fill in the cutout because its a little thicker than most of the other tubing as I want this to be pretty solid.  I just cut a piece in half, sand it, and clean it up really good in order to make sure you get a nice bond.

Quick check to make sure everything fits and is nice and snug.  No problems here.

This is how I secure it while I'm brazing it.  Need to put a little flux on it and then I just tack it into place.

Here is it after everything is brazed up.  Now the cleanup.

I cut off the excess with a little Dremel cutting wheel getting as close as necessary.  The closer you cut it off the less you have to file off afterward but you don't want to be reckless and ruin your hard work, so don't rush it.

When I'm filing off the edges I put a piece of duct tape around it just in case the file slips.  It also acts as a good indicator when you are getting close to the actual tubing.  You can see where the file has scuffed up the tape.  When you get this close its time to back off and get the smaller files.

Here is the finished piece.

Theres a lot of steel in this photo.

This is Dizzy dog watching over the entire operation to make sure I do the job right.  Nothing gets by Dizzy.  We look just alike, long skinny legs, a big nose, and big ears.

Couple of pics of the seat stays mitered and in place.  I don't think they were finished during the last post.  Everything is cut and fit on Andy D's cross frame and the brazing will commence shortly.

Thanks for checking things out.