The Chopper Compendium

Just returned from saying our final goodbyes, my daughter pointed out that if Mom knew I had given up on anything because she was not here anymore she would be kicking my ass from here to hell and gone. So as soon as I can get her box/urn made I will get back to working on this project. I told her a...

Curt, if you need some spuds for more springer legs let me know I have a bunch I made up, I'll give you a really good deal on them.

Thanks Curt, I appreciate it. Not sure what to do next, I feel kind of lost. Our son and daughter are both here, we're all helping each other through this. I never expected this to happen. I figured she'd outlast me by a couple decades since I was the one that did all the crazy stupid shit when I wa...

This project is now on the back burner until I can bring myself to work on it again. My light, my life, my love, my rock and my kick in the ass when I needed it is gone. She started slipping away after a couple days back at home. Took her to the ER last night about midnight and she left this world j...

Thanks Curt. The doctors let me bring her home yesterday, looking at the discharge papers, she was way sicker than I ever imagined. She had/has 4 different conditions that any one of them alone if left untreated could have killed her, and when I took to the hospital on Sunday she was still arguing t...

Got the steering head welded on (and it actually came out straight), was trying to decide how I wanted to do the gussets between the steering head and the top and down tubes. I've been thinking about putting a country bar between the top tube and the down tubes. On a side note, does anyone out there...

Little bit of an update. Steering head was a little bit crooked, so I had to break the tack welds and do a bit more fitting and filing. I used the "old school" method described in the frame building article to check the alignment. Now I'm once again back to having the steering head tacked ...

Thanks Curt. I appreciate the feedback. I've got the neck tacked into place and have been playing around with some cardboard to make patterns for gussets for the neck to top tube and the the top tube to down tube connections. Been busy around the homestead getting the garden ready for planting and s...

Got the top tube cut and notched for the steering neck, time to work up the courage to weld that together. I'm reaching that stage that I dread on every project. Being so close to being done that one mistake means cutting the whole mrfr up and starting over again. I absolutely hate it when that happ...

That is kinda small for a spindle bore of that size, good score.
What material did you use for the neck cup?
I've wanted to make some nice shiny ones out of stainless but I get sticker shock every time I look at the price of that stuff.

What size is that new lathe of yours? The picture makes it look really tiny for something with an inch and a half spindle bore.

Axle plate slots cut and plates welded in place. They came out much better than I expected. I was kinda freaking out when I first finished welding them, I put a level up to the left side one while it was still hot and it was off top to bottom by about a 1/16th of an inch. I stepped back for a minute...

Yeah, the fixture that I used was about as basic as it gets, a piece of 2x6 and a piece of 2x4. Squared them up on the table saw and then cut for a total width of 8 1/2 inches. Recut the tubes for the hoop and just clamped it all together with some bar clamps. It's been an educational project that i...

Well, it's been a bit but I finally am at a spot where I can show some actual progress. Q4 of 2025 was a rough one. First my dog had cancer and we had to put the poor guy down. It was probably the last thing in the world that I wanted to do. Then about a week and a half before Christmas my wife's yo...

That sounds like an addiction alright. On the bright side at least you didn't fall for the Pacer