 now i know why custom gas tanks are so expensive...
i was cruising around this morning, and there's a warehouse down the street that has an old simplex automatic inside, but the place is always closed. until today. turns out, it's a machine shop and the old guy sells scrap metal. so i'm looking around, and i find a bunch of small sheets of 1/16" aluminum, and i figure i could make an in-frame tank on my goodyear.
so i buy a few sheets for 7 bucks, and...
oh yeah, did i mention i don't have a welder?
well, awhile back, i picked up some of that "bernzomatic aluminum solder" that's supposed to basically weld aluminum with nothing but your handy propane torch.
i soldered some beer cans together before, and some other aluminum crap together for fun, and it seemed like it could work.
i'm a pretty crafty guy, and i know how to make stuff, so i take my time, make a cardboard template, cut out all kindsa pieces with some tin snips, make sure they all fit together nice, look online for a picture of a factory goodyear tank bicycle, and i'm off to the races...
i follow all the instructions, stainless steel wire brush all the surfaces, fire up the torch and get to soldering.
first piece goes on perfect. looks like a factory weld. nice and strong, no pinholes, i'm awesome!
next piece, same thing. i've got half a tank done, and it's only noon.
basically, i cut out both halves and the top in one piece, so i just had to score it and bend it over, solder in the front and back, and then the bottom.
i'm ruling. i'll stop for a burrito and a beer.
so now, i'm gonna solder the bottom on, which is just one long strip that i beat with a rubber mallet till it was curved to fit the middle tube of my frame.
(oh yeah, i used one of my skateboard wheels inside the two halves as a roundy-thing maker, so i could beat on it with the same hammer and make the tank bulge out...)
so i clamp the thing together, the bottom strip's in there perfect, and i start soldering. this piece is about 18 inches long, and has to get soldered not only to the bottom, but the front and back, too.
no prob, lemme solder it to the front and back to hold it in place, then i'll do the rest.
i'll be riding it tonight!
as soon as the flame heats up the piece that's already been soldered on perfectly, it's all over. the old solder is disappearing through the cracks, the whole thing is basically melting, and i'm uh, mad.
so, another beer, and a smoke, and i figure i gotta keep the temperature off the other joints, so i get some wet rags, and hope for the best.
no deal. solder just keeps on melting off, turning into some crusty toxic crap, that still has enough strength to keep it on the metal, but not in the cracks.
i figure, screw it, i'll finish the bottom piece, then go back and fix the rest.
so i'm soldering away, and as the whole rest of the tank is heating up, it's warping, creaking, tweaking, and basically not working at all whatsoever. both end pieces are pretty much useless, and i can't grind the old solder off, and everything i tried to do ended in total failure.
and the funny thing is, i pretty much knew this wouldn't work, but i wanted to try it anyway.
so if you ever want to solder some beer cans together, aluminum solder is just the right thing.
and in case you didn't know, i'm in the biker's build off. but i'm the designer, my brother's the welder...
oh, and here's a picture of a simplex automatic. not the same one, but whatever, i'm going drinking. |
