I started building my first solo frame with a small annoyance: a lug with a crack, small enough that I decided to repair it rather than have a replacement shipped from England via https://ceeway.com/.

I only have a torch, so I practised by filling in a hacksaw line with gas welding using a copper-coated steel rod.

Since it looked really ugly, I decided to do more practice runs. First by switching from the 100 L/h nozzle back to the 63 L/h one and slightly reducing the flame.

It was still ugly, and above all I had a real penetration problem. I did two more attempts.

I learned that comfort, posture and preparation make a huge difference to weld quality. I started working on my welds by repeating the motions without a flame at first. That lets me figure out whether I’ll be working comfortably and whether I need to watch out for any awkward angle.

I got a satisfying result, or at least one that’s fine for practice on a bike that’s meant for me. If it weren’t for me, I would have replaced the lug entirely.

Even after filing the lug properly afterwards, I couldn’t slide it onto the tube. After getting a bit frustrated, I pulled out the calipers to check where the problem was. The lug was below 31.8 on several axes, probably because of the deformation from the heat cycle.

After getting a bit annoyed, I found a poor man’s solution to ream it to the right diameter: a sanding mandrel with enough emery cloth wrapped around it to get almost the right diameter.