This category is a repository for information around the PVD Samantha Bicycle Frame Fixture and other associated work.
This post is inspired by Adam Prosise. I had posted an image of the new AR handlebars to social media. Adam loves to give me shit. Generally, it’s all fair. I enjoy a worthy adversary and Adam is one of the best. Still, sometimes I worry that the real motivation is more sinister than ‘just … Read more
I’ve continued to refine my SolidWorks modeling methodology and have been bringing older files into accordance with the new strategies. A new video explains more of this. I’d just completed the huge project of breaking down the CAD model for the dropouts so that I could build it back up a lot better. This doesn’t … Read more
I got caught up in a machine of my own making. A machine built to catch me exactly as it did. This is my Accountability Mechanism. It swallowed me whole, right after my previous post on handlebars. Accountability Mechanisms I thought that I had completed the work required on the handlebar component of the new … Read more
I’m wondering how much sense all of this is going to make for folks out there. I wanted to talk a bit about handlebars as they’ve taken over during the last week. New tooling and math. A new bike in production. It’s always wild in these moments. Bars, stems, and spacers There isn’t a lot … Read more
A detail of the Samantha Frame Fixture that has been nagging at me since the start are the pair of low profile dog clamps that I use to help hold the angle beams in place. These are redundant and are there to help the clamp at the base of the beam. It would be a … Read more
There are a few options for holding workpieces and tooling down to fixturing weld tables. I’m going to skip the most common types. Since I’m trying to build out precise tooling in this ecosystem, there a few ways of doing this that I’ve realized that solve in quite a few scenarios. The first step in … Read more
Another chapter in the long saga of the Samantha frame fixture development. I was looking for the solution to holding tubes along an axis by the outside of the tube, similar to what we’d want with a seat tube. This is strangely a difficult problem if we want tooling that allows an easy change in … Read more
I’ve just completed another round of major upgrades to the Samantha frame fixture. I don’t intend on bringing development to an end as there keep being new territories to explore and old ones to remediate. It just gets better and better. Firstly, I took some time exploring parts that a re-design that would give me … Read more
I’m not good at leaving well enough alone. I get these itches and all I can do is keep scratching at them. I keep doing the work long past when the first round of payback is had, maybe getting to more unforeseen value. Everyone else gets to benefit from that. I just keep suffering. As … Read more
The other day, I was in a discussion with a student that was running some queries on my site. He told me that since starting my blog in 2010, I’ve posted, on average, once a week, every week. In blog land, that ultra marathon world cup performance. It’s been a while since my last post. … Read more
This is a bit of a continuation of a past post about the new mathematical considerations that the newer all-road/gravel suspension forks have in calculating bike geometry. Because the sliders are set at an angle to the steerer (and thus, the head tube), calculating the bike geometry at a given location in the fork travel … Read more
I’ve spent the past 6 or 7 years waffling about making a change in the way I describe bicycle geometry. For almost two decades, I’ve been describing front and rear centers using the conventional, radial method. From the crank axis directly to the hub axis of the wheels. This is easy and relatively useful…but it’s … Read more
Within the 2024 PVD Samantha Frame Fixture, I designed a way to calibrate the crank shell and axle towers. The tower axis needs to be orthogonal to the plane that lays out the frame over the fixture table. While pretty important for the crank shell, it’s crucial for the rear axle axis. How do we … Read more
Like many, I have a small problem with the Rhino Cart in my shop. I love the BuildPro system and Rhyno Cart is a really good product. The issue is the flatness of the surface, specifically, I have a low drop in the middle of the raster table. I’ve known since the Rhino Cart showed … Read more
The time has come for the Samantha fixture to be used to make a bike frame. Wow! Finally. I feel that it helps to show the fixture just before real use so I produced another video showing the tubes in place before tacking and how they end up being held. The ability to space the … Read more
After posting all the information that I could about the new Samantha frame fixture, I realized that an important detail was missing. How to set it up! So, I made another video where I begin with a bare fixture table, mount the tool, and set it up for use according to calculations. Since I’m about … Read more
2024-10-26 update is HERE It started as a quick upgrade to the Cyberdyne System frame fixture, back in November 2023. Snowballs snowball and the ‘quick upgrade’ became the fully re-designed fixture shown here. This project has been moving forward in plain sight, with some interim posts and videos for the last six months, and the … Read more
Major benchmark for the Samantha frame fixture. The plates are mounted and linear motion is proven. The slop in the movement is down below 0.001″. I’m stunned it was that good without any calibration. I did do a calibration for the parallelism and height of the plates and things are looking great. There’s more than … Read more
As promised, I made a new video explaining some of the improvements to the Samantha Frame Fixture design. Not too much to write that isn’t in the video. Lots of simplification. Better in many ways.
I’m probably known best these days for my hardtail mountain and all-road bikes. What some may not know is that I have a long history riding and tuning suspension bikes and sport motorcycle. I’ve had big enduro bikes and downhill bikes. I’ve changed shims, fluid, and springs to alter the performance of these systems. This … Read more
This is a project that I had been working on last year. It’s a fixturable sine bar for use on fixturable fabrication tables. Sadly, I got distracted before finishing it but it might be at some point. For that reason, I delayed posting on it until now. With a good design and an hour at … Read more
There’s a funny thing in the world of fixturing. Most of the pin holes on the smaller side of the range for metalworking rasters are 5/8″ or 16mm. In the wood working world, they use 3/4″. This is frustrating as there are some nice products that would work fine for some light duty work. So, … Read more
Last week I posted here about the new bicycle frame fixture (Samantha) that I’ve been designing and am hoping to produce. I mentioned that I was wanting to produce a fork fixture that fits in with the rest of the ecosystem. Well, in the interest of economy and ensuring that any extended considerations of the … Read more
2024-10-25 update is HERE Thanks to our evolutionary push to modern bike design, back in mid-2020 I brought the PVD Cyberdyne bicycle frame fixture into the world. Since, I produced designs for the SKYNET (2021) and WOPR (2022) frame fixtures. Now, in 2023, we have the big update. Samantha !! The first 3 fixture designs … Read more
In my effort to make some video content, I decided to share some discussion on frame fixture design and development. I need to figure out a way to produce this kind of content without having to do too much (or any) editing. I figured some things out on this run of videos. I need to … Read more
Last night I got a call from Ronen. He was finally getting around to mounting post mount calipers to his all-road bike. We have special conditions in Marin and the way Ronen and I use our all-road bikes push lightweight flat mount caliper brakes to their limit. Since I’m old and fat, I made the … Read more
I’ve decided to share a couple of my dimensioning templates for others to use. I’m thinking that this can move some others forward in an easy way. One of the more powerful components within BikeCAD Pro are the templates that a user is able to construct, save, and share. Custom title blocks, notes, paint schemes, … Read more
This is some seriously nerdy stuff. Since I haven’t seen any folks discuss it so, once again, I have to. I’ve just sent files to the printer for a new all-road bike for me. After most of the real work had been done, I began fine tuning and evaluating my expectations and decisions. This last … Read more
This is an exciting new tool for me and worth taking a look at if you build bike frames! I’ve been needing this tool since I started building my own bikes. I probably could have even used it before that. I finally got around to designing and producing it. I’m sure that many others will … Read more
Dummy axles and how they are held are a crucial part of a frame building program. We have to accurately place where the wheel axles will be, just as we do with the various tubes. The frame should hold the hubs so that the tires, gears, derailleur, and rotor are in plane, centered among the … Read more