Bill, Jack:
the key to all those great English brazed Reynolds 531 MC frames (like the
Rickman "Metisse") and the bicycle frames was that they used really
close-fitting lugs at all the junctions. These lugs carried all the
significant stresses, and all the braze filler did was keep the tubes from
falling out of the lugs. I think you could probably accomplish the same
thing with a modern adhesive, if you had the lugs you needed. Silver solder
would probably work, also.
That race car that somebody mentioned probably wasn't made with lugs at the
corners like that. Apparently, getting those good lugs made for whatever
corner joint you designed was the real problem in brazed-frame fabrication.
Without the lugs, there is hardly any strength, at all.
Russ, #1226B
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-land-speed@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-land-speed@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of ardunbill@webtv.net
Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 2:48 PM
To: Nt788@aol.com; land-speed@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Welding vs Brazing
Jack, you are the master fabricator, but perhaps there is some
misconception here about the (sacred) Reynolds 531. Phil Irving, the
immortal Vincent motorcycle designer, in his book "Motorcycle
Engineering" (1961) says, on p.96, "The chrome-molybdenum tubing termed
"531"(a symbol derived from its chemical composition) is the strongest
tubing available in the commercial range. It is quite suitable for
ordinary brazing and loses very little of its "as-drawn" strength
thereby." Table 7.1 on the same page shows the properties of five types
of Reynolds tubing, and in yield stress they range, after brazing, from
17 tons/sq. in. for "B", to 40 tons for "531". Ultimate stress figures
are 24 and 45, respectively.
I understand all the finest British racing motorcycle frames were made
of 531, and I seem to recall that it was also used on a lot of
high-class British bicycles, too. Bill
Of course this is pretty academic, since only a few on this list live in
countries where 531 is even available. Gary, do they sell it down in NZ
and Aus? Bill
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