Fabricating an Aluminium Bike Frame - The Sketchy Way

THIS IS NOT A TUTORIAL. WELDING IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND I'M A BEGINNER. DON'T DO WHAT I DO.
I built this bike to learn how to weld. It's made of Aluminium 6061 tubing stock. Some 1" OD, some 2" OD, all 1/8" wall thickness. I designed the frame to be relatively easy to fabricate. There are no bends, all cuts are made with some combination of a 1" or 2" hole saw cut, and a straight mitre saw cut. I mig welded everything using pure argon shielding gas. I made a the head tube and bottom bracket shell on a lathe since they required a very precise ID. I also machined the seat post adapter and had the dropout brackets water jet cut by send-cut-send.
I designed this bike to run 27.5" tires, and it's roughly equivalent to a size 54cm frame. It has a shimano deore 12 speed derailleur/shifter (12 RD-M6100), a shimano hydraulic front disc brake (MT200) fixed aluminium fork, BB-MT500 press fit bottom bracket, Shimano Deore 12 FC-M6130 Crankset, and a few other basic parts, mostly shimano stuff (some used).

[@thomaskilloy2534]

Keep at this, you are learning for sure but too many people would be unwilling to share this learning process.

[@Clay-Builds]

Yea the point of this project was to practice welding/metal fabrication in general. Didn’t come out perfect but I ended up with a rideable bike and it’s a lot easier to devote time and effort towards something useful like that compared to monotonously welding random scraps together.

[@Clay-Builds]

Yea the point of this project was to practice welding/metal fabrication in general. Didn’t come out perfect but I ended up with a rideable bike and it’s a lot easier to devote time and effort towards something useful like that compared to monotonously welding random scraps together.

[@arden0]

Impressive work, thanks for sharing!

[@pmcquay1]

Nice video, sound is good, good pace, I like that you show your mistakes. A couple of tips though:
1. Don't set your camera on your workbench. Every cutting clip is a shaky mess because of the vibrations.
2. Some welding practice on scrap is probably a good idea. It looks too cold to me with the weld just building up and not penetrating, and aluminum needs to be squeaky clean, I'd take a new sanding surface (not used, because it could have steel or wood or oil in it) and go over the surface at least half an inch back from the edge to be welded. After that, clean with acetone. Crank up those amps, aluminum mig is supposed to be Spray Transfer, Electrode Positive, and you have to be _moving_ to not blast holes in your part. It is not a slow and steady process. You need to get in, lay down a nice hot weld, and get out before the nearby metal sucks all your heat out.
Keep it up. I see potential here. You're actually designing things with forethought, not just welding whatever pieces you have together and hoping it comes out vaguely bike shaped. I would watch a video where all you do is figure out aluminum settings for your welder and practice.

[@Clay-Builds]

Yea I need a lot of practice. Had to grind and redo most of these welds a couple of times before I felt like the penetration was decent. Also had trouble getting consistent wire feed, think I need a spool gun.

[@retireeelectronics2649]

Neat, massive effort (-:

[@DrDoc-sd1gn]

sick