Lesson in humility: failed headset crown race press

Part of doing-it-yourself is failing to do it yourself. It's not a bad thing unless you refuse to learn from it. Up until now, I had made it a point to only post my successfuly hacks/tweaks/mods/etc to this blog. However, today's post is abouta well-planned diy tool that didn't work. Let's try to learn something from it.

While doing my annual bike tune-up, I realized that part of my headset was installed incorrectly. I designed and built this tool in an attempt to fix that.

First, a bit of terminology.

A press is simply a tool that works by pressing things together, in contrast to a jack which pushes things apart. There are lots of kinds of presses: simple ones use a screw, complicated ones use pneumatic or hydraulic pressure.

A bearing is a mechanical component that acts to reduce the friction between two parts which move relative to one another. A ball bearing is a bearing which uses balls to accomplish this (though many other types exist: the brass bushings on cantilever brakes are an example of non-ball bearings).

And now some bike terminology.

The fork is the fork-shaped piece of a bike which straddles the front wheel (n.b. the things on the back are called the stays, and are NOT a fork). The steer tube is the tube which extends up from the fork to the stem, which connects to the handlebars. The fork crown connects the steer tube to the two tines of the fork.

The headset is a pair of bearings which connect the fork to the rest of the frame, allowing you to steer without much friction. Those two bearings in the headset are cup-and-cone style bearings. These types of bearings are popular in older bikes, but are being gradually replaced with cartridge bearings. This is unfortunate, since cup-and-cone bearings can be adjusted for a prolonged life, while cartridge bearings must eventually be thrown out and replaced. Nonetheless, because the main force on headset bearings are thrust forces (parallel to the axis of rotation), and because of the size of the bearings, cup-and-cone style bearings remain the standard for headsets.

A cup-and-cone bearing consists of three pieces: two races, and a set of balls. Sometimes, those balls are held in a ring formation by an unnecessary, though helpful piece of metal or plastic called the retainer. One of the two races is concave (the cup), and the other is convex (the cone). The fork crown race is the cone which is seated on the steer tube just above the crown, on what is called the crown race seat.

The crown race is press-fit onto the crown race seat, which is to say that the crown race seat is slightly larger in diameter (1.185") than the internal diameter of the crown race (1.180"). This minor difference in diameter (only 0.005 inches) is enough to make it hard to install, though once installed, it may as well be a piece of the steer tube.

So, as I was stripping my bike down for its annual paint job, I noticed that the crown race was incorrectly seated, and I decided to remedy it. It only took a few seconds for me to decide that I wouldn't be able to press it on by hand, and so I went forth building a tool.

I tried two variations on the same design. The first attempt failed: as I tightened the drive bolt, it worked well until the steel bar bent, and then the plastic snapped, and ultem shrapnel ricocheted off of my luckily-closed eyelids. Although a failure, it worked for a while; the race was halfway pressed onto the race seat. I was encouraged to try again, using a heavier construction that hopefully wouldn't snap, crackle and pop.

I have annotated the picture on the left.




I used my lathe to turn a piece a ultem plastic (a metal replacement, similar to delrin) into a race guide. The race guide had a 1.125" hole bored through the center of it, so it could slide along the length of the steer tube, and had a larger recess bored at one end of that hole to snugly fit the crown race.




I then drilled and tapped two holes on either end of the race guide, and used bolts to fasten the race guide to a bar of steel placed between the two tines of the fork. A third bolt--the drive bolt--past through the center of that steel bar against an ultem plunger, which pressed against the other side of the fork.

Again, I have annotated the picture on the left.






I wrapped some fabric around the new paint on the fork, and began torquing the drive bolt. Just like the first time, it began working. In fact, this second attempt put the race close to the right position.

But alas, it too failed.




The failure was very similar to the first time. First, the steel bars bent. And again, since it seemed so close to being complete, I chanced tightening even further. Unlike my first attempt, however, the plastic never broke. Instead, the press tore the head off of one of the hanger bolts.

Disheartened, I decided I would need to try a different technique. But what? I couldn't easily make this design larger, since I was already working with the largest plastic stock I had available. I read and re-read Sheldon Brown's advice, until it came to me.

Duh! I have a lathe.

I chucked the crown race, and took a few (i.e. added) a few thousandths to the race's internal diameter. The race still had to be pressed onto its seat, but I could do that under hand power using the race guide I had already built.

So, as I mentioned earlier, there is a lesson hiding in here somewhere. I'll try to be thorough it down, but please let me know if I elide anything:

Lesson 1: Keep it simple, stupid (KISS). This is the prime directive of engineering. By elaborating the design, I added too many points of potential failure.

Lesson 2: Determine which problem constraints are true constraints, and which are only constraints in name / by convention. The crown race should be tight on the crown race seat so that the steer tube doesn't rattle within the bearing. But does it need to be press fit? There will be no motion between crown race and steer tube, so long as the bearings are doing their job. By increasing the internal diameter, I allowed easier installation, but without sacrificing holding power.

Lesson 3: Wear eye protection.

Shout-out to Dennis Ferron

Dennis recently linked to me from his blog, and I wanted to say thanks, and to point out a particularly cool post. Ferron's Guaranteed No Mess No Mixups Method for Swapping Rims without Relacing is something that I wished I had happened upon years ago.

The problem: you have a new rim, and you want to build a wheel. This task is typically a pain, though some people enjoy doing it.

The special circumstance: you already have an old wheel built.

The critical observation: in addition to re-using the spokes and hub from the old wheel, you can preserve the information stored in the old wheel's lacing.

The method: put the two wheels side by side. Transfer one spoke at a time from the old wheel to the new (in careful order), and you save your self a lot of hassel.

Well done Dennis.

Why I think bamboo bikes fix the wrong problem

I've been seeing a lot of posts all over the interweb about wooden and bamboo bikes. Hey, that seems clever! Solves the world's problems! Right? I'm not so sure.

So, I agree it would be a great world if everyone who wanted a bike had one. And, I agree that bikes are better for developing nations (and all nations) than cars, since they provide mobility and portability with few/no recurring costs. They even have nice side effects, like physical fitness and zero pollution.

What I don't buy is whether a bamboo bike is any more accessible to the developing world than a steel bike. Here is why I think that.

My criticisms could apply to any bamboo bike, but for argument sake I'll pick one. Let's pick on Bamboo Bike Project, a joint venture between the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Calfee Design.

First of all, let me thank them for trying to do good in a world where so many don't do squat. My criticism is to encourage you to seek a more realistic design, not to discourage you.

My first observation is that the bike is not made entirely out of bamboo. All of the components are normal components (and note that componentry is generally more than 50% of the cost of a complete bike). Suspend your disbelief and assume we can get all of the sundry components to put a bike together; let's focus on the frame itself.

On the bamboo frame, the following pieces cannot be made out of bamboo:

1. The head tube, since it must support the bearings in the headset,
2. the bottom bracket shell, since it must support the bearings in the bottom bracket, and
   
3. the dropouts, since they must support the wheel.
   

The photo gallery confirms all of these constraints. One could presumably make these pieces from scap, if one had a machine shop. But machine tools are expensive (a cheap milling machine costs $525, a cheap bike costs $50), so let's assume that we don't have one.

The only other solution is to scavenge them from metal bike frames, and then bonded to the bamboo frame. So where do those parts come from? In this case, those parts must be taken off of broken bike frames. In this case, we do accomplish reuse of a small fraction of trash frames.

However, I think we could accomplish more by attempting to repair those bike frames. The cheapest, most common bike frames are made of steel, and improvised welders are not too difficult. Also, Sheldon Brown gives instructions to repairing bent frames via cold setting.

What could be done to improve this design? I have no concrete points here, only general guidelines:

1. Consider the context in which these will be built. Does it ever make sense to saw off 99% of a bike frame and replace it with bamboo?
2. Focus on the consummables. Assume that bike frames are pretty easy, and instead figure out a cheap hack to replace burst tubes or tires, rusty chains, broken cables and worn brake shoes. In other words, follow the 80-20 rule for bike repair.
3. Make the bike more useful. I see that they added a large rack on the rear for carrying cargo or additional passengers. That's golden! Pursue this further, design bike trailers, or figure out how to use a stationary bike as a motor to drive tools, feed generators, or purify water.
   

China is where bicycles beat cars

From ChinaCarNews.com,

A person tried to drive their car through a college campus and hit a cyclists. Arguments ensued, and then a mob of angry students rioted and destroyed the car.

I love it.