Why are Cannondale welds so smooth?

They *dress* the welds and remove material from the joints so they
appear smooth.

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Quoted message said:

They *dress* the welds and remove material from the joints so they
appear smooth.

How do they "dress" the welds, and does it serve any purpose other than
cosmetic? It sure looks nice.

Quoted message said:

They *dress* the welds and remove material from the joints so they
appear smooth.

yes, they grind them down.

Gooserider said:

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Quoted message said:

They *dress* the welds and remove material from the joints so they
appear smooth.

How do they "dress" the welds, and does it serve any purpose other than
cosmetic? It sure looks nice.

potentially, it can reduce stress risers, but otoh, the degree of gross
material removal can work the other way... i think it's mainly cosmetic.

Gooserider said:

Guess the subject header says it all. I went to my LBS and saw a Cannondale
on the used rack. I checked the welds, and they were so smooth it almost
appeared monocoque. How does Cannondale do it? They're a lot neater than the
aluminum welds I've seen on other makers.

The welds start out just as rippled as any other, but theirs get
polished. The technique is neither new nor exotic, it's just
expensive...but as common as roaches in the kitchen equipment trades,
where my nephew does a lof fabrication that involves just that
treatment on the welds.

To make it work well and easily, a slightly greater rate of deposition
during the weld can be helpful, of course.
--
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Gooserider said:

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Quoted message said:

They *dress* the welds and remove material from the joints so they
appear smooth.

How do they "dress" the welds, and does it serve any purpose other than
cosmetic? It sure looks nice.

Sanding and buffing. Aluminum is the easiest common structural metal
to do that with.

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Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
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Gooserider said:

Quoted message said:

They *dress* the welds and remove material from the joints so they
appear smooth.

How do they "dress" the welds, and does it serve any purpose other than
cosmetic? It sure looks nice.

I understand they use Dynafile miniature belt sanders to smooth the
welds by hand. The double-pass welds are also performed by hand,
though the tubes are cut to length and mitered by CNC laser.

http://www.dynabrade.com/cgi-bin/Industrial/11000

Cannondale make some vague assertions that their hand-shaped joints
minimize stress risers, but how much they really help is anybody's
guess. They can't hurt-- unless the original tubing wall is
compromised in the process.

Chalo Colina

Gooserider said:

Guess the subject header says it all. I went to my LBS and saw a Cannondale
on the used rack. I checked the welds, and they were so smooth it almost
appeared monocoque. How does Cannondale do it? They're a lot neater than the
aluminum welds I've seen on other makers.

My smooth welded Cannondale was just stolen 3 weeks ago. Are you in
Toronto?

Cam

Cannondale files them down.

However, I have heard that Klein bikes also achieve the same appearance
without the use of the dynafile. Anyone know how Klein achieves this?

Claude

Maybe Bondo?

C.H. Luu said:

Cannondale files them down.

However, I have heard that Klein bikes also achieve the same appearance
without the use of the dynafile. Anyone know how Klein achieves this?

Claude

"C.H. Luu" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:1123700061.489956.229360
@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

Cannondale files them down.

However, I have heard that Klein bikes also achieve the same appearance
without the use of the dynafile. Anyone know how Klein achieves this?

Claude

There is a method for smoothing up the weld surface, which definitely
results in reduction in stress concentration, called TIG-dressing.
Essentially, it is re-melting the weld deposit metal withoud adding any new
filler metal. TIG stands for tungsten-innert gas welding method and has
been around for about 50 years now. More details available upon request -
or use Google.

TIG-dressed welds could often look like buffed and ground ones, besides
this process is superior to grinding in metallurgical aspect. Does take
approx. the same time to do this, but TIG-dressing requires high level
operator's skills as opposed to using a grinder.

I suspect that's what Klein is using.

Later,
IK (MS in welding engineering, '1985)

the cannondales visual marketing really knocks you out

"Cam" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Gooserider said:

Guess the subject header says it all. I went to my LBS and saw a
Cannondale
on the used rack. I checked the welds, and they were so smooth it almost
appeared monocoque. How does Cannondale do it? They're a lot neater than
the
aluminum welds I've seen on other makers.

My smooth welded Cannondale was just stolen 3 weeks ago. Are you in
Toronto?

Cam

Nope. Sorry somebody jacked your bike.

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Quoted message said:

the cannondales visual marketing really knocks you out

Yep. I've always thought they were sharmp looking bikes. Plus, you have to
give them credit for making every frame in the USA(except for the new carbon
jobber). If I wasn't a dyed-in-the-wool steel fan I would have a 'dale.

"Gooserider" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Yep. I've always thought they were sharmp looking bikes. Plus, you have to
give them credit for making every frame in the USA(except for the new
carbon jobber). If I wasn't a dyed-in-the-wool steel fan I would have a
'dale.

Go for it.

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool steel fan too (Cinelli Super Corsa, Colnago Spiral
Conic SLX, Condor Cycles, Wicked Fat Chance, Hot Tubes 'cross bike, etc),
and I own both a Colnago C40 and a Cannondale T1000.

The C40 is my daily ride. That doesn't mean I don't love steel.

And I do have to admit...I bought the 'dale almost a year ago, finished
(re)building it this spring, and haven't actually ridden it yet.

I'll check back when I do 🙂

Lee

"(PeteCresswell)" wrote: Is there anything about Al that makes it "better"
than steel besides fabrication costs?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Do you know why they build airplanes out of aluminum? :-)

Per Lee:

Quoted message said:

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool steel fan....

Is there anything about Al that makes it "better" than steel besides fabrication
costs? I
--
PeteCresswell

(PeteCresswell) said:

Per Lee:

Quoted message said:

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool steel fan....

Is there anything about Al that makes it "better" than steel besides fabrication
costs? I

More room for decals on those beautiful fat tubes.

--
My bike blog:
http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/

Leo Lichtman said:

"(PeteCresswell)" wrote: Is there anything about Al that makes it "better"
than steel besides fabrication costs?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Do you know why they build airplanes out of aluminum? :-)

Actually, Reynolds 531 tubing was used to make spitfire airplanes. In
those days the wimpy materials like aluminum were only deemed strong
enough to replace the fabric wing covers ... *grin*.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA