Random frame building thoughts

So I got the tubes and whatnots for my frame tonight, and, pardon my french, but, DAMN is this fun. I have most of the tubes mitered using my belt sander. I thought it was going to take some serious hand file artistry, or a complex tubing notching setup, but it is uper easy to freehand and clean up with a file. A belt sander can be used to make tube miters. Just sand each curve into the tube, adjusting the angle between the tube and the sander to adjust the radius. It's easy to get it close enough for brazed lugs. Tigging would be harder because the tolerances would have to be tighter.

It is cool to use the lugs because you can just slide the lug on the tube, square it up to the scale drawing, and trace the miter onto the tube.

I got a small second workbench set up with a belt/disc sander and a totally assy harbor freight vise. It's pretty cool. I added a bunch of unistrut diagonals to the table so that when you really hork on the vise, the whole table moves instead of flexing. Maybe one of these days I'll bolt that sumbitch to the floor! Next I want a bandsaw that will cut steel tubing. Any recommendations? Something benchtop would be ideal... Well I guess standup would be ideal, but pricey. For now I'm all about the 4" cutoff wheel.

Stay tuned for some unistrut frame jig thoughts...