villaveloframes
Tool of the week: Bottom bracket vice block
The bottom bracket vice block is designed to hold a frame sideways in a vice, clamped down at the bottom bracket. Having the frame held this way is handy for accessing hard-to-reach areas during clean-up, such as the shoreline at the bottom bracket and chainstays. It is much easier to file this area when the frame is on its side.
It simply consists of two cylindrical aluminium blocks, each stepped down in diameter to fit inside a bottom bracket shell. This was turned to 33.50 mm to fit in an English BB shell and also will fit everything larger. The larger diameter sits flat against the face of the shell. One of the blocks has two opposite flats so it can be held in a vice. The two blocks are clamped together by a 12mm allen socket head screw which is threaded into the lower block with the flats. A stainless steel washer at the head of the screw prevents the screw head biting into the upper block.
The idea for this block was taken from Geoff Scott(3rd picture), whose design varies in that a threaded rod is fixed into the bottom block, and both blocks are clamped together with a nut. Our version looks a bit more elegant with the allen screw - in theory a less durable design as the aluminium block's internal threads would be more prone to getting worn out from repeated threading in and out compared to tightening a nut against a fixed steel threaded rod. In real life, the difference is negligible and would take tens of thousands of uses over decades before any damage is done.
Quang machined this block from aluminium offcuts at work, done manually on a lathe and mill.
Visit our blog villaveloframes.wordpress.com and our Instagram @villaveloframes for more!
Tool of the week: Bottom bracket vice block
The bottom bracket vice block is designed to hold a frame sideways in a vice, clamped down at the bottom bracket. Having the frame held this way is handy for accessing hard-to-reach areas during clean-up, such as the shoreline at the bottom bracket and chainstays. It is much easier to file this area when the frame is on its side.
It simply consists of two cylindrical aluminium blocks, each stepped down in diameter to fit inside a bottom bracket shell. This was turned to 33.50 mm to fit in an English BB shell and also will fit everything larger. The larger diameter sits flat against the face of the shell. One of the blocks has two opposite flats so it can be held in a vice. The two blocks are clamped together by a 12mm allen socket head screw which is threaded into the lower block with the flats. A stainless steel washer at the head of the screw prevents the screw head biting into the upper block.
The idea for this block was taken from Geoff Scott(3rd picture), whose design varies in that a threaded rod is fixed into the bottom block, and both blocks are clamped together with a nut. Our version looks a bit more elegant with the allen screw - in theory a less durable design as the aluminium block's internal threads would be more prone to getting worn out from repeated threading in and out compared to tightening a nut against a fixed steel threaded rod. In real life, the difference is negligible and would take tens of thousands of uses over decades before any damage is done.
Quang machined this block from aluminium offcuts at work, done manually on a lathe and mill.
Visit our blog villaveloframes.wordpress.com and our Instagram @villaveloframes for more!