Getting there - slowly

Grad school's been a bit more of a commitment than I originally anticipated, but I'm still finding some time to work on the bike.  Here's a rundown of everything I've accomplished on the main frame so far:

• Mitered both ends of the top tube
• Mitered both ends of the down tube
• Ground out the down tube and seat tube sockets in the bottom bracket shell
• Preliminary lug cleanup

I'm just about finished mitering the seat tube.  To finish the main triangle prep work, I still need to cut the seat tube to length and finish cleaning the lugs.  I also need to put a jig together.

Normally, you would simply slip the seat lug on to the seat tube at the appropriate length, braze the joint, and then cut the excess tube off.  My lug has an integrated collar for the seat post, which stops the lug from moving down the length of the seat tube.  So, I'll have to cut the tube to length before brazing.

Now that we've starting seeing consistently near-freezing temperatures during the day here, I'm concerned about brazing outside.  The temperature may be too cold for the joints to retain any heat while I'm trying to braze, but there's no ventilation in the basement and it would be a safety hazard to do the brazing down there.  I'm tempted to try to build a fire or light up the charcoal grill and try to get some ambient heat around my brazing space.