Bamboo Bike Frame.

Step 5 Tacking

Now tack everything together on the jig, with epoxy. Easy enough. Make standoffs for the jig as described in that instructable (but I used epoxy instead of welding it). I used string to tie the tubes to the standoffs, as I had no tube clamps and bamboo does not get attracted to magnets. It actually worked pretty well.

For the front triangle, I first tacked the seat tube to the BB shell.

Then I tacked the head tube to the down tube.

Then I attached the seat tube and BB shell to the upright part of the jig, and tacked the down tube/head tube assembly to the BB shell/seat tube assembly.

Then the top tube was slid in and tacked. For this, I actually had the front triangle (actually a front V at this point) lying flat on the table.

For the rear triangle, I filled the tubes with expanding foam first. I capped the ends with tape to hopefully force the foam to expand inwards. The seat tube was replaced on the jig upright, and the dropouts were bolted to the dummy axle. I put the rear triangle tubes into place, using the dropouts to poke holes in the foam, which held everything in place while the glue dried.

Tacking is the best, it's not very messy and your frame looks almost rideable! Don't try riding it, though, you'll just hurt yourself and your frame will be in pieces again.