At the shop, we had been talking about putting a screen of some sort in front of the repair area to protect these bikes from the over curious. Right after that conversation, Head Mechanic, Daniel, found this old fireplace screen with holes in it by the dumpster. The discarded screen had one broken support stand with it. Stainless Matt (maker of stainless steel bike frames) took the support stand, flipped it, drilled some holes, and created a base for the screen. Customer Ben helped sort some worn bike parts for shop art projects, and he filled a box with a bunch of cogs and chain rings. I cleaned the parts in the solvent tank and decorated the screen with these no longer useful chain rings and disassembled cassettes.
So, if you are a road or mountain warrior or a fixed gear rider, you can write down your hours and miles on the bike in your training journal. Or, you can ride as much as you can. And then, decorate a screen with your used up and shark-toothed chain rings, cassettes, and cogs to create a visual representation of your commitment. If you make a screen with your old chain rings and cogs, send us a link to a photo. (More information after the jump.)
Photos taken by Wheelgirl.
I tried a few ways to affix the chain rings and cogs to the screen. First, I thought I might use wire loops and solder the ends of the wire together. But solder joints are typically not flexible. And the screen is flexible. The wire mesh it like a cloth, in a sense. It is woven out of metal threads, and it moves like cloth might move. Whatever you use to attach the pieces to the screen, it needs to feature a flexible joint. Anything really inflexible will break if and when the screen flexes in its frame.
The next idea was to sew the rings and cogs on with dental floss or a heavy nylon thread. But I didn't have a sewing kit handy. What I did have was a $4.39 hot glue gun. So, that is how I chose to affix these worn rings and cogs to the screen. You have to get a decent technique in place, or the glue won't fill the holes in the screen and / or will dry before you can align the teeth or the pieces. Also, if you don't use enough glue, when you stand up the screen, the glue bond won't hold the weight of the metal pieces, and they will fall off. Experiment, and you will probably come up with your own improved process.
- I set down the screen so it was flat, parallel to the floor. (I had to prop up one end with some books to make it parallel, since the base was already attached.)
- Then, I put white paper on the floor under the screen. The black screen on the brown wood floor made the design hard to see. So, the white paper provided more visual contrast, and it made the design easier for my eyes to see.
- I arranged the rings and cogs into a design. Some of the component designs and shapes are really lovely. So, try to feature whatever makes your eyes the happiest.
- Then I hot glued the pieces with flexible glue and pressed them onto the screen. I started at the bottom left corner and worked my way to the top right corner, so most all of the teeth are interlocking at multiple points. I glued the outer rings first, and the cogs inside those rings second.
- I did my best to cover most of the holes in the screen. There are a few that didn't get covered, since I would have had to change the composition of the design too much in order to cover all of the holes.
- Once you stand up the screen, try not to move it back down parallel to the floor again and again. Each time you put the screen in a horizontal position (flat with the floor), the weight of the components flexes the screen down toward the floor. This can disrupt the glue joints. So, try to get all of your gluing done, and then keep the screen vertical and upright. Since in this upright position the screen rarely flexes in its frame.
