When we last left off, the frame was welded and that was the end of the weekend.

This week, I had a little roadtrip that took much of the weekend away.  However, progress is still being made.

On a slight aside, I managed to find a lathe locally to supplement the shop.  I've been looking for just the right one for quite some time and mananged to get lucky.  I am supposed to pick it up tomorrow, and if I can get it back together in time it will be useful for the upcoming axles.

The frame has been primed and painted.  A number of coats of black gloss in between minor episodes of rain this week, plus a few days to cure to allow handling.  Nothing worse than sticky Rustoleum.

Additionally, I finished the extra bits of frame for the front bearings and painted them as well.

The bearings were loosely mounted, and here is the trick to getting them aligned properly.  I use a long shaft that goes through both sides.  This aligns them all to a common center.  By adjusting and measuring the shaft to the frame, it can also be squared up to the frame as well.  Tighten everything up and slip the shaft out, presto.  In some cases various tolerances made it slightly difficult to pull the shaft out, but not impossible.

In the photo above, the left (front) bearings are being aligned.  The middle and right (rear) are done and tight.  In each of these, the rough cut 3/4" axle stubs are inserted.

The axle stubs will be trimmed to length, faced off, crossdrilled for wheel retention and keyed ( slots ) for the chain sprockets.  The keyway will be 3/16" to match.

Flipping the frame over and slipping the wheels on allows for a better visual of the final goal:

This allows for the sprockets to be fitted and the roller chain cut to length.  Since I don't have a link breaker, I carefully cut one side link and bent the link to free it from its pins.  This made for a clean break, quick and easy.

Adding the masterlink allowed a test fit of the sprockets that connect the axles together.

Motor mount brackets will be designed and fabbed to fit.  The goal is to allow adjustment front to back for tension and side to side for alignment of the sprockets.