Reynolds 531
- Thread starter jimn8
- Start date
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Hacienda71
Mancunian in self imposed exile in leafy Cheshire
- Location
- Wilmslow, Cheshire
Reynolds 531 is a good quality tubing used by a lot of frame builders. It is a steel carbon mix. Should be a reasonable frame if made out of this.
MajorMantra
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Edinburgh
jimn8 said:
That'll be some manufacturer's marketing spiel for some particular 'edition' of the bike. What brand is it?
Matthew
Hover Fly
Lazy so and so
- Location
- Besides the lake, beneath the trees
As I recall Millenium was a version with short butts specially for welding instead of brazing.
asterix
Comrade Member
- Location
- Limoges or York
I don't understand why it would be useful (or even possible) to weld 531 instead of using lugs or fillet brazing?
- Location
- the post-brexit wasteland
my wife's cro-mo frame is welded. odd shaped flat tubing, probably to look like alu…
Obviously, steel can be welded but 531 steel has to be brazed because brazing has a lower temperature than welding. The higher welding temperature would weaken 531 too much.
Other steels such as 853 are designed to be welded.
Other steels such as 853 are designed to be welded.
If this "Exclusive Millennium Design" 531 frame is actually welded then it would also have much thicker walls at the tube ends to make up for the loss of strength from welding. Tubing designed for welding can have shorter butts because of the smaller heat affected zone.
biggs682
Touch it up and ride it
- Location
- Northamptonshire
i have just found this old thread whilst doing some research re 531 Millenium tubing as not 1 i had heard of before .... watch this space
black'n'yellow
Guest
Not sure what new info there is to be added. It was a custom-drawn tubeset specifically for welding purposes, as stated earlier. Three years earlier, in fact....
Kernowdreamer
Active Member
- Location
- southampton
Resurrecting this as a result of researching 531 Millenium.
The reason regular 531 isn't welded is not because of any difference in the composition of the metal. It is because it is drawn to such thin sections that welding would introduce too much heat into the joints, distort the material and cause stress points and missalignment of the finished frame.
531 Millenium would appear to have shorter thicker butted sections to alleviate this issue without raising the weight of the tubeset significantly.
The reason regular 531 isn't welded is not because of any difference in the composition of the metal. It is because it is drawn to such thin sections that welding would introduce too much heat into the joints, distort the material and cause stress points and missalignment of the finished frame.
531 Millenium would appear to have shorter thicker butted sections to alleviate this issue without raising the weight of the tubeset significantly.
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Gravity Aided
Legendary Member
- Location
- Land of Lincoln
Makes sense,@Kernowdreamer , let alone that thin walled tubing may be more difficult to weld without blowing holes in it. I originally thought "Millenium Tubing" may have been commemorative, like "Anniversary" tubing decals from 1985.
