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I need some Schwinn frame tip/tricks

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maybe a bmx headset? Most ‘American 1 inch’ headsets are 32.5, where as there are some bmx headsets out there that are 32.6 and 32.7. I have one where the cups were too big to press into a ‘57 Schwinn.

That being said, if I had cups on had that are just a little loose, I’d go beer can shim
 
What's the easiest way? Just set the cup with bearing end down on the workbench and slightly flare out the bottom of the cup with the right size socket or flaring tool. Or as bubba G would do, just bend it out a wee bit with two sets of pliers/vice grips. :p

I'd prob do the same as this, flare em out a bit. but first i'd be carefully tapping the head tube in, with a light weight flat side and round side ball peen hammer. gentle taps and patience. . use some leather and or soft pine on the painted tube so ya won't knock or crack the paint. and as the head tube is thicker, harder to reshape, knock the top side cylinder of cups into a slight oval then oval out the middle to get em balanced 4 sides and or 8.. Paints and glue might be the easy way out but much weaker than metal against metal. Murphy likes that. (murphy's law) glue, epoxy and paints as fillers on metals especially old just don't stick. hot lead is better than that plus, you can sand or grind it back down wit wood pole to hoone it into right size. or just roughing it wit dremmel type tool to get the right shape.but kisa your paint good bye. 'bah, bah, bye,' bye!'. Aluminum cans for shimming not good, aluminum and steel causes electrolysis,, eats both> refer to murphy.


Of course your best bet is to buy a perfect shaped mold and squeeze em back, but that's if ya want to buy a tool you'll have to look at for the rest you life. but if ya finds some realy old, hardened wood, and a friggen drill bit that;s tough enough to drill all the way through it, then cut in half, wala!
Wood Species Specific Gravity* Compressive Strength (psi)
Hickory -------------0.72 ------------------------9,210
Maple, ---------Hard 0.63 ----------------------7,830
Maple,----------- Soft 0.54--------------------- 6,540
Oak, Red--------- 0.63------------------------- 6,760


Alternitively Practice with a ball pin hammer on sheet metal, you be surprised how many things you can reshape wit em. I don't seem to have the patence or skill I did as a teen through my late 50's but dam I used to tap some sweet smooth into chrome fenders and stuff like that. Painted is much easier as not so much shine to see the tapping, and if done right, soft and gental it'll retain it's sticking to the metal and you can buff out your marks. but chrome,, you had to get up real close to see my signature. But still I'd guess I could knock around t he head post some and flare the cups to fill the gaps and stick those puppies. Keep in mind that, when you bend steel back without hard steel behind it, which continues to temper/forged ( squish them crystals tighter) , , you've taken it's temper out,, it would require re-tempering or forging (squish crystalline tighter ) to harden it back, so, Murphy's in play. So try and keep steel behind the metal you're screwing up.

I can remember NOT having a ball peen in my tool box, or my dad's since was a wee child, no craftsman/or wo, should be without em

klein-tools-ball-peen-hammers-803-12-64_1000.jpg
 
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I have used the beer can shim. Cut a tube out of beer can to correct dia. and 1 inch longer then you need. Slather with anti-seeze and place inside tube, leave 1 inch sticking out. Cut from edge of protruding shim straight to head tube with scisors in 6-7 places. Now bend the strips of protruding shim over the head tube. This will help hold it from slipping, you can even put a hose clamp on it to hold even better. Install headset.
With a vintage frame like yours I would do this as a last resort only. Now I have a toy lathe (Sherline) so I would turn down a BMX headset if I didn't care if it original.
 
Leave the hammers alone, the tubing is stretched and damaged and hitting it will damage it more...albeit only a very slight amount. The simplest but not cheapest would be to use the cups for locking forks as previously explained. Try the beercan shim first, if it is too thick, thinner shim material is available from automotive machine shops if you can find one. There is also an old school fix, find a socket the size of the ID of the flange on the cup, the part that presses into the head tube. Put the socket with cup into a strong vice. Use a center punch to punch a series of indents all around the outside of the flange on the cup. When you center punch the steel, it creates a raised ring around the punch mark. Do it uniformly around the outside of the flange and this will make the flange fit a little tighter. This picture is to show the pattern of punch marks used to fix the inside of a wheel hub for example only, I do not recommend punching the inside of the head tube, punch the outside of the flange on the cup. Cups can always be replaced, screw up the headtube and the frame is done.
060-spun-hub-bearing-repair-punch-wheel.jpg
 
Mine was a little beyond that. The in weld buildup method worked like a dream. I’ve been riding the bike since I finished it this last Monday and it’s perfect. Thanks for the info, though. I’ll remeber that next time I have one that’s a little loose.
 
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