Fitting the crankpins

OK, I've changed my mind. Having thought a bit longer, I'm planning to fit the crankpins to the cranks, then fit the wheels then add the cranks.

Three reasons:

I'm finding it difficult to accurately fix the cranks parallel to the wheels.

I don't want to find that the cranks need to be adjusted further down the line.

I can make the crankpin joints stronger if I do them "on the bench".

And also, the instructions suggest doing it this way.

So, how to get the crankpins fixed perpendicular to the cranks? With the crank in a parallel clamp, I can hold the pin in the correct position with a finger while I solder (yes, the pin gets hot very quickly).



Then hold them in a drill chuck to tidy them up. I managed to get some solder around the sides of the cranks making the fold-over joint less obvious.


And now I can use the pins to help align the cranks on the wheels.