# Homemade tooling, jigs and the like....



## toddre (Mar 1, 2004)

I have none to share...yet, but how about a thread sharing with us some of the homemade stuff you made to assist you in your frame building....?


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## pvd (Jan 4, 2006)

here's a start:

http://pvdwiki.com/index.php?title=PVD_Tube_Bender

http://pvdwiki.com/index.php?title=PVD_Tube_Butt_Gauge

http://pvdwiki.com/index.php?title=Heat_Sinks

http://pvdwiki.com/index.php?title=Stem_Preparation

http://pvdwiki.com/index.php?title=Fork_Strut_Mitreing


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## toddre (Mar 1, 2004)

pvd said:


> here's a start:
> 
> http://pvdwiki.com/index.php?title=PVD_Tube_Bender
> 
> ...


Ahhh PVD...I knew you'd be drooling on the keyboard when you saw this... Although does it count as homemade with all your machining experience and equipment....:thumbsup:


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## becik (May 5, 2008)

@ pvd
Wow ! 
even your tools are pieces of art...


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## MMcG (Jul 7, 2003)

that stem facing tool is cool.


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## carlhmartens (Oct 22, 2008)

Awesome stuff...I doubt I could make that from my home!


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## BeatAFool (Jan 14, 2008)

what the hell does Peter do for a living??? besides play!


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## pvd (Jan 4, 2006)

I've put a huge amount of time, energy, and planning into making sure that I get to do what I think is fun for a living.

My father used to always say, "find a job you love and you'll never have to go to work again."


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## TortugaTonta (Jun 14, 2004)

You are the first person that agrees with me that CK headsets are poorly designed 

Yeah, lets charge $100 and then give you a plastic washer to try and keep it from creaking. But I guess you have to pay for the pretty colors.

Always wondered why they don't just use a split wedge instead of a o-ring to have a mechanical interface


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## ~Argyle~ (Sep 22, 2008)

TortugaTonta said:


> You are the first person that agrees with me that CK headsets are poorly designed
> 
> Yeah, lets charge $100 and then give you a plastic washer to try and keep it from creaking. But I guess you have to pay for the pretty colors.
> 
> Always wondered why they don't just use a split wedge instead of a o-ring to have a mechanical interface


Due to the fact that Cane Creek (formerly Dia-Compe) owns the patent on that wedge.


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## toddre (Mar 1, 2004)

C'mon people..I was hoping to find some kind of coat hanger-duct tape-bubble gum kind of thing... Nothing against you PVD....
What I need is a simple jig for chainstay/drop put...what have you people got?


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## BeatAFool (Jan 14, 2008)

I'll try and snap a pic of my jig thingy this afternoon. It's pretty much just a piece of 8020, a long bolt, some 123 blocks and another bolt for the axle.

Peter, the house nextdoor came up for sale, you should be my neighbor!!!


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## rustola (Jan 15, 2008)

Here's a fork jig that I made out of 8020 extrusion and a few little odds and ends made in the machine shop. I also use it to build wishbone rear ends - I switch the cross member to the righthand tower, and the little red jobbies attach to the it and hold the end of the seatstays.


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## racerdave (May 12, 2007)

wow... awesome stuff pvd


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## merk (Jan 12, 2004)

8020 is fun stuff for the home builder. 
Here is my simple stem jig


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## buildyourown (Dec 1, 2004)

Cable stop brazing device
https://bp2.blogger.com/_2-jBRWL3IMQ/Ru9qYJoJRwI/AAAAAAAAAS8/Z_GqNAaqWng/s1600-h/100_1704.JPG

Bridge holder
https://bp2.blogger.com/_2-jBRWL3IMQ/Ru9nbJoJRsI/AAAAAAAAASc/na_jxwbwdl0/s1600-h/100_2155.JPG

S-bend seatstay vise.
https://bp0.blogger.com/_2-jBRWL3IMQ/Ru9kEpoJRoI/AAAAAAAAAR8/1P_3mJMdwxg/s1600-h/100_2146.JPG

ghetto bender
https://bp0.blogger.com/_2-jBRWL3IMQ/RjLsLKHsMzI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/Ai9UqcCn0G4/s1600-h/100_2115.JPG

tube scribe
https://bp0.blogger.com/_2-jBRWL3IMQ/Rd_SWig5rqI/AAAAAAAAALI/_46n6mu4Lsw/s1600-h/100_1924.JPG

tube blocks
https://bp1.blogger.com/_2-jBRWL3IMQ/Rd5BnCg5rmI/AAAAAAAAAKM/XJGs2TDFmYc/s1600-h/100_1878.JPG

tube blocks for hand work
https://bp1.blogger.com/_2-jBRWL3IMQ/RdzwpDi3x6I/AAAAAAAAAJY/nlNjMjOheG8/s1600-h/100_1894.JPG

tube butt gauge
https://bp2.blogger.com/_2-jBRWL3IMQ/RZxY4-3JB0I/AAAAAAAAAA0/e9zdmf8ppgg/s1600-h/100_1695.JPG


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## racerdave (May 12, 2007)

I knew building is a major investment in time, $$, effort. But the more I see this stuff, the less appealing building is to me. Although I'd love to be able to say I rode something I built, unless I were to build more then 1 frame, is it really worth the effort?

MAJOR props to all you folks with all of these jigs that you built so skillfully. A tip of the (welding) helmet to you all.


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## Schmucker (Aug 23, 2007)

A lot of these tools are to make life easier. If your first frame is straight gauge you don't need a butt gauge. If you use an off the shelf fork, you don't need a fork jig. You'll need a frame jig of some form. Use pre-bent stays. A frame jig, perhaps a chainstay/BB/dropout jig, some blocks, files, a torch, and give it a go. A lot of people are just mechanical. We see how things work and like making things, solving problems. Others just are not good fabricators. I haven't built a frame yet, but I plan on it. First thing is finding a job, getting a workspace, learning to weld, buy the crap, and giving it a go. I know I'll have 3k invested in my first frame, but whatever. I only plan on building for myself and my friends. Maybe do some work for locals that need their stays cold set, or some braze-ons or disc tabs added.


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## pvd (Jan 4, 2006)

racerdave said:


> I knew building is a major investment in time, $$, effort. But the more I see this stuff, the less appealing building is to me. Although I'd love to be able to say I rode something I built, unless I were to build more then 1 frame, is it really worth the effort?


Framebuilding is extremely expensive and time consuming for your first 10 frames or so. After that it's really cheap. But then your goals get more lofty and you look for bigger challenges. It never stops really.

I'm just about finished cleaning my home workshop getting ready for my motorcycle project. I needed to move my surface table to a better position and get all of my small parts and junk organized so that it wasn't a such a mess and so I could find my fasteners and such. I'm building a sportbike chassis to go with some '07 GSX-R 600/750 chassis parts and an '06 Ninja 650R motor. The cost of the special tools alone is going to be insane, but by spring I'll be on my own motorcycle. Then I start work on #2 & #3. Then I'll start on making my own car and ultralight...


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## themanmonkey (Nov 1, 2005)

racerdave said:


> I knew building is a major investment in time, $$, effort. But the more I see this stuff, the less appealing building is to me. Although I'd love to be able to say I rode something I built, unless I were to build more then 1 frame, is it really worth the effort?
> .


You can build all fixtures to get the job done for under $1000 and a good bit of time. Frame parts will run in the $200 ballpark and paint another $300. If you need to get a basic brazing rig that will be another $500. For most new builders the building and fixtures take about 100 hours total. These are all just general round numbers to give you an idea of what you're looking at as far as cost and time.

It's kind of like brewing your own beer. The first batches are expensive and cost about the same as buying in the store. Once you've got the basic tools going later batches cost less and less.


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## racerdave (May 12, 2007)

pvd said:


> Framebuilding is extremely expensive and time consuming for your first 10 frames or so. After that it's really cheap. But then your goals get more lofty and you look for bigger challenges. It never stops really.
> 
> I'm just about finished cleaning my home workshop getting ready for my motorcycle project. I needed to move my surface table to a better position and get all of my small parts and junk organized so that it wasn't a such a mess and so I could find my fasteners and such. I'm building a sportbike chassis to go with some '07 GSX-R 600/750 chassis parts and an '06 Ninja 650R motor. The cost of the special tools alone is going to be insane, but by spring I'll be on my own motorcycle. Then I start work on #2 & #3. Then I'll start on making my own car and ultralight...


Thanks.

Man, that motorcycle project sounds awesome! Very cool. Sounds like a great mix of parts. I know this is a bicycle framebuilding forum, but I'd dig it if you at least shoot up a link here to your pics when you start -- and finish -- with your motorcycle project.

And car? What car. I'm seriously considering starting to build a "Locost" (Lotus Super 7 home-build) in the next few years, especially as my 6-year-old son gets older and could help if he's so inclined. I was thinking about buying a pre-built frame for it, but hey, maybe that's enough incentive for me to start learning to weld and/or braze!


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## racerdave (May 12, 2007)

themanmonkey said:


> You can build all fixtures to get the job done for under $1000 and a good bit of time. Frame parts will run in the $200 ballpark and paint another $300. If you need to get a basic brazing rig that will be another $500. For most new builders the building and fixtures take about 100 hours total. These are all just general round numbers to give you an idea of what you're looking at as far as cost and time.
> 
> It's kind of like brewing your own beer. The first batches are expensive and cost about the same as buying in the store. Once you've got the basic tools going later batches cost less and less.


Thanks for the rough $$ and time figures. Definitely attainable... I suppose I just need to think of it as a journey and not a destination. My kids are young right now so maybe it's not the time to go full out, but maybe time to slowly start building tooling and welding and/or brazing skills.

I've seen a lot lower-cost (but probably less durable) jigs, but the one's I've seen here are much more intricate but also lead to more durable and repeatable frame builds.

So thanks for those who posted and keep posting more. :thumbsup:


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## pvd (Jan 4, 2006)

racerdave said:


> I suppose I just need to think of it as a journey and not a destination.


Yeah. You never get there really. It really is just a journey.


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## buildyourown (Dec 1, 2004)

I've posted it before, but here's my home made jig


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## pvd (Jan 4, 2006)

BYO,

You are going to love my motorcycle frame jig. It's similar to yours, but on a whole 'nuther scale. I should have a few pics that look like something in the next month. It starts with a 7'x3' steel surface table. Two angle plates. One is 42" tall, the other is 18".

On another topic, I'm getting a 2009 Saint group for my M6 in November and will be planning another trip to Whistler next summer if I don't do a euro road bike tour. Depends on how the dollar's doing. Anyway, it would be good to meet up with you again on the mountain. I put in a lot more time at Northstar during this summer and got a season pass for next summer. I wanna go real big next year.


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## toddre (Mar 1, 2004)

buildyourown said:


> Cable stop brazing device
> https://bp2.blogger.com/_2-jBRWL3IMQ/Ru9qYJoJRwI/AAAAAAAAAS8/Z_GqNAaqWng/s1600-h/100_1704.JPG
> 
> Bridge holder
> ...


Good stuff guys....


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## merk (Jan 12, 2004)

*More 8020*

What I need is a simple jig for chainstay/drop put...what have you people got?[/QUOTE]


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## buildyourown (Dec 1, 2004)

Are you trying to braze the cs/dropout joint?

Here's what I used.

https://bp2.blogger.com/_2-jBRWL3IMQ/RbgKzVWX0XI/AAAAAAAAAIU/LI6QfUdD5_A/s1600-h/100_1841.JPG

It could be simpler is you only ever used vertical drops.
It's nothing fancy, but it ensures that the left matches the right.


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## Smokebikes (Feb 2, 2008)

Here is our SS jig...........it's all in the set-up and making sure your eyeballs are straight.


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## offroadcyclist (Feb 22, 2004)

buildyourown said:


> Are you trying to braze the cs/dropout joint?
> 
> Here's what I used.
> 
> ...


I spent a couple of hours last night going through each post of your bike building blog. Thanks very much for documenting it. It was very interesting to me.
I noticed that you last updated the blog over a year ago. I was wondering if you finished the frame (it looks like you were pretty much done) And if so, I would love to see a picture of it built up.
thanks!


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## abarthx19 (Jan 13, 2008)

Hi all,

I haven't had the most productive weekend with my frame building project but I did get some useful ideas for low budget tooling that might be useful to other first time builders so I thought I might share them.

The first idea came about while cutting a downtube to fit around a seat tube in order to get a close fit with the bottom bracket. I had mitered both the downtube and seat tube to individually fit the bb, and needed to cut out a notch for the seatube. I'm still learning the art of mitering with hacksaw and file and needed a way of making sure I got the angle between tubes correct and the right amount to metal removed to achieve this.

I got the idea from one of those triangular welders magnets. Basically its a pair of cardboard set squares cut to the desired angle which are then glued either side of a timber spacer. The timber is slightly recessed from the edges of the set square, which allows the tubes to sit within the gap formed by the parallel edges. This allows the angle to be checked as well whether the tubes are on the same centre axis.
















Secondly, now that I've started cutting tubes for the main frame I've started to ponder how I'm going to go about building a jig. I've already had a pair of centre cones machined up by a friend for locating the head tube and was thinking i might need another cone made to hold the seat tube in place. Then yesterday I was in a B&Q diy store (a bit like Home Depot but in the UK) when I stumbled across this:









Its an individual leg for a sofa/coffee table, which when you unscrew the rubber tipped foot turns in to a rather handy cone... sorted! So if there are any UK based frame builders out there who are in need of some centre cones for a jig and who don't have access to a lathe pop down to your local B&Q store.









Cheers,

Mark


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## shandcycles (Jan 15, 2008)

Mark, for about $30 shipped to the UK you could pick up a pair of these cones:
ebay linky

These have the advantage of being precise, bored and solid. The ones you've posted look like they'd deform pretty quickly under heat.

Cheers

Steven


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