# Homemade Frame Jig



## defconfour (Sep 30, 2004)

Maybe not exactly homemade but here are some pics of a jig my buddy is making. He and I took the Brew frame class in Nov and after working with Steve's jig he thought he could put one together himself.



























Headtube holder









A sample of his welds on an 8" flange

I haven't seen in it person yet but itching to see how some frames fit and how it adjusts. It will be used for 20-26" BMX and DJ frames. If you see anything that could be more dialed in - please let me know and I'll forward it on to him.


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## Roadsters (Jul 7, 2008)

defconfour said:


> A sample of his welds on an 8" flange


This guy needs to drink more coffee.


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## Clockwork Bikes (Jun 17, 2006)

Really cool. Keep us posted with pics.

-Joel


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## Schmitty (Sep 7, 2008)

Put some nylon washers begind those Allen bolt heads, or the Al will get chewed real quick. Looks like he had a rotating welding fixture...

-Schmitty-


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## Vlad (Feb 7, 2004)

Aha! I dig the T-1 stickers.


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## unterhausen (Sep 28, 2008)

am I the only one that thinks if you are going to steal someone's design, you should steal from Anvil and not that poor guy from Austin that we picked on a while back?

Anyway, assuming the rod through the head tube holder is the final design, he would be happier with cones there. I was looking at jig designs recently, and one of them was using drill chucks for cones.


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## Walt (Jan 23, 2004)

*+1*

Yeah, doing the Y axis and X axis entirely separately to locate the head tube is a huge advantage over this design (the poor kid from Austin, or henceforth, "PKFA jig")

But for someone who just wants to build a frame or two and has fun with this sort of thing, there's nothing wrong with it. I have no doubt the PKFA jig will hold all the tubes where they need to go - it'll just take half an hour to set it all up.

Cones would be a very good idea for the head tube holder. Fun and easy to make on the lathe, too.

-W



unterhausen said:


> am I the only one that thinks if you are going to steal someone's design, you should steal from Anvil and not that poor guy from Austin that we picked on a while back?
> 
> Anyway, assuming the rod through the head tube holder is the final design, he would be happier with cones there. I was looking at jig designs recently, and one of them was using drill chucks for cones.


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## defconfour (Sep 30, 2004)

Vlad said:


> Aha! I dig the T-1 stickers.


Nice that someone noticed that. The guy that built the jig has been into bmx for a long time since before Joe Rich was on Standard. He can ride as good as his welds too.


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## defconfour (Sep 30, 2004)

Walt said:


> Yeah, doing the Y axis and X axis entirely separately to locate the head tube is a huge advantage over this design (the poor kid from Austin, or henceforth, "PKFA jig")
> 
> But for someone who just wants to build a frame or two and has fun with this sort of thing, there's nothing wrong with it. I have no doubt the PKFA jig will hold all the tubes where they need to go - it'll just take half an hour to set it all up.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the feedback. This is pretty close to the jig we used in Brew's class. While in class he wanted to make his own and knew he had a big piece of 1" aluminum he could use. We found some pics (must have been the PKFA's setup) and he built it based off Brews and that one. Sorry if we stole the design, it was more an exercise to see if one could be built out of a scrap piece of aluminum.

He got the headset holder almost done and is working on the bb, seat, and axle:









So far from the pics it looks a lot easier than the one we used at Brew. If we get further along we'll certainly look at the Anvil setup more in depth. Not to sound stupid, but are certain jig designs patented?


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## unterhausen (Sep 28, 2008)

defconfour said:


> Not to sound stupid, but are certain jig designs patented?


while you can patent anything nowadays, I don't think there are any patented jig designs for fairly good reasons. I made the comment about this design simply because it was so similar to one that was discussed to death on here recently, particularly in light of the deficiencies of that design. I think that anyone that has ever designed a jig has a very difficult time not copying elements from other people's designs. I just wish the Anvil was around to copy when I designed mine.


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## defconfour (Sep 30, 2004)

unterhausen said:


> while you can patent anything nowadays, I don't think there are any patented jig designs for fairly good reasons. I made the comment about this design simply because it was so similar to one that was discussed to death on here recently, particularly in light of the deficiencies of that design. I think that anyone that has ever designed a jig has a very difficult time not copying elements from other people's designs. I just wish the Anvil was around to copy when I designed mine.


Thanks for the info. In our searching, we must have missed that thread about the deficiencies. I told my buddy about the comments and he figured he'd mod some stuf fon the fly:










He did make a comment on how much time it's been taking and how he can see the value of the Anvil kit. But like I said before, he had some scrap and wanted to see what he could do DIY style.


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## Vlad (Feb 7, 2004)

FBM frame. I have nothing useful to add. I'm just psyched to see some BMX content here.


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## OneGearGuy (Jun 15, 2004)

Great post.
I went to BREW in May 09 and feel dumb for buying one of his jigs... It was a "deal" and my logic was that I would return home ready to get moving on frame building right away. So after spending the remainder of my budget on an awesome Miller TIG (Maxstar/pulse) and practicing my welds, I quickly ruined a tubeset trying to get the damn jig to make sense.
I feel like a fool for not being able to work with the thing and have been looking at ways to improve it, ie: Calibration markings and tool-free adjustment knobs. As it stands, the jig makes me feel like I need four hands to measure and adjust settings for each tube.
I may take a few pics and start a thread if any of you folks would like to throw your input my way.

Happy New Year,
OGG


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## defconfour (Sep 30, 2004)

Some updated pics:


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## defconfour (Sep 30, 2004)

Vlad said:


> FBM frame. I have nothing useful to add. I'm just psyched to see some BMX content here.


Agree - my first exposure to bikes was BMX. After seeing an issue of BMXA with Tinker Juerez on the cover airing out of a concrete bowl - I was hooked. This was back in the early 80's when, IMO, there was some very nice frames being made for BMX: Profile, Hutch, JMC, GT, Mongoose, Cook Bros, SE, Patterson. Before many of them went to Tawain for production.

I know there are some that don't think BMX and the small 24" and 26" DJ/park bikes have much going on but I absolutely love that style of bike and riding.


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## defconfour (Sep 30, 2004)

OneGearGuy said:


> Great post.
> I went to BREW in May 09 and feel dumb for buying one of his jigs... It was a "deal" and my logic was that I would return home ready to get moving on frame building right away. So after spending the remainder of my budget on an awesome Miller TIG (Maxstar/pulse) and practicing my welds, I quickly ruined a tubeset trying to get the damn jig to make sense.
> I feel like a fool for not being able to work with the thing and have been looking at ways to improve it, ie: Calibration markings and tool-free adjustment knobs. As it stands, the jig makes me feel like I need four hands to measure and adjust settings for each tube.
> I may take a few pics and start a thread if any of you folks would like to throw your input my way.
> ...


Yeah, I think his jigs work well with a more production type of setup especially a BMX frame. I noticed there were markings on the jigs with names of frames and where the arms should go.

We both thought his jig was a little cumbersome. He made it work but I think my buddy's jig should be easier to work with.

BTW, any pics of the frame you built in his class?


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## Vlad (Feb 7, 2004)

defconfour said:


> Agree - my first exposure to bikes was BMX. After seeing an issue of BMXA with Tinker Juerez on the cover airing out of a concrete bowl - I was hooked. This was back in the early 80's when, IMO, there was some very nice frames being made for BMX: Profile, Hutch, JMC, GT, Mongoose, Cook Bros, SE, Patterson. Before many of them went to Tawain for production.
> 
> I know there are some that don't think BMX and the small 24" and 26" DJ/park bikes have much going on but I absolutely love that style of bike and riding.


Amen. I started riding BMX in the mid 80s and never stopped. If I had to pare my stable down to two bikes, I'd keep the BMX and the XC/trailbike. I can't wait to see the frames that you guys have planned.


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