While on my lunch breaks and after work I have been building my own frame jig. Jigs generally sell for $2500 to $5 grand. Since I have access to CNC machines I could make a jig for penny’s on the dollar of a professional jig. Will there be better ways to go about building a jig? I’m sure there are but, I can happily say that I have designed (with a little internets help) and built my own from scratch. Will it be as easy to set-up or make slight tweaks, doubt it. However saving upwards of $4500 can allow me to be a pinch inefficient in the beginning.

My design is obviously based off of the Arctos Jig.

I started with a really rough sketch and figured out the main pieces of 80/20 extrusion needed (like Arctos). EBay is an amazing source for 80/20. They have their own direct store on eBay. 80/20inc. is the username.

Then rounded up some other stock supplies from McMaster to make the HT and ST holders.

These smiley face brackets allow for angular and position in X and Y.
X being the length of the frame while Y is the height.

So’ together is looks like this. The main beam is 45/15 (meaning 4.5″ x 1.5″) and the HT and ST uprights are 15/15. The main beam is 60″ long and may or may not get cut down in the end. A little extra length never hurt anyone right?

Next I found a nice picture of the BB fixture. I made it a bit more compatible with other forms of BB’s. In case I make a BMX frame one day.

That’s all for now!
Check in again some time and be safe out there!

Allan Varcoe