I had a deposit down to get a fixture from The Bicycle Academy, but unfortunately they filed for bankruptcy so I’m back on the hunt. As much as I’d love to get something new from Alex Meade or Cobra, it’s hard to justify that much money when I’m just hobbyist and need to round out the rest of my tool collection also. So if anyone out there has a fixture collecting dust or plans on upgrading themselves, let me know!
If you search “frame jig” in the Buy/Sell section of Pinkbike there are a couple, including a Brew jig. It’s what I use and very basic, but way cheaper than the really nice ones. You just have to spend more time on setup. He also has a video up showing how to do the setup which is very useful (on Vimeo?).
Hope this helps. Just message me if you have any more questions.
Best!
Thomas
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A couple hundred bucks worth of 8020 and a few days of work and you can make your own!
Search for “bike frame jig” on instructables and you’ll find a bunch. @drwelby might chime in if we’re lucky.
-Walt
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I had head tube cones made by another framebuilder. Not sure if he’s here. But you can also get cones from ebay since there are still people that think they are going to make a motorcycle frame. The bb post and dropout holders are a bit more work to get right. I was never really too impressed with the instructables fixtures, but I haven’t looked lately. I think I would want to use commercially available dummy axles. Except I recently added up how much I have spent on dummy axles and it’s right around $1000. Every time I buy a set the industry comes up with a new “standard”
You can make up for a crummy fixture by measuring a lot. Getting sorted on alignment checking is probably just as important as a fixture.
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Thanks for the responses everyone. I hadn’t thought to check pinkbike, I’ll check that out. I don’t have a mill or lathe, hand tools all the way for the time being. But because of that I’m hesitant to build my own. I also have two kids and a day job, don’t want to eat up too much time learning to use tools to build tools. I’m not in too big of a rush, I’ll stay patient and hope for some used options.
A cheap lathe is so practical for this kind of stuff. Good luck on Pinkbike!
I have an LCFF sitting under my work bench. I think I used the seat tube cone but I could easily make another and send you the original. Shoot me an email if you have any interest in it. Neuhaus@neuhausmetalworks.com
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I’ve been lurking in the forum for the past couple days saw this as my first opportunity to contribute. I’m building my own fixture, very slowly. Like OP I’m on a pretty tight budget so although I’d love a plug and play solution that’s just not in the cards. Anyway check out this site Chop Source - Bicycle Frame Jig Parts / Fixtures - Welding Jig - Crusiers / Road Bikes / Mountain Bikes I’m somewhat skeptical of the full fixture, although there are some good design ideas here if you wanted to design a fixture using really cheap materials. The big news though is that they sell cones! Precious metal cones.
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I have the Benchmark 1.1 frame fixture that I will be selling soon. Shoot me an email if you’re interested.
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This is a solid set up and one that I’m currently using. It’s great for your first fixture.
i might start making them again I have one spare sat on my workbench you can view the type here mmc engineer’s albums | Flickr somewhere theres a folder called rev 3
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Wow that’s impressive
That fixture deserves its own thread. Crazy piece of engineering.
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That’s toy town level compared to the other stuff we do however 2k a go and people still complained at the price , i losty interest before we finished the DRO version
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Hobby builders are notorius penny pinchers, I should know I was one of them. LOL Pro builders already had one. I really liked what you were doing but I get why you walked away from it.
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Glad you’re on here. I also very much enjoy your Pinkbike comments, gives me a good laugh while on the throne.
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I had to concentrate on my custom hot water bottle business and its sideproduct of furry sleeves , glad i did though
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I love nice tools. It’s an addiction. That jig is awesome
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I have a brew bikes frame jig for sale