I like this…
The deluxe kit ($599) gets you …
Contains everything from the Standard Kit + a hacksaw, a half-round file, sand paper and soft jaws for your vise to hold tubing without marring it.
One half-round file !!! Jeebus, I’ll never be that good. Gotz 20+ files and probably need another 20+ more.
Fucking retarded idea, you are better off building with a protractor and straight edges than relying on this piece of shit to keep anything in line.
i wondered what you’d think of it.
i find the whole idea of it being made from MDF more hilarious, and the fact they say this
The Jiggernaut is made from MDF which is wood so if you point a torch at it it can char or even burn. However using MDF as a welding jig is a time tested method and is a common welding practice in many industries. Our Jig is designed with the tubes held off the back plate far enough to braze the joint with only cosmetic charring (in our experience) and the standoffs can usually be place toward the center of the tube, away from the joint taking the heat.
Like most things in the frame building world, there are many ways to skin a cat. One method of construction that we’ve learned is to use the frame jig to align all of the tubes, tack them in the jig and then pull everything out of the jig and finish welding, brazing or soldering out of the jig. In that scenario, the jig does its duty of alignment without needing to take as much heat.
I actually think it’s great and can’t wait to see how much rubbish is made from this. It’s certain to be a positive thing forestablished framebuilder’s because punters who previously thought “can’t be hard, I’ll build one myself” will in the end be more than happy to pay someone to make one for them, and the punter’s won’t quibble over prices or waiting times for something well made, and nicely finished.
Great minds think alike, I was going to say the same thing.
Having a jig will NOT ensure a straight frame kids, brazing procedure and mitering accuracy are much much more important.
I’d be concerned about the nasty formaldehyde shit coming out of the binders in the MDF when it gets scorched by the torch though
That and the fact that there’ll be a bunch of kids with under-brazed frames because they could only afford MAP gas canisters, which they ran out of, and Bunnings was shut so they rushed all the brazing. I can forsee lots of dental work arising from people using these kits.
Frames are super structures, weighing sub 2kg’s (often lots less) and supporting riders and equipment sometimes weighing 50 times as much. Most steel tubing is thinner than an eggshell in the mid sections and it’s not something you want to get wrong by under or over cooking. If bicycles frames were built to conform to building standards or engineered like car chassis/bodies they’d weigh at least 10 times what they do now.
I like the idea of everybody having a go at making their own frame. As Brakefree said it can be done on a shoestring budget and there’s plenty of resources and info on the webs. Most people soon realize what looked fairly straightforward and simple isn’t as easy as it seems. More importantly anyone that’s made or tried to make at least one frame then acknowledges how good the best and most skilled framebuilders are and how they really don’t get the cred they deserve.
What do you all think of the design of their fork blade benders?
overdesigned, and if it is made of MDF then it is going to crumble like ryvita
Bending mandrels aren’t rocket science, its how you use them that counts
Sach’s bender
Interesting that Sach’s one appears to be made from ply. I’ve had a friend ask me to make him a tube mandrel specifically for seat tubes, the plan was to make it from ash.
What do you use for bending, Keith?
Keith is like 10ft tall, he just uses his arms.
I would love to build my own frame.
Being a builder i think i would love the feeling of building a frame and riding it.
The problem is the cost.
Jig $300
Tube set $300
Lugs and parts $100
paint $200
Say $900 for a ball park
One day ill order a os tube track frame with a wound up fork and hipster it with some zipp tri spokes.
Keith was offering a nice frame for $1200 wasn’t he?
shit i know what id ride.
An aluminium mandrel with a 3 foot steel lever arm. I’m better at working with metal than wood