Originally Posted by
Andrew R Stewart
Andy- I recently viewed a newbie's jigging photos, for the life of me can't find it now, that showed 3D printed tube holders that are much along the lines of Alex Mead's flat plate based designs
Flat Plate Fixtures – Alex Meade Tools I can't say how precise 3D towers might be (but that's not what a jig really does, maintain tracking alignment, that's what your flat surface is for) but they might be rather low cost and for those who do 3D printing, not too hard to make. Andy. (who uses nails/pins mostly to maintain rotational clocking and end point locations during the prep process and adds tacks to trap all before completing the brazing in a repair stand).
I was think much cruder and side clamping. Like gas pipe threaded into flanges that are screwed to MDF as a plate. With cut lengths and adjustment at the threaded end you could control the plate-to-tube side distance very precisely, then use long hose clamps through a hole in the gas pipe to lock the bike tubing to the gas pipe ends.The three main tubes would each get two of these 'towers' along their lengths, plus something similar for the BB shell and rear "hub".
An alternative would be to epoxy the towers to a piece of junked granite countertop.
All of this would work fine to build a frame with just one geometry, though it would be easy enough to rebuild it as needed later on. But I'm thinking $50 in materials.
