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Currently in the process of machining my own frame jig out of 1/2" 6061 and thought I'd share with you all. Trying to make a lightweight jig so it doesn't flex from the weight of its own arms... SolidWorks analysis says I'm good, but won't find out until I actually build a frame.

More pics

Also if you're wondering how I have access to all this machinery and haven't built a frame yet...I'm a third year engineering student. Figure I better build myself a jig while I have access to all this machinery

SWEET! Looks good.

That is some cool stuff. It will be light and portable. I have made many frame fixtures but all were for specific production frames, not universal types. Can you do all wheel sizes?

I would not remove as much material for durability if nothing else.

Off topic, I have always thought thumbs like you have with a few extra degrees of articulation are cool. Perhaps it's a more evolved design. mine only bend 70 degrees or so at that knuckle.

You'll want to make the rear dropout holder adjustable for different hub spacings and dropout thicknesses.

that thumb is freakin me out though!

Very cool, you get to build a jig and get credit for school. A few questions: What school do you attend? What mill are you useing? Do you have time limitations on how much you can use the machines or is it an "open lab" situation? Are all the machines cnc or are there any manual ones? I'm looking forward to watching your project proceed, thanks for posting here.

Brian

What do you mean by all wheel sizes? Probably only going to be building frames sized for 700c wheels, but depending on how this all turns out, I have a few friends who want to do a 29er frame on it. And regarding the cutouts, I'm just a little concerned about having all that extra weight on the moving parts. I'll try it and see what happens.

Put some time into thinking about this and I totally agree. I'm working with two other guys on this project and we're all using the same droupouts and spacing and considering the dropout holder took us 30 minutes to turn, we figure it'll be fine for the first round. We can always improve...

Actually we aren't getting credit for school. The machine shop staff loves when people come in with personal projects so we're fortunate enough to pursue hobbies on the school's equipment. Mills are ProtoTRAK SMX and lathes are ProtoTRAK SLX. CNC, so we just load up a dxf and we're good to go. These machines are less than a year old, but we also have one old bridgeport manual...but it doesn't get much use. Even if we use the prototraks for hand done stuff it's easier than setting it up in that old bridgeport. no limitations on machine use...any time between 8 and 4:30, but classes will get preference over us if there's a space issue. I go to school in New Hampshire

Lucky you!

More machining...we've been tearing through the 0.5" aluminum in one pass. 1/4" single flute bit running at 5000rpm. feed speed is 5 inches/min.

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Your jig is looking really great, and what a treat to use the machines in the lab. I copied this pic from your blog, I like it a lot.

Hah, yeah thanks! That was actually just a screwup in SolidWorks...I'm not sure why it defined the ground like that, but it's definitely and interesting rendering

Looks great. I will be your first customer, how do I place my order?!

Hah absolutely. Make us an offer

I'd be curious what the pricepoint is on that ... In my experience, that amount of 6061 is hella expensive =/ sure looks purdy though

The 6061 actually wasn't as expensive as I would have thought. I think it came out to something like $200 for all the 6061. Doesn't include hardware and adjustable handles, etc. I would put that at another $50 for metal adjustable handles and all hardware. I think we have something like 20 hours of work into it, but we also weren't the most efficient in the beginning. Programming the dxf into the machines takes a bit of time as does setup and actual running of the program.

I have no idea what my time's worth. But $250 in materials plus 20 hours of work if I were to do it again. I'll sell it to you for $750.

Sheesh man, if I had 750 beans, Id buy that in a heartbeat! ..........unless you want to trade for some artwork, that's about all I have lol

I'll take a pass...but thanks anyway! haha.

Our options were an Anvil (not really an option, let's be honest), a piece of plywood (good for a couple frames? if that?) or developing our own. All the CAD work actually took more time than all the machining, but whatever I wouldn't charge for that because I benefited from it too.

Hah, no worries lol.

Have you built a frame with it yet or are you still finishing the build?

Need to drill and tap a few mounting holes and wait for all our hardware to come in but we should be done early next week. Kinda got distracted by other activities this week, but next week we'll spend it using the jig to practice brazing and hopefully make any design adjustments before using it for our actual frames.

Right on, keep us posted

At $750 I think we could have a deal...of course I'm sure my wife feels differently...

Story of my life....

Sorry to have to intervene, but discussions of commerce are always off topic, so let's leave it at that.

If you really were to start selling these the machine shop supervisor would probably get very interested in a negative way.

Engineering method of estimating price for a sustainable business: take your fixed costs and multiply by 5
material
hardware
machine shop time
Machine shop supplies and incidentals
hourly wage
If you put an honest figure on these you will probably come to something close to what Sputnik/Anvil/Bringhelli/Henry James are charging.

Eric- Thanks for this reply. I always have a bit of question when some one is using the capicities of others' investments to profit by (without including the investor in the loop). At work I don't do repairs for friends, charge them $ and then not kick back some to the shop. Actually I long ago gave up working for myself at work, excepting my own bikes of course. Andy.