Those of you younger guys on the forum will laugh at this, but I’m not too proud to admit when I come across a new tool that turns my shop upside down because it is so AWESOME. I appreciate a great new idea when I see it.
My side of the hobby is fabrication, not machining. So my world is more rulers and soapstone than micrometers and layout fluid. Something I build a lot of is tables and benches. I did a post a while back about some coffee tables that illustrate the point ( https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/just-some-coffee-tables.461/#post-4406 ).
This means tubing, a lot of measurements, and a stack of time spent with levels and squares. I’ve built everything from coffee tables to gold sluices that are 4” rectangular tubing with 0.25" wall. Not saying I was good at it—just that I did it.
Getting tables and benches straight and square isn’t hard, but it is time consuming. Over the years I have used measuring devices, hardwood jigs, and the ancient art of PEEing (Precision Eyeball Engineering). But I’ve seen custom jigs online for a while that have now become affordable. I did make a really bad one years ago; but without the ability to machine it properly, it just barely matched the DIY ones that never pleased me to begin with.
This is what I bought instead six months back. I don’t have pics from my shop as my iCloud/iPhone/iWhatever is self-isolating and I can’t download pics now for some reason. But here’s a vid below from the Welding Tips and Tricks guy (Cody) with the exact same jig I bought and have been using ever since (I FF'd to the jig part of the vid). These 3 axis jigs come in two sizes; mine is the smaller one—but still good for 2” rectangular tubing (works for 90% of what I do).
As he mentions in the vid, some shops buy four. That’s pretty pricey for a hobby guy, so I bought one to start out. I discovered because of the machined surfaces the fit is so darn good that as long as your cuts are within 0.125 or so, all the project legs fit anyways. The other thing I like about the jig is that if your shop floor or workbench isn’t flat, you don’t need to do fit-up on the whole table at once using wedges and levels. Because the jig ensures each axis is aligned, everything fits just fine when you weld the whole project together. If I were doing another gold sluice with 4” tubing, there would be sag for sure, so I’d want the larger model (and probably more than one). But the jig is cast, and heavy enough for smaller tubing. As long as the length of each leg is less than 8’ or so, you'll get minimal sag. Both the small and large jigs come with magnetic tubing supports that you place under the extended tubing to minimize sag, so that helps too. Both feature a way to clamp angle iron as well, which is helpful. And yes, you can do T's as well.
This is a terrific jig that saves lots of time. Not plugging a brand here as there are multiple companies that now make these. I do have four of those old fashioned super heavy duty (30 lbs.) PA 90° clamps, but this jig does 3-axis fit-up for up to 8 feet long with no sag as far as I can tell. Beyond that, or for tubing larger than 2”, you'd want the bigger model methinks.
For reference, what used to take 15 min/leg of fit-up now takes 1 min. Better yet, there's none of that "I hope I got it square...I'd better re-check it" second guessing.
I'm really pleased.
My side of the hobby is fabrication, not machining. So my world is more rulers and soapstone than micrometers and layout fluid. Something I build a lot of is tables and benches. I did a post a while back about some coffee tables that illustrate the point ( https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/just-some-coffee-tables.461/#post-4406 ).
This means tubing, a lot of measurements, and a stack of time spent with levels and squares. I’ve built everything from coffee tables to gold sluices that are 4” rectangular tubing with 0.25" wall. Not saying I was good at it—just that I did it.
Getting tables and benches straight and square isn’t hard, but it is time consuming. Over the years I have used measuring devices, hardwood jigs, and the ancient art of PEEing (Precision Eyeball Engineering). But I’ve seen custom jigs online for a while that have now become affordable. I did make a really bad one years ago; but without the ability to machine it properly, it just barely matched the DIY ones that never pleased me to begin with.
This is what I bought instead six months back. I don’t have pics from my shop as my iCloud/iPhone/iWhatever is self-isolating and I can’t download pics now for some reason. But here’s a vid below from the Welding Tips and Tricks guy (Cody) with the exact same jig I bought and have been using ever since (I FF'd to the jig part of the vid). These 3 axis jigs come in two sizes; mine is the smaller one—but still good for 2” rectangular tubing (works for 90% of what I do).
As he mentions in the vid, some shops buy four. That’s pretty pricey for a hobby guy, so I bought one to start out. I discovered because of the machined surfaces the fit is so darn good that as long as your cuts are within 0.125 or so, all the project legs fit anyways. The other thing I like about the jig is that if your shop floor or workbench isn’t flat, you don’t need to do fit-up on the whole table at once using wedges and levels. Because the jig ensures each axis is aligned, everything fits just fine when you weld the whole project together. If I were doing another gold sluice with 4” tubing, there would be sag for sure, so I’d want the larger model (and probably more than one). But the jig is cast, and heavy enough for smaller tubing. As long as the length of each leg is less than 8’ or so, you'll get minimal sag. Both the small and large jigs come with magnetic tubing supports that you place under the extended tubing to minimize sag, so that helps too. Both feature a way to clamp angle iron as well, which is helpful. And yes, you can do T's as well.
This is a terrific jig that saves lots of time. Not plugging a brand here as there are multiple companies that now make these. I do have four of those old fashioned super heavy duty (30 lbs.) PA 90° clamps, but this jig does 3-axis fit-up for up to 8 feet long with no sag as far as I can tell. Beyond that, or for tubing larger than 2”, you'd want the bigger model methinks.
For reference, what used to take 15 min/leg of fit-up now takes 1 min. Better yet, there's none of that "I hope I got it square...I'd better re-check it" second guessing.
I'm really pleased.
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