The Jigmaster Project

[Shark Hunter]

You have some serious skills Chris.
It just amazes me you can turn those giant pieces of metal into a fine work of art.
Thank You for taking us along.

[sdlehr]

This entire thread is one amazement after another. Keep it up, I'm paying close attention!

Sid

[Alto Mare]

I'm amazed with every step you take on this project Chris. If there was such a thing, I vote this one thread of the year.

I'm going to take a little credit here, I pinned it and you could see why, but this has gone way past what I visualized it would go.

Excellent job!

Sal

[Penn Chronology]

I believe we should create a Alan Tani Hall of Fame award.

Guess who I feel deserves the first trophy?

[Cortez_Conversions]

You're doing an awesome job Chris!

[Rothmar2]

I believe we should create a Alan Tani Hall of Fame award.

Guess who I feel deserves the first trophy?

Robert Janssen for his Ambassaduer 3.0 thread
All the guys who have their own boards that are producing parts for members here
Alan Chui and his "source"
Sal
Daron
George
Gman
Irish Jigger
Mike (mhc)
Plus many others here who post their builds.

I be at the bottom of a very long list.

Actually have the frame roughly filed now to a usable shape, albeit very rough. Still much to do.
This frame is far from perfect, there are a number of "issues" with it. But, I assembled the reel last night without the bridge, gears, clutch and am relieved the spool spins like a dream.
The biggest niggle for me despite a few little slip-ups is WEIGHT. Going to have to do some very tedious extra work to try and machine a bit more off. I will get some more pix up next week.
But for now, this project will be shelved for a while. It has been a great learning experience for me, and will be looking forward to getting into the 501 frames in the future. I think the SS frame for the 501 will be a much better strength/weight gain mix than doing a 500 SS frame. There are a number of things I wish I had've done differently on this part of the project, but I hope I have shown its possible to build SS frames from plate/flatbar, rather than from pipe/round bar stock (too expensive).

[Rothmar2]

Thanks again for your interest and kind words everyone.

To do the chain drilling, it all has to measured out and centre-punched beforehand. Each centre punch should allow a little bit of overlap. I used a 9mm drill in the cut-out corners, a 4.5mm drill for the other holes, and the centre punch holes are 8mm apart. Note I have "heavy" and "light" centre punches, the heavies for drilling, the light ones are the frame shape profile, helps me to keep track of everything



After drilling, it all looks a bit messy. I did have a few holes that wandered a bit.



Any metal left joining the cut-out piece to the rest of the frame was hit with needle files, and I used a sharp chisel to help break up any remaining strands, and to knock the waste piece out



I then used a die grinder with a straight shank carbide bit to grind away the dags, it makes pretty short work of it. I wore thick chemical rubber gloves and a face-shield, as thousands of tiny little needle shards are made during this process. Still ended up with the odd splinter.
Once most of the dags are removed, it's onto the files



Here I have used an angle grinder with a 1mm cutting disk to cut a groove to mark where I will cut back the frame edges, and chain drilled across the top of one of the cross bars of the frame



I completed the cuts using a hacksaw



One edge cut away...



Then more grinding and filing....frame taking shape



Early test fit, spool spins beautifully



And after about 5-6hrs of chain drilling, die grinding, drilling and tapping the rod clamp bolt  holes, and widening out the centre location hole that was used to locate the reel seat to frame, I am at this point....



Heading home from work over the next couple of days. So I probably won't get much done over the next few weeks. I may make some of the smaller parts while home, depends how many reels I get in for service.

And besides, I'm looking forward to further sessions with the Tank, hopefully with a sword on the end of the line.

[steelhead_killer]

incredible...

[Ron Jones]

And they say Craftsmanship is dead! Truly impressive my friend, can't wait for the next chapter.
Ron

[broadway]

What can I say this time? ... You amaze me!
Thanks for taking us through the process with you
Dom

[Marcq]

I say WOW 

Marc..

[Tiddlerbasher]

Thank you for the journey Chris - I'm luving this

[mhc]

You've made a lot of progress this stint - the frame is looking great.
Have a good break - and while you catching swords on the Tank, the rest of us will have time to think of more words to describe your work.

[Mattman NZ]

Man im impressed - you really need a mill .

[Yogi_fish808]

What an incredible level of craftsmanship on that frame! Hats off to you man, master yoda level. Somehow, I'd wanna see this masterpiece mated up with Sal's stainless sideplates and every other possible ss part available. That would really be the ultimate evolution of a jigmaster.