chassis jig design

[raustinss]

Gentleman....watch what you do with beams, as you may think they are straight and true....they aren't. The way they are made in the mills leaves lots of room for variances...you can have two beams which are the exact same spec but have more then 1/16" difference in height. Unless of course they came from the same length of material. Also the top and bottom flanges may not be perfectly parallel to each other. This is why alot of shops end up using tubing, the way tubing is specified eg.4" square....1/4" wall....it won't have a fraction of the variances that beams have..it's what is commonly called nominal or non nominal diamensioning. The roadster shop makes their frames on jigs made from either 3" or 4" tubing. If a customer was to come to my shop to have a chassis jig made I would heavily sway them towards using tubing over beams.
Ryan

[Dave Maxwell]

That's what Rad rides used also. Square tube. That's what I'm going with once I'm all moved into my new shop

[Dave Maxwell]

I'm buying a drive on lift. Raise it up to table roll vehicle from one yo the other. Then still have my lift for whatever I want to work on also. Buddies lift moves easily

[raustinss]

Thanks for the info Dave. I wasn't aware but yes you bring up a couple points I didn't cover, if moving the table around is a issue just get creative jack it up and put "car skates" under each corner. Another thing if you build a table out of tubing...build a sub structure under it maybe build some short legs which can bolt to the base plates.... The reason....because once you done with it at the lower height it can then double as a work table...just add a top either wood or metal....now get building and post some pics.

[Dave Maxwell]

I have pics of my new 42x72x16 shop is about all I have now. Haven't even got my tools moved. Wish I could have gotten bigger, but money didn't allow

[Bigfella237]

Just found this thread and yes I know it's a couple of years old, but I just had to mention the "Big Blue Jig" seen on Project Binky on YouTube, apparently they made it themselves and many people have asked them for plans but they say they never drew up any.

It starts off as a two I-beam frame sitting on the floor...



...then they bolt the lifting arms to it and remove the legs...



...and it can be lifted and/or rotated as needed...







...it has casters that can be fitted...



...then the lifting arms are unbolted from the I-beams...



...and attached to the body so the I-beams can be wheeled away...