The Henry James
ACCESS 100 FRAME BUILDING JIG

The ACCESS 100 Frame building Jig by Henry James features simple design and strong construction for production frame shops. Custom builders who prefer an extremely rigid Jig and want fast and accurate setup will also find this Jig ideal.


Designing frame building jigs is a natural fit with my product design and engineering design background, experience and interest. Our new ACCESS 100 Frame Building Fixture is designed with access to the joints driving the design. Keeping the costs down, without compromising the quality is another factor affecting the design. The combination of the square tubular construction and Head Tube Rod support are unique. This jig will appeal especially to builders who TIG weld their frames. Normal tube cutting and mitering tolerances can require minor jig adjustments to ensure that the miters fit together tightly during welding to minimize distortion. The ACCESS 100 provides this capability. All the steel parts are nickel plated. High wear areas have brass sliding surfaces.


When designing lugs, I integrate esthetics and function. When I design frame building jigs and fixtures, I let function drive form. A high tech and utilitarian look is the result. In keeping with the functional approach, I name the products according to their strengths and purposes.

The ACCESS 100 Jig is a "Compact Plate" type of Jig, just like our "Universal" Jig. In this case the compact plate is a weldment of square steel tubing. Heavy walled 2" square tubing is used for all the structural elements of this Jig, and all the tubes and weldments are Blanchard ground for accuracy and flatness. All steel parts are nickel plated.


The rod that goes through the head tube of the frame is precision ground stainless steel. It is supported by 2 precision steel universal rod ends. This unique design lets the builder set the head tube angle by sliding the upper support arm to the head angle engraved on the Jig.
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ACCESS Jig Perspective View
This view of the ACCESS 100 Jig shows how all the keys settings are set independently.
  • The Cones on the head tube set the size of the frame. A special ruler, not shown, is used for this.
  • The upper arm moves to set the head tube angle.
  • The arm that supports the bottom bracket moves to set the frame length.
  • The lowest arm moves to set the chainstay length.
  • The axle support moves up and down to set the bottom bracket drop (for road and mountain bikes) or rise (for BMX and other small wheel bikes).

Back to Equipment Page 		Access frame building Jig front view
Any frame jig can look great from the front, but you need access to the other side of the frame, too. The Henry James Jigs provide time saving full access all around the joints. Your tacks or brazing can be balanced to ensure a straighter frame. When you look at the back of a Henry James Jig, you see all of the joints and most of the tubes. When you look at the other Jigs from the back, you can't see the frame. All you see is the back of the jig.
Back to Equipment Page 		ACCESS bicycle Jig, back view
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| THE ORIGINAL HENRY JAMES JIG |
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