So who is making rim brake boss fixtures?
 

Now that Anvil is caput, who is making a nice brake boss fixture (for cantilever or braze-on centerpull brakes)? I am struggling to find any maker of framebuilding tools who currently makes one. I could fabricate my own but I like supporting small frame tool shops and a fixture made by a real machinist would work a whole lot better than anything I could make.

Alex Meade makes some nice stuff. Andy

I just bought a frame jig and stem jig from him. He doesn't list a rim brake jig in his online shop but I'll probably email him to see if he'd make one for me as well.

I would say wait for an Anvil to show up, but it's really made for cantilevers. Using it for centerpulls means you have to turn the top part upside-down, which is less than ideal. And it sure would be nice if it wasn't quite so sloppy. But that may be a feature for poorly constructed rear triangles, I dunno.

Nova has this set up in stock but I think you will still need to get the Hammill T-squares (fr & rear) as well: Canti Jig

Can you adjust the width of the canti placement with the Nova Jig?

yes, the canti holders are 'keyed' so they stay in phase but the 2 set screws on top when loosened allows them to expand/contract and rotate. then when the posts are sitting on the tube as desired, the user locks down the set screws.

Thanks. I can see that now. I really do wish that Nova's web site was better.

It's really terrible. If they have someone there who knows the info about the parts they are selling then they should spend a few hours putting that info down on the site.
To be honest, Paragon and Framebuilder Supply are probably the only vendors that have sufficient spec info on their sites.

Agreed and they just refreshed their website, bummer. Lon is great and full of info when you talk to him. Nova is local for me so I try to use them as much as I can.

Oh yeah, I suppose my post sounded really negative on Nova. I think they're really great. I used their parts for the first frame I ever built (TIG-welded aluminum). It's just frustrating trying to figure out from their website if a part will work for you or not.

I complained about the way they labeled chain stays on their site and Lon sent me a long email and then later they fixed my problem. They didn't tell you if a CS would fit in a BB shell. It's usually on there now.

I'm not a super big fan of the way they are handling OOS items now, it makes the site look funny.
OTOH, you know if something is in stock or not.

Not to completely hijack this thread, but I have yet to find a framebuilding website that has everything that I want. I think BFS is getting pretty close but they don't cater to the lugged frames that I build.

Today's interweb expectations are not easy to meet for small operators working on a narrow budget and who are not well versed in the website building world. That those that do exist do as well as they do, on line, speaks to their passion to carry on even when it's hard to get it all together to a standard others are wanting. Andy

While that's true about websites, all the fbuilding companies except Ceeway have modern websites nowadays. Certainly the ones that have added drawings are getting there with the amount of info that you might need. But I think a lot of them still could add a few words of info. Lon in particular has so much history in his head, but he probably thinks everyone knows it. I ignored framebuilding between 1982 and the late '90s, so that's a lot of history missing from what I know.

My problem with the 1977 through mid 1990s was being too stoned and trying to work in the LBS industry the right way. This is one reason why I am slowly going through my old printed catalogs and scanning them for inclusion on my Flicker site. Andy

I made one for holding Mafac cantilever posts on , for brazing.
a flat piece of steel with a lot of holes in it and one was ovalized for width fine tuning.

1 bike done in the mid 70's.

I think I have a flat steel plate with slots in it that I used for this. I feel like Mafacs were a lot more tolerant of bad positioning than modern cantilever brakes. And a fixture takes a lot of guessing out of the process.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bicycle-Fra...3996%7Ciid%3A1

HJ canti boss jig currently on Ebay. 15 hours left as on now. Not mine and worth more IMO then the listed price. Andy

Not being able to adjust the boss spacing would be a deal-breaker for me

I bought one of those many years ago. They spacing can be adjusted. The round piece that holds the bosses are actually 2 pieces where the middle parts hidden inside the fixture are split and the ends cut in half. They are similar in shape to splitters used on seat stays so they can come apart for belt drive systems.

I used the wheel and the brakes in hand to place the posts in the appropriate location.
following the style of the time, so the ones on the fork were rather close together..

Now placing them on the blade center-line rather than offset towards each other.. is commonly done..

I meant to follow up on this comment. I've found the opposite to be true. The lack of a vertical pad position slot in the Mafacs results in only tilting the pad to adjust for poor radius position WRT the rim brake track. Then there's the OEM Mafac pads with little shaft length and how this limits rim width options. But I will say a well set up Mafac canti is still a nice brake. Andy