WigJig for wire Jewelry

I will try to tell you how to make a simple jig for wire earrings or necklaces. I started to make earrings only with pliers but I soon realized that the more complex ones were not similar enough to call them "a pair". Then I discovered the wigJigs on http://beadstore.wigjig.com and I wanted to order, but then I thought I can save the time and money by making my own.

Materials you need (what I used):
- some pieces of harder wood (I found some already-cut rests at Baumaxx -for free, made out of some sort of very dense glued carton, almost like wood). For the 4 different jigs that I present here you will need 4 pieces of 15x15cm, or 2 pieces if you find thick enough material (>=1.8cm).
- 3mm thick iron pegs - furniture door stoppers (i found a 20pcs pack for ~3Euro/ ~4$)  or anything similar (1-2cm long nails are also an option) 

TIP1: don't use very thin wood since the pegs will come out on the other side and once on the table they will pop out. 
TIP2: don't use soft wood (like conifers) as you won't be able to drill nice holes and the holes will bend due to the force applied to the pegs. 

Tools you need:
- printer + paper
- pencil + copy paper (or some other way to transfer the pattern to the pieces of wood)
- Dremel + stander
- 3mm wood drill

Step 1: Transfer the patterns on the wood

Download and transfer the attached patterns on the pieces of wood as precisely as possible. If you mark only a dot in every center of the circles it would better when you use the Dremel.
I suggest you use the circle-shaped patterns for a start, since you can make some nicer designs (in my opinion). 

Comments

[cat76501]

I think making the jigs was as much fun as making the jewelry. Thanks again.

[mesterila]

That's a great job cat76501!! I bet you had a lot of fun drilling those holes :)

[cat76501]

here is a photo of all four of my jigs, two medium, two small

[cat76501]

Some photos here. I like to put the pegs in as I go along that way they don't get in the way of my work. Hopefully you can see what I am doing here. All together it cost less than $12 to make 4 jigs, but I wouldn't try this without a drill stand or a drill press.

[cat76501]

Pictures in use? I'm not real good with a camera but, I'll try it, just need a little time. I wound up making four of these jigs because I was having such fun with the drill press (my first time using one) and I kept trying smaller drill bits. So I have two sizes in the square pattern and two sizes in the round pattern. I used red oak for the wood, and I am using finishing nails for the pegs. The wood is pretty hard and the pegs stay put very well. I haven't tried the metal tubing on the pegs yet, but its a good suggestion.

[mesterila]

Thanks cat76501, I really appreciate it - I'd love to see some pictures

@Bongmaster: As for showing it in use... I didn't have time lately to take pictures, but I guess cat76501 will come with some pictures soon ;)

@paqrat: you are right, I used metal tubing on top of the pegs to get different diameters. As for lining them in the board, it is a good idea if you work a lot with different patterns. What I ended up doing was using 4 patterns on different areas of the circular jig - with little variation.

[cat76501]

Hi, I signed up here just so I could thank you for posting this idea. I bought one of those cheap jigs and it is quite inferior but I didn't know anything at the time. Now I am using these patterns to make some of my own. I have borrowed a drill press for a few days just for this project. I hope to post some photos when I get finished. Thank You!

[paqrat]

Perhaps you could use metal tubing in different diameters to build up the pegs. I would also suggest metal tubing to "line" the holes in your board. I think that would prevent the holes from wallowing out from repeated inserting and removing the pegs.

[beafriedl]

please show it in use, can't imagine

[Bongmaster]

can u show it in use?