Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Jigs that Don't Involve Dancing

Tuesday's Trick of the Trade


On the farm and with PigEasy, we're all about making jigs to get the job done a little faster and a lot more smoothly. Templates also make each hole and cut more uniform, saving time later on during installation.

I have to say spending time making up jigs and templates originally sounded like a lot of excess work to me. I'd rather just jump in and get moving on the project, whereas Dad would gladly spend a couple hours making up the jig to perfectly fit the piece. Can you guess which one of us had the wrong idea? Abraham Lincoln had a perfect quote for this:


"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." - Abraham Lincoln



Even though I quickly jumped on board with the their way of thinking, it still baffles me at the amount of jigs and templates we have down at the shop. In addition to a drawer full, you can find templates and jigs all around that are used daily.

Having been there/done that with the farm, we have some templates ready to go for installation of PigEasy products.




The SnoutSpout template is a simple metal plate that fits snugly on the side of the SnoutSpout. Once you figure out how to install one SnoutSpout, drill those holes through the template and away you go preparing them for installation in the shop instead of at the site.






This template for installing the Lactation Boot on the outside of an existing feeder took some time to design. It's made with an option to either drill through the hole or a punch out to quickly plasma cut the hole for the Lactation Boot to stick through.





We also use a template for installing the water brackets on lactation feeders that's really simple and easy to adapt to any style.





That's the end goal with everything we develop and make here at PigEasy. We spend those 4 hours sharpening the axe so you can cut down that tree in two.


Until next time,

Katie