Jiga-Rex off center

I bought a Jiga Rex, it generally works great, enjoy doing my own binding mounts. However I have encountered a sporadic issue that I can't figure out. Being anal I double check everything before drilling any holes. Twice I have found that when I clamp the ski the Jiga-Rex is not lined up on the center line (tip to tail) of the ski, offset to the left. If I loosen it and re-clamp it lines up. I have tried to duplicate the problem by over tightening, not tightening enough, tightening the heel end first etc but I can't figure out what causes it. So, has any other Jiga-Rex users encountered this? I found this doing a test mount on a 2 X 4. I now mark the center line of the ski and I put a reference mark on both ends of the Jiga-Rex.

Yes, and like you, I haven't been able to fix by tightening differently.

On what waists widths have you noticed this issue? In the official Jigarex thread, someone claims the issue is predominantly on skis 95-100 mm underfoot. I've only mounted two pair since I received the jig, and the one that was off center was in that range.

Even though it's a Jiga-Rex, it's still a jig.
Jigs are never going to be as precise as measuring with calipers for instance. Jigs are very useful for speeding up and simplifying binding mounts.
If you only mount a few bindings here and there, and want to be "dead nuts" perfect, you should be using paper templates.

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Originally Posted by auvgeek

Yes, and like you, I haven't been able to fix by tightening differently.

On what waists widths have you noticed this issue? In the official Jigarex thread, someone claims the issue is predominantly on skis 95-100 mm underfoot. I've only mounted two pair since I received the jig, and the one that was off center was in that range.

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Interesting, first pair was 87 underfoot, other was 112 so on both sides of the "range". I do use calipers to double check everything. Do oem's using factory jigs encounter the same thing? I checked a pair of skis with ski shop mounted bindings. and they were off a little, 1/16" - 1/8".


As I mentioned I have marked each end of the Jiga-Rex's center line and will mark the center line of the skis in the future. The 112's were off by just looking at the jig, not close.

I've posted about a few issues I've encountered in the official thread. Detailed info available in page 2 of that thread, but the short version is that a buddy of mine was a bit ham-fisted when using the jig and caused one of the clamps to skip a tooth. This created issues when another novice tried to use the jig afterword, and didn't notice that the clamp was off center.

For the aforementioned issues with 95-100mm width skis, I use a thin ruler to span the width of the jig so that is is fully supported and can't slip off either side of the ski.

Finally, the new bushings they're using for the mount plates are a much better design for keeping the drill aligned.

If you're jig hasn't skipped a tooth, skis are wide (or you're bridging the jig for the thinner skis), and you've got the newest bushings on your plates, I'm out of ideas.

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Originally Posted by North

caused one of the clamps to skip a tooth.

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That would be my leading guess 'cause I've seen it happen after someone removed the levers and re-installed them incorrectly. You can see the issue pretty easily if you're looking for it. The simple fix is to remove the knobs and levers, re-align the jaws so that they will clamp into a centered position, and then re-attach levers and knobs.

I have had the rubber clamps partially or totally slide off leaving one side with the metal post clamped to the ski and rubber on the other. However, this causes a very obvious misalignment. Not sure that is the problem you are having.

I have found that it's fairly easy to roll the jig over as you tighten it down causing the jig to not sit parallel to the ski. If it's leaning to one side that could shift your center line.

I was having this problem as well, the Jigarex leaning to one side or the other on the ski and shifting the center. This was not happening on my FLAT test 1x5 piece of scrap wood. After fucking up one mount and having trouble with a second I went searching here for an answer. What I found on the Bent Chetlers I was mounting was that the camber of the ski was enough to begin lifting the Jigarex and the Jigarex would tilt to one side or the other when I tightened it down. If I pushed down on the Jigarex and/or the ski near the boot center line to flattened out the ski, the Jigarex worked perfectly. If I didn't push down on the ski, the mounts shifted to one side or the other. I hope this helps anyone experiencing the same thing.

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Originally Posted by TNThor

I was having this problem as well, the Jigarex leaning to one side or the other on the ski and shifting the center. This was not happening on my FLAT test 1x5 piece of scrap wood. After fucking up one mount and having trouble with a second I went searching here for an answer. What I found on the Bent Chetlers I was mounting was that the camber of the ski was enough to begin lifting the Jigarex and the Jigarex would tilt to one side or the other when I tightened it down. If I pushed down on the Jigarex and/or the ski near the boot center line to flattened out the ski, the Jigarex worked perfectly. If I didn't push down on the ski, the mounts shifted to one side or the other. I hope this helps anyone experiencing the same thing.

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I always put a piece of 2x4 under the ski so that the jigarex feet are up in the air and the frame of the jigarex sits on top of the ski topsheet. Seems to work well. Maybe this helps someone. ALso ehlps remove any issues if your feet are slightly bent (mine got bent a bit in the mail.)

I havent used one but reading this thread I'm thinking its the feet ?

also wondering about the consistancey of the covering on the feet compared to a real ski jig ?

The mounting area was floating between ski vice sports, so the feet touching the ground was not a factor. I tried the Jigarex with feet on, feet off, various tightening methods and they all produced the same result with mounting points off to one side. In this instance the issue was the camber pushing up on the Jigarex. I marked out a center line on skis and plates and you could watch the plates move to center and the correct position by flexing the ski to flat. Results were dead-on center after flexing the ski flat with the Jigarex laying flat against the ski. This would account for the Jigarex being perfectly centered on a flat piece of scrap wood when drilling test holes and then not working on the ski. If you have a ski with a lot of camber, this may be an issue for you when mounting. I don't think a reverse-cambered ski would have these issues as it would sag away from the Jigarex instead of bowing into it. This is a solution that has worked for me and I thought I'd share.

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Why I sold mine.
It’s a great idea. But my ski addiction has slowed down and paper templates are dead on.

As said above. Jigs are for volume production.

Had a Jigarex at the shop I worked at for some random bindings that we didnt have jigs for. Always struggled with skipping teeth and not being centered for one reason or another.

In my current life, MottN's 3D printed jig has been spot on with good precision and way faster/easier than a paper template. I cant think of a reason (as a hobbyist/not shop) to own a jigarex with MottN's design out there.

I mount quite a bit with my Jiggarex but Im still in the habit of making a centerline mark on the skis on a piece of wide masking tape. I also have a c/l mark on my jiggarex as well as a boot c/l mark. If you just clamp something to your ski and start drilling without a bit of due diligence then it is on you. By being careful and making sure everything is dead nutz Ive been able to do a bunch of CAST 1.0 mounts with inserts. If I was just clamping and drilling this would not be the case.