Last year I made the decision to start making my own mouth calls. I was sick of paying $10 per call only to buy new ones the next year from the latex going bad. I also wanted to make a diaphragm that was custom made for my needs. After browsing the available jigs online, I opted to make my own jig. I was not ready to drop $250 to $600 on a jig that stretches latex +-1/4"... Not that those jigs aren't worth every dollar but for many who want to be introduced into mouth call making, the price makes it unattainable. My goal with the jig was to make mouth calls affordable. I do not have intentions at this time to mass produce the calls, but if I did in the future, I would consider one of those other jigs as long as I could make enough to pay it off. I am not a machinist but I am a woodworker by trade so I designed my own jig out of plywood. In the end I spent less than $20 on my jig and had it working in a day. My biggest problem was how I would make the jig spread in the middle. If I used a threaded rod and a nut on each half of the jig, the rod would spin and the jig would go nowhere. Then a light bulb hit me. Wood screw clamps have rods that the threads go in opposite directions! Using this as the heart of my jig, I began to design my jig. Every dimension on the jig is well thought out and is critical to the performance of the jig. My materials included: plywood, washers, bolts, aluminum angle iron, aluminum dowels, 1 wood screw clamp, screws, and 2 toggle clamps (Horizontal or Vertical) I would recommend plywood over solid wood as plywood is stable with moisture content where wood would shrink and swell with the seasons which could pinch your threaded rod or dowels leaving it useless. In the end, the jig works extremely well and I can now make quality calls for less than 10% of the price in stores. The call's have proven to be turkey killers as of this last spring. If anyone has any questions on my jig please ask. If anyone is interested in dimensions, I would be willing to sketch it up on autocad for you just pm me. I will not give you the exact dimensions but I will tell you how I decided on my dimensions as your materials may not be the same size as mine. I only have it sketched on paper right now. If I get enough demand, I will do a tutorial on how I make calls with my jig. If anyone decides to make a jig similar to mine, all that I ask is that you share your design with everyone under the Mouth Call page. I thought it would be selfish of me to not share my design with everyone after I designed the jig with information that I gained from the Old Gobbler forum. I would love to hear your ideas on any improvements for the jig! God Bless! Romans 15: 1-2 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.
