Ooops Fair-A-Frame - building a better one

Namabiiru said:
That’s nice, Phil. I think I’m going to need to copy your design (Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery).

I grabbed a fair-a-frame yesterday at the local hobby shop’s going-out-of-business sale. As soon as I started assembling it, I knew the screws were going to be a problem. I’ve ordered some 10-24 carriage bolts which have the added advantage of fitting the slots better than the 8-32 screws provided. That should solve the slipping problem and help keep things square.

Even if I can make the F-A-F work for assembling bulkheads, something like Phil’s setup will be useful for supporting planked hulls.
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The faceplate for aligning the bulkheads (the "alignment plate") by design is subject to warping, or rather twist along it's length, caused by the extensive slot cut into it that leaves such a narrow link between the two larger main surfaces.
 
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Jeff W said:
The faceplate for aligning the bulkheads (the "alignment plate") by design is subject to warping, or rather twist along it's length, given the narrow width in the cut linking the two larger main surfaces together.
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Good input. I’ll have to see what—if anything—can be done to remedy that. I’m fortunate that I can hear from others where this kit’s shortcomings are. If nothing else, this kit will give me a design from which to depart when fabricating my own.
 
No worries, I was considering screwing a stiff wide thick batten to the back of the plate, strong enough to take the twist out of it.
 
The other matters have to do with squaring up the holding frames by reinforcement, the sides need to be heavier timber. Reinforcement by cross-members is problematic as they are prevented by the false keel once installed. I had reinforced the frame by gluing a cross-member on top of the frames to link the two together, but it required another under the base timber to link the support frames from below.
 
Jeff W said:
Jeff W said:
The other matters have to do with squaring up the holding frames by reinforcement, the sides need to be heavier timber. Reinforcement by cross-members is problematic as they are prevented by the false keel once installed. I had reinforced the frame by gluing a cross-member on top of the frames to link the two together, but it required another under the base timber to link the support frames from below.
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I hope I can figure something out. Worst case, I create my own.
 
Yes I am thinking the same way. There must be plenty of examples out there.
 
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This is much better option

Building Board Gantry Type

Some of the advantages of the gantry type of building board are: 1. Re-usability 2. Assess 3. Accuracy 4. Ease of use 1. Re-usability After you have finished a model and want to start a new one all you must do is tape down the new framing plan and change the scales if...
shipsofscale.com
 
Maarten said:
This is the one I used for the Royal Caroline build.
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These home made jigs look fine but they seem to be cradles to hold the model. Fair-a-frame is a sliding fixture used to align Bulkheads at 90 degrees a different task. I agree they are fiddly but I have used mine for several ships and it worked as designed. I use the Keel Klamper to hold the ship while planking and while working on her.
 
Namabiiru said:
That’s nice, Phil. I think I’m going to need to copy your design (Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery).

I grabbed a fair-a-frame yesterday at the local hobby shop’s going-out-of-business sale. As soon as I started assembling it, I knew the screws were going to be a problem. I’ve ordered some 10-24 carriage bolts which have the added advantage of fitting the slots better than the 8-32 screws provided. That should solve the slipping problem and help keep things square.

Even if I can make the F-A-F work for assembling bulkheads, something like Phil’s setup will be useful for supporting planked hulls.
Click to expand...
I just built it. No real plans used. I saw something similar that used dowels but I decided to use t-track instead. Just kind of winged it. Used 3/4" Baltic Birch. And I replaced all the wing nuts with brass knurled nuts.

20210207_153754.jpg20210207_153744.jpg
 
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vintagemodeler said:
These home made jigs look fine but they seem to be cradles to hold the model. Fair-a-frame is a sliding fixture used to align Bulkheads at 90 degrees a different task. I agree they are fiddly but I have used mine for several ships and it worked as designed. I use the Keel Klamper to hold the ship while planking and while working on her.
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That's what's nice about my jig. You can add other additional partitions to align bulkheads if needed.
 
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vintagemodeler said:
These home made jigs look fine but they seem to be cradles to hold the model. Fair-a-frame is a sliding fixture used to align Bulkheads at 90 degrees a different task. I agree they are fiddly but I have used mine for several ships and it worked as designed. I use the Keel Klamper to hold the ship while planking and while working on her.
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Yes sir, I agree, the concept is fine, I can see how it would be a very useful tool. Mine was very warped and twisted. I would rebuild it with different timber and a few modifications. I'm looking into that at the moment, and other alternatives instead of Fair-A-Frame.
 
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vintagemodeler said:
These home made jigs look fine but they seem to be cradles to hold the model. Fair-a-frame is a sliding fixture used to align Bulkheads at 90 degrees a different task. I agree they are fiddly but I have used mine for several ships and it worked as designed. I use the Keel Klamper to hold the ship while planking and while working on her.
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For this you do not need a rig of you are building a pob model, just use a square hook or like some use Lego blocks.
 
Since I already had the F-A-F, I figured I'd see what use I could make of it, acknowledging there are some superior-looking designs out there. In addition to replacing all the screws with #10-24 carriage bolts (and matching wing nuts), here are the mods I made to it, which seem to have it pretty square and solid:
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Doubled down on the horizontal stiffening for keel clamp supports

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Scabbed some thin strips of plywood to the interior faces of the keel clamps to keep those stiff

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Dadoed the edges of the base and added mating inserts to the runners for the various uprights.

I've also started working on my version of Phil's hull holder, which is scaled down slightly to accommodate the smaller hulls on which I expect to be working for the foreseeable future.

Hope this is helpful for anyone out there struggling with their F-A-F.
 
I stole Phil’s design. Shorter than his because I already had T-track cut to that length. Maybe I‘ll try making some knurled knobs once I get handy with the new lathe
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Uvalen is a pretty tiny ship so it’s rather dwarfed by the drydock…
 
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