Building a building board

[Graham Bowers]

1 hour ago, John Stainforth said:

I am completely won over to building on thick plate glass, which is dead flat, as advocated by Dave Platt. 

What's the equivalent of securing parts with pins, please? I have a slab of marble that came out of a fireplace that I was planning to overlay with plasterboard.

[John Stainforth]

1 hour ago, Graham Bowers said:

What's the equivalent of securing parts with pins, please? I have a slab of marble that came out of a fireplace that I was planning to overlay with plasterboard.

Ha! As Dave Platt said jokingly [if you try pinning] "it's hell on the thumbs!"

Instead use weights, masking tape, and custom made jigs superglued straight on to the glass (as in the picture).

 

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by John Stainforth
to add picture

[FlyinFlynn]

3 hours ago, John Stainforth said:

I am completely won over to building on thick plate glass, which is dead flat, as advocated by Dave Platt. 

Plate glass is certainly pretty flat but getting the pins in is a bit troublesome. 🙂

 

Ahhh.... I see i have been doing it wrong!

Edited October 1, 2023 by FlyinFlynn

[toto]

A work of art .... a master craftsman at work. .

 

Toto

[Trevor]

A halfway house between irrevocably glueing the sundeala and just laying it on your MDF base would be to secure it with strips of double sided tape round the edge and a few small patches along the centre line. It would then be easily removed by running a knife blade round the edge and peeling it off.

 

Trevor

[Jim Hearnden 1]

Always been kitchen worksuface off cut with cork tiles. Amazon list a 100mm think tiles. 

[toto]

Equally .... a bit of contact adhesive at each corner to hold the Sundeala down. If it has to be replaced then a sander would remove any residue in the corners when lifted ?

 

Toto

[Cuban8]

19 hours ago, toto said:

I'll take a look at the magnetic board shortly but I have the stuff in now for the route I have chosen.

 

Cuban8, the cork I tried came on a roll. From memory a 5m 4oll about 1200mm wide. It didn't work well at all but maybe that was down to using PVA under it first time around. ( from memory ... this was a number of years ago ). It was only about 2mm thick as well. 

 

Toto

Yes the cork on a roll is no good. I use quality cork tiles that are at least 4mm thick and use a contact adhesive like Evostick. You can double them up to 8mm if needed but I find 4mm to be perfectly satisfactory. Decent cork tiles are not cheap so a pack of nine cork flooring tiles (which are nice and dense) can cost between £15 to £20 or more. Cheapo ones from bargain basement outlets for a fiver or so are useless.

A coat of varnish over them when fully secured and they'll last years and put up with all sorts of abuse.........sawing and cutting on the building board? Never would stoop to such a bodge..........hmmm!

Anyway, it works for me - I've seen club mates boards topped with plasterboard and although it does work, I find that the surface wears quickly and glue spots can be a problem. No real right or wrong as long as the surface is flat and will take a pin.

My cork/MDF board is about 3ft 6in X 20in and I've build every single plane from tiny electrics to a 1/3 scale Precedent Turbulent on it. Just one final thing and that's choice of pins. After trying all sorts, I still find the humble dressmakers pin with a plastic head (they used to be glass back in the day, so deadly on the thumb) perfectly adequate. I bought some quite heavy duty ones from SLEC or somebody but I found them a bit awkward for light material - I also tried some ultra sharp modelling pins with large plastic heads but they were so sharp, they'd stick right into your fingers as you tried to pick them out of the box. Painful and annoying. A lot to be said for the old dressmakers pins.

Small setsquares and rib aligning tools (All Square from SLEC) are also very handy. Straight edges and heavy weights to keep parts flat are also good. Keep all my old dead 12V Gel batteries - just the job. Balsa Cabin's 'Protect A Plan' sheet works well to cover plans when building. Only a couple of quid for a big sheet - nothing sticks to it. We used to use covering film backing, but not so easy to come across these days. Don't even consider using Cling Film BTW.

[toto]

Hi Cuban8,

 

I can raid the missus's dressmaking box but also have T pins. I have a roll of baking paper or wax paper which is also meant to be good for covering plans.. 

 

Various glues .... thick/ thin CA, wood glue, CA accelerator, proxies, 30 and 5 min, impact glues. The list goes on. I used many when railway modelling.

 

I've been accumulating heavy steel weights ( 1 2 3 blocks ) which are also good for supporting structures. I have more tools ...... squares ,clamps,  rules, saws, planes, blades than I can shake a stick at and also a variety of sanding paper and tools of various grades.

 

I reckon I'm equipped to go when the time comes. Sussex model centre have just confirmed that my Sundeala board is nearly enroute.

 

As I said before, I think November will possibly see me commence. 

 

I still have a bit to go for the Arising Star and Domino to be able to consider them as " over the line " before I commit my shed space to a kit build which I dont want to be moving about once started.

 

Toto

 

 

[GrumpyGnome]

My board is a old kitchen worktop with cork tiles attached by Evostick.  It sits permanently on one of the large kitchen units in my pigeon coop (workshop). 

 

I also use the rather excellent SLEC jig for building/fixing fuselages.  That's on a 12 mm (I think) piece of mdf that sits on the building board for several days, with weights on, before being used.

[John Lee]

Get yourself a couple of boxes of these pins & you will not use any other. They are about half the thickness of T-pins & very, very sharp, so they do not split the wood so easily. The needle is inextricably linked to the head. 

 

 

Available under various Brand names (Pichler, Kavan, Graupner) and from the popular stockists (eg Sussex Model, Leeds Models, Nexus)  in addition to the link.

[GrumpyGnome]

Be careful though, they bend VERY easily......

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

7 hours ago, Cuban8 said:

Don't even consider using Cling Film BTW.

I agree with everything you said except this last point.  Although my last couple of builds have utilised some dedicated plan protection film, I’ve used cling film for countless builds with no problems. What is the downside that you’ve found?

 

 On the subject of MDF, my board has no bracing and has remained flat for over 20 years in my outside workshop.  It is always stored flat on a work table though.  Toto’s bracing worries me slightly as unless some cross braces are added, I can see the weight of the board warping it across the width. 

[leccyflyer]

My preference for plan protection is thick polythene, which even CA will not adhere to.

 

For pins I have a variety of types for different uses, whether they are to actually penetrate the wood, or to just hold it in place by proximity.

[toto]

Hi Martin,

 

thanks for your input there.

 

I did not think about cross bracing ..... for two reasons ..... one .... I really didn't think it would need it and secondly ..... the sheet .... 600mm by 1220mm didn't leave me with any spare to make them ..... 😄

 

what I do have though ..... I don't mind cutting and adding them for a belt and braces solution .... is half inch ply. 

 

I might just rip up a couple of bits on my small table saw and fit 2 or 3 along its length for a bit extra bracing as you suggest.

 

cheers

 

toto

[toto]

John Lee,

 

these pins look the business .... from a ease of pushing in point of view...... and even as Grumpy points out with regards to their thinness ..... could be worth a try. 

 

let me see how I get on with the T pins ... but to be honest .... splitting was a serious concern of mine.

 

cheers and thanks for posting up.

 

toto

[groundimpact]

mine is 7mm cork tiles.. on 18mm MdF, been used for over 5 years now

[toto]

I'm hoping the Sundeala will do me as well.

 

I think its the best thing for holding pins ..... the cost really makes me baulk but considering the cost of everything else involved ..... it sort of pales into insignificance .... but still hurts. 😄

 

each to their own.

 

cheers

 

toto

[GrumpyGnome]

10 hours ago, toto said:

 

these pins look the business .... from a ease of pushing in point of view...... and even as Grumpy points out with regards to their thinness ..... could be worth a try. 

 

Oh,  I recommend them. You just need to treat them delicately....... don't force them... use the right pin for the job

[Ron Gray]

I also recommend those pins but they can rust. As for plan protection, I have used grease proof paper (baking paper), the backing off covering film but my fav is laminating film (as I have lots of it!).

Edited October 3, 2023 by Ron Gray

[leccyflyer]

I'll have to try the laminating film Ron, as I also have lots of it now, since having been so impressed with the covering capability I bought a 150m roll.

[Ron Gray]

Leave it loose, don’t iron it on!

[GrumpyGnome]

I tend to use the plastic bags that come surrounding larger parts of ARTFs....

[Cuban8]

16 hours ago, Martin Harris - Moderator said:

I agree with everything you said except this last point.  Although my last couple of builds have utilised some dedicated plan protection film, I’ve used cling film for countless builds with no problems. What is the downside that you’ve found?

 

 On the subject of MDF, my board has no bracing and has remained flat for over 20 years in my outside workshop.  It is always stored flat on a work table though.  Toto’s bracing worries me slightly as unless some cross braces are added, I can see the weight of the board warping it across the width. 

When I tried kitchen cling film because I couldn't find anything else, I found that Cyano melted and stuck to it and caused all sorts of trouble when removing the workpiece from it. PVA is no problem of course. Should have made that clear.

[Cuban8]

16 hours ago, John Lee said:

Get yourself a couple of boxes of these pins & you will not use any other. They are about half the thickness of T-pins & very, very sharp, so they do not split the wood so easily. The needle is inextricably linked to the head. 

 

 

Available under various Brand names (Pichler, Kavan, Graupner) and from the popular stockists (eg Sussex Model, Leeds Models, Nexus)  in addition to the link.

Arghhhhh! they're the ones...........absolute agony when sorting through the box to pick a pin or pins.