Pete's Projects
I'm excited about blocks, blocks are great, we play with them when were young, and now we can use them for building bigger toys.
Naturally the blocks I'm talking about are "Pete's Builders Block", thanks to those wonderful threaded insert and matching connectors, I have been able to develop what I think is the most versatile clamping, hold down, positioning system modellers and other craft people could ask for. The Fuselage jig page shows an example of a basic board. my recommendation is go all the way, cover your building surface with a complete 50mm grid of threaded inserts, That way you have the most versatile work holding system you could ask for.
The way they operate is that all the blocks have a front entry "T" slot, meaning you can move or remove a block with nothing more than a half a turn of an Allen key. And because they have a front entry slot, you can add extra ones without having to remove existing items, you simply add a block or fixture and slide forward into place.
There are two groups, the general group. These simply slide into place, and lock down, great for aligning things and also for clamping. You have a number of variations some differ in height, and some in the amount of travel, The reason for some having limited travel is that I wanted something that could be used in confined spaces, like inside fuselages etc. The other group The Clamping group. Well it's obvious, these provide an adjustable mechanical clamping action. they come with the item 12, the 30x30x30 slotted block. This is also "T" slated, so it's very quick and easy to install, and has a vertical slot allowing you to quickly install, or remove the chosen clamping arm. This system allows you to apply a reasonable clamping force, more than enough for the size work we are undertaking. You also have an optional hole, so that if you are concerned the clamp arm rising up the slot as pressure is applied, something that can happen when clamping thin flat items you can use this hole to capture the arm.
Add to this, there range of Pete's former supports used with Pete's Fuselage jig, and I'm sure you would have to agree, this is one hell of a flexible system.
I'm stopping here, I could go on for pages trying to spell out all the possibilities, but you, as modellers are more than capable of seeing the flexibility of this system.
