Drawplates

[Oceaneer99]

Copied from USS Kamehameha - Naval Cookup forum:

[Ken Pugh wrote:]

Left to its own devices, this piece will pop off in time.  The solution is to use another ship technique, treenails.  Treenails, pronounced "trunnels" are just wooden pegs that hold the wood in place.

The best way to make them is with a drawplate.  The one pictured is a piece of junk, but it is the one I have.  You can get them from jeweler's supply and pay a lot of money for them.  Another place to get one is from this guy.
http://www.byrnesmodelmachines.com/drawplate.html  Everything he sells is absolutely top notch handmade machinery.  You can buy anything from him in confidence.

Don't be tempted to use dowels with a drawplate.  Dowels are usually made of garbage wood.  Use strip wood and turn it into a dowel.  I drilled the holes to fit the treenails and inserted them with wood glue.



http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-1080

[Oceaneer99]

I have a fractional drill gauge (a metal plate with holes every 1/64-inch from 1/16-inch to 1/2 inch), and I decided to give this a try as a draw plate.

The back side had a bit of a burr, so I inserted stock into that side.

I found that I could take a 2-inch length of 3/8-inch dowel and drive it through the 23/64-inch hole with a mallet (taking 1/64 inch off the diameter), and that worked just fine.

Then I tried a length of 3/32-inch dowel (it was an applicator stick, just a little larger than a round toothpick), and found that the dowel itself wasn't strong enough to drive through without breaking.  I was able to put it into a drill press and turn it through the next smaller hole in the plate, but you have to keep the (very flexible) dowel at right angles to the plate or the finished dowel will vary in diameter.

There are also drill gauges for numbered drill bits, which are inch-based bits used by machinists.  These are spaced much closer to each other in diameter, so would be a better candidate for small dowels.  I read that if you make a drawing plate, you should grind the cutting side flat to make a nice sharp cutting edge.  Of course, the price of the drawing plate from Byrnes Model Machines is about the same as a high-quality drill gauge.  I have seen some inexpensive numbered drill gauges, but they are stamped rather than machined, and the shipping cost made them fairly expensive in the end.

Garet

[Ken Pugh]

I have seen others use the drill guides successfully and others who have made their own by drilling the holes in steel plate.  There are some that will do the job, like the piece of junk I have, and some that supposedly do a much better job.

I know some use bamboo successfully but I have trouble with it breaking.  It may be the material I am using or my stupid drawplate.

If one uses the manufactured drawplates, they have a flat side on the back and a drilled cone-shaped hole on what appears to be the front side.  It can be called the front because that is where the writing is located.  The wood is inserted in the flat side.  Most people I have seen, including me, pull the wood through.  Also pull it through quite a few times and pull it at an angle to cut it well enough to get through the next hole.  If it gets tough to pull, use pliers.

These are ancient tools used in Roman times and do a great job when you have one working well.  The dowels they shape are extremely valuable in modeling.  Joining wood with pegs significantly strengthen the joint.

Ken Pugh