Aber Tool Clamps

Hey Bill, welcome to the wonderful wolrd of Aber's 1/35th scale tool brackets They can be trickey, but once you get the hang of it, it will be much easier and much more rewarding. All I can say practice with them. Aber sells two seperate types of tool brackets, one is workable and one is not. As far as I know, and I probably am wrong because I neve tried to make them workable, is that the ones included in full kit frets are not workable. Aber does sell individual tool brackets frets that come in either non workable or workable.

Cheers

Rob

Thanks, Rob. These I have is, I believe, their German Clamps and Clasps #2 set. I don't know if they are supposed to be workable or not. Nothing on the miniscule instruction sheet to say. It just shows the strap going to the rear holes in the handle and the base to the front ones. I just can't figure out how to keep it all together long enough to get it glued. I think I'm going to try my 3rd hand thing to hold the handle and work the rest into it with a small pair of tweezers (all the better to tweezerpult, my dear!!). I think one of the big tricks is to make sure everything is squared up. The handle (for me) is really hard to get lined up. I'm thinking of using a small square, or something, to make sure one side is at 90 degrees to the end, then glue the fold point to make it sturdy. Maybe that will help.

Thanks

Bill

I'm really about ready to give up on these stupid things. I've tried about everything I can think of. I went home at lunch, put the strap in a clamp, was trying to put the handle over the little prongs on the strap, and the handle disappeared somewhere. It didn't even tweezerpult. It just was gone!
Not being happy, today! I sure hope the E-100 is easier than this!

Bill

Now, now Bill. If you can do the Kettenkrad tracks, you can do these.

First, no caffiene.
Second, don't do it when you are tired.
Third, take a big deep breath, exhale, inhale, exhale............ feel better?

OK, try again.

I have recently used Aber's 35 025 set for the Wespe. I presume that the 3 part clamp that is offending you is the one that has pieces that look like:
part a) A piece of roofing guttering (in profile);
part b) A curved "plane" with pins to go in the U and a lip that clips over the first piece; and
part c) A U shape with two holes in each arm for the other pieces.

If so, I tried 2 methods with these:
1) I used a staple to hold the main piece part a in place on a piece of plastic card. I pushed the staple legs through holes made in the card and then bent the legs slightly to stop the staple coming loose and popping out. The staple runs the same direction the real tool would.

Then I pushed Blu-tack around the end of part c to "fix" it to the card. Then I used two sets of tweesers, one to hold part b, the second a set of crossed leg tweesers (the type that opens when squeezed) to spread the legs of part c slightly, so the pins on part b would go in the holes. Then used a little strip of tape to hold part c closed around b (a strip on each side helps stop c popping out). The tape should not be too tight though, or you will bend it getting the legs around part b.

Then I attached the lip on part b to part a, using a bit of tape or blob of Blu-tack to hold it, in case of "Tweeserpult" (you could glue it now I suppose, but I didn't want to risk gluing it at the wrong angle). Then I used the two sets of tweesers again, one to hold part c at the bottom of the U, the second a set of crossed leg tweesers to again spread the legs of part c slightly, so the pins on part a would go in the holes. It is a bit fiddly, but works.

When the parts are all in place, carefully remove the blu-tack from the lip of part b and glue the joins. When set remove the tape and the staple. Slide the assembly over the tool handle, and "Bob's your Aunty"

System 2 was to glue part a straight onto the kit, instead of using the staple on the card. After fitting b and c together, I slightly embedded the assembly in Blu-Tack to stop the parts wandering apart. Then I used the two sets of tweesers as above.

All things said, I found the first option easier to get around, as it was on a reasonably large but flat plane. Kit parts have a tendancy to get in the way when you maneuver the parts in system 2, and too much use of blu-tack means extra clean up.

Hope these ideas help.

PS. "Tweeserpult" is when a part jumps out of the tweesers. However, if the part is never found do we say it committed "Tweesercide"?

Wow, Peter, thanks. What a great description! And yes, those sound like exactly the same style of clamp. There are 2 different clams in 2 sizes each in the set I bought, but the ones I'm trying to use sound the same as yours. I'll give it a try! I actually, finally, got one together after two and a half hours or so on it last night. I hadn't thought of holding the handle together with tape. That would make it soooo much easier. I was originally trying to get them together with no glue except at the fold points of the handle, but I think I've given up on that idea.

What angle did you bend the two ends of piece a? I tried leaving them at a bit of an oblique angle, but I wonder if they shouldn't be closer to 90 degrees. What did you use to curve part b? I rolled it over a piece of small, brass tube, but by the time I got everything together, it was back to being almost straight with some crease bends in it. I was really getting frustrated!

Tweesercide sounds about right to me, but do the also disappear into a black tweesahole??

Thanks so very much.

Bill

Bill I know the feeling! I spent at least 2 hrs trying to do that first wingnut on my Tiger fenders. At least the rest of the parts are bigger . I've noticed that once I do something like that I get all kinds of ideas to make it easier the second time around and after a while I'll get a system developed. Keep at it and you'll get it. Just remember to take a break when you need one!

Eric

Thanks, Eric. A break is definately what I needed. You should have seen me with two bench lights, three or four tweezerpult machines, headband magnifier, knives, hold 'n fold, etc. all over the bench and me! And me squinting over those tiny parts for so long! Quite a sight, I'm sure. Actually, be gald you weren't there!

Bill

Bill

Yeah, I used a piece of aluminium tube to help curve the piece. I bent piece a at 90 degrees where it attaches to the other part and bent the top out a bit more - the Aber diagram does appear too acute though when compared to the actual result. A little trial and error was needed.

I didn't have any probs with mine, because I read somewhere that a guy that had probs with PE parts and annealled his. He had an old metal teastrainer that has very small holes in it. After he bent the brass he poped it in the strainer and gently heated it over a birthday candle. This annealing process apparently helped stop bends from coming out.

So I also tried annealling the part. I cut a split in the top of another piece of the aluminium tube and slipped the top edge of the PE in it. I used the tweesers to hold the other end down and then I gently heated it over a birthday candle. It was easier to roll out after that.

I think I'll let the Tweesahole comment go through to the keeper (you need to know cricket to understand this local saying!)

Good luck with the rest of the clamps.