Hold
'N Fold
Reviewed
by Mike Hanson
I've been using
photoetched parts in my model building for a long time. I've
tried a number of different ways to manipulate it, fold it,
bend it, twist it, make curves, etc. I've used pliers, home-made
metal breaks,
clamps, knives, you name it. As the technology has improved,
the complexity of photoetched parts have increased, to the
point where you can buy whole kits made of nothing but PE
brass, nickel, or steel.
I was aware of
specialized tools for working with PE. I'd seen the Hold and
Fold and the Etchmate online and in magazines, but never up-close
and in person. While in Atlanta for the 2005 IPMS National
Convention, I
was able to see and hold the tools and actually get a feel
for how they work.
At the end of
the day, I walked away with the Hold and Fold PE Workstation
from The Small Shop, a set of tools for working with photoetched
parts (www.thesmallshop.com). It comes with an anodized aluminum
folding
tool, a kind of mini metal break with cutouts and "fingers"
that allow you to do an amazing variety of bends and folds.
There are a number of different sizes of this particular tool
to choose from, all depending on how large your
projects are, from a very small 2 inches, a medium 4 inches
(the one I purchased) and a very large 8 inches. The basic
construction is the same on all of them, a black anodized
base late with a clear anodized aluminum tool head that has
cutouts and fingers to aid in bending and folding PE parts.
The main tool head has three levels (1/16, 1/8, 1/4) to allow
channel folding and two sides are beveled for sharp folds
up to 135 degrees. The tool head is spring-loaded and can
rotate to so you can leverage use of either side of the tool,
and it has a thumbscrew to tighten it down onto the part.
It comes with a razor blade that is slid under the part and
used as a lever for folding. The larger tools come with a
4
inch or 8 inch blade to facilitate larger folds.
The Hold and Fold
tool is available by itself from The Small Shop, or as part
of a "PE Workstation." The workstation comes with
a couple additional tools that are helpful when working with
photoetched parts.
There's a PE Rolling
Set, used to create curves or to bend parts into a circular
shape. It's a 3" x 4" anodized aluminum base with
semi-circular cutouts and a set of rods and dowels sized to
fit into the cutouts. The PE part is pushed into the base
and the rod or dowel is used to roll the part into the required
shape.
The other tool
is very simple, so simple as to make me wonder why I didn't
think of it myself. It's the Parts Cutting Set, used to aid
in the removal of PE parts from the fret. If you've ever worked
with PE, you know that it can be a challenge clipping them
off, as there's always a danger of warping or twisting the
part or, even worse, the dreaded springboard effect where
the part leaps off the table and into thin air, never to be
found again.
The Cutting Set
comes with double-sided black Plexiglas bases, with just enough
"give" to help facilitate cutting. The plastic doesn't
let the blade skip or break, yet it is firm enough not to
deform the parts or deteriorate. But the real innovation is
the clear "press" - a small piece of clear Plexiglas
with a beveled edge, that's placed on top of the PE,
holding it against the black base. Use a sharp blade or scalpel
to nip the fret apart and the press keeps the part from flying
away.
The Rolling set
and the Cutting set are also available separately.
Why the Hold and
Fold over the Etch-Mate? I think the H&F is not only a
better value, but has better features. The spring-loaded,
rotating tool head is very effective, and the tool bed is
flat and smooth. The whole
PE Workstation set retails for $77.50 for the 4 inch model,
around $10 more than the Etch-Mate alone. If you choose to
go with the H&F tool by itself, the 4 inch tool retails
for $50, a full $15 less than the Etch-Mate.
This is not to
say that the tools are not similar, and both can be an effective
aid when working with photoetched parts. In fact, I firmly
believe once you use one of these tools, you'll wonder why
you ever tried to get by using anything else!
There are photos
of all of the tools reviewed above at www.thesmallshop.com.
There is also a great demonstration page that shows how the
tool works.
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