: I am starting an Expedition single, I have made my strongback out of 11/16
: Cabinet grade ply. I built the suggested forms and i am now in the process
: of laying out. My question is does anyone else have problems with the
: string method of finding your top center and side guide marks. I am
: hesitant as the strongback is not perfectly straight, and level. There is
: a constant feeling that, well if i move this stand just a touch. Would it
: be easier to mark the strongback at the known center of the material then
: run the string and make sure the string is over the marks,to straighten
: out the strongback? I get the feeling this is a very important part of
: building as if this is wrong everything else will be too! Thanks for your
: patience and help and as always thank you very much.

Hi Elliot

You are right in that the whole thing is about the forms lying straight and true. You can do it either way. If at all possible, try to straighten your strongback, but if the cutout in the forms is slightly larger than the size of the strongback, you can play that a little and still align the forms on it.

Try to take out whatever bow you can in the strongback first. If it is rigid, but has a built in sag, attach it to the end forms first, with the beam turned over to see if you can affectively take the sag out by pressing it down into place. Then attach it to a third stand in the center. If it is bowed from side to side, then it may not be so easy unless the stands are heavy enough to pull the bow out. In any case, If you can't pull all of the bow or sag out, then you have another option.

When you cut the forms out ( which you obviouly already have ) open the holes up a bit for the beam and you will be able to adjust them by moving them around on the beam, up and down or side to side, until they all line up. If the beam is twisted, this may also work.

MY solution would be to build the beam again, as it IS very important and will save a lot of hassle adjusting everything, but, I realize that most folks can't afford to do that, so, the above options should help you get on with your Expidition. Hope this was of some help! I think you pretty much already had that figured out. Good Luck!

Rehd