Station vs Frame

[Jim MacDonald]

I noticed in different blueprints and 3-view drawings that sometimes a fuselage "Station Number xx" is used and other times a fuselage "Frame Number xx" is used. Is there a difference between Station and Frame or is it just a manufacturer's preference over which word is used?

Thanks,

Mac

[Cvairwerks]

Generally a manufacturer's preference.
We use:
Fuselage station for nose to tail. 0 point is aircraft specific...could be actual point of nose, or a specific fuselage location.
Butt line for wingtip to wingtip...and that varies with the project. Some are left tips is BL 0, and some have BL 0 as the fuselage centerline.
Water line.. Generally WL 0 is the hangar floor, with the aircraft on it's gear and at zero fuel weight.

[quemerford]

Frame usually has a numeric number; 0, 1, 2, 3 etc while Station is normally an Imperial measurement, taken from wherever 'zero' is (not always at the aircraft nose; sometimes corresponding to a jig location). Thus, Frame 1 may be at Station 11.5 etc.

Wings are often measured in 'BP' (buttock plane), which is an imperial measurement; but like 'Frame', wings usually adopt 'Rib' in the same way as shorthand for BP locations. Wing BP is usually measured from the a/c centreline, so even if Rib 1 is right on the fuselage/wing join, it could well correspond to a BP of, say 56.2.

Fuselage up/down locations are usually stated in terms of Water Line/Stringer and wings also use Stringer as a fore/aft location tool.

[Dan Jones]

A station can also identify a position between frames. It's just a measurement taken aft from the datum.

[Spitty]

Aircraft were taking a lot from boat builders so all the blueprints were in nautical terms.Stations are more a USA thing.Most British drawings Ive seen use Frames/Bulkheads.

[Jim MacDonald]

Thanks for the info, guys. That clears things up nicely.

Mac