ScaFixGuide
Cuplock vs ringlock vs frame scaffold on the same house
Most comparisons of scaffold types stop at drawings of a node. This one puts three systems on the same small house with gables, counts every part by the same rules, and then explains the gaps from the manufacturers’ own manuals.
By Ole Emil Frikstad Urstad · How the numbers are computed ·
Is cuplock, ringlock or frame scaffolding the better choice for a house?
For a plain house facade, frame scaffolding: on the same 11.4 × 5.3 m house it needs 271 pieces (Layher Blitz) against 481 for ringlock (Layher Allround) and 603 for cuplock. A frame replaces two standards and a transom in one part; the modular systems spend their extra pieces on nodes that turn corners, change heights and carry heavier work.
Which house and which systems are compared?
The building is the example house used on every ScaFix system page: 11.4 × 5.3 m on plan, 4.5 m to the eaves, gables rising to a 6 m ridge, scaffolded on all four sides with nothing changed from the defaults. Every count below comes from the ScaFix parts list with the same fixed inputs, so the differences come from the systems, not from different assumptions. Three systems stand in for the three families:
- Cuplock (the generic cuplock entry in ScaFix), 1.3 m wide. SGB’s user manual says the 1.3 m transom carries a five-board platform (SGB CUPLOK user manual, UK version, p. 10).
- Layher Allround with 3.07 m bays, 0.73 m wide: the ringlock family, with rosettes on the standards.
- Layher Blitz with 3.07 m bays, 0.73 m wide: a steel frame facade scaffold. Layher’s English pages sell it as SpeedyScaf, list the 0.73 m steel version under the same German approval, Z-8.1-16.2, and still call it Blitz Scaffolding in the text (Layher, SpeedyScaf).
What a ringlock, a cuplock or a frame scaffold is, and where else each family is used, is covered in types of scaffolding. The full side-by-side lists for Layher’s two systems are on Layher Allround vs Layher Blitz, and the frame and ringlock systems sold in the US, from Waco to SafLock, are counted on the same house in US scaffold systems compared. This page is about what changes on one real building.
How do the bays fit the walls?
Each wall run in ScaFix includes its corner, so a long wall needs a little more than 11.4 m of scaffold and a gable a little more than 5.3 m. With 3.07 m bays, Allround and Blitz fill each long wall with four bays and each gable with two: twelve bays in all.
Cuplock has no 3.07 m ledger. ScaFix fills each long wall with 1.25 + 3.0 + 3.0 + 1.8 + 1.8 + 1.8 m and each gable with 1.25 + 3.0 + 2.5 m, which makes eighteen bays. SGB lists 3.0, 2.5, 1.8, 1.3 and 1.25 m horizontals and calls 1.8 m a make-up bay size (SGB CUPLOK manual, p. 10). Six more bays means six more pairs of standards, which is most of cuplock’s extra count before any other difference shows up.
Deck heights differ too. Allround and cuplock put their two working decks at 2.5 and 4.5 m. Blitz starts each frame line with a 0.66 m levelling frame under 2 m frames, so its decks land at 2.71 and 4.71 m, and the scaffold ends slightly higher.
How many parts does each system need?
| Part group | Cuplock | Layher Allround (ringlock) | Layher Blitz (frame) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bays on the house | 18 | 12 | 12 |
| Standards or frames | 132 standards (88 × 2 m, 44 × 1 m) | 96 standards (64 × 2 m, 32 × 1 m) | 48 frames (32 × 2 m, 16 × 0.66 m) and 12 top-lift posts |
| Ledgers and transoms | 108 ledgers, 66 transoms | 72 ledgers, 48 transoms | none: the frame carries the deck |
| Decks | 37 | 25 | 25 |
| Guardrails | 108 | 72 | 36 |
| Toe boards | 36 | 24 | 24 |
| Diagonal braces | 12 | 8 | 16 |
| End guardrails and end toe boards | 16 | 16 | 20, including 4 end guardrail frames |
| Wall ties | 22 | 24 | 24 |
| Tie fittings and tie couplers | 22 | 32 (24 + 8) | 32 (24 + 8) |
| Base jacks | 44 | 32, plus 32 base collars | 32, plus 2 base transoms |
| Scaffold area | 213 m² | 203 m² | 210 m² |
| Pieces in total | 603 | 481 | 271 |
All three use ladders through hatch decks for access. The area is the elevation from the ground to the top of the scaffold, overhang included, so it follows the run lengths and the top height rather than the wall: cuplock’s mixed bays run a little longer, Blitz stands a little taller. The guardrail rows include one row in the bottom field of every bay, a ScaFix rule for stiffening that the methodology explains.
Why does the frame scaffold need so few pieces?
A Blitz frame is two standards and a transom welded into one 2 m piece, and one double guardrail gives the top rail and the knee rail; the Layher Blitz material list goes through the frames, the deck claws and the bracing line by line. Sixteen frame lines on two lifts therefore come to 32 full frames, where Allround needs 96 standards and 48 transoms for the same lines, and one guardrail part per bay and level gives 36 against Allround’s 72.
The price of all this is fixed geometry. Every lift is 2 m, the bay lengths are a short list, and a corner, a step in the facade or a bay that does not fit the wall needs couplers and fillers. The corners guide shows what that means at the four corners of this house.
What do the ringlock rosettes add?
Allround standards carry a rosette every 50 cm. The small holes give right-angled connections and the large holes allow any angle (Layher Allround instructions, edition 04.2018, section 4.4, p. 16), and the German approval allows up to eight components on one rosette (DIBt Z-8.22-64, 2 May 2022). Ledgers, transoms and braces are separate parts that wedge into those rosettes, which is why the list shows standards, ledgers and transoms as three lines.
On a plain facade that freedom costs pieces: 481 against 271. It pays off where frames struggle. The same manual has chapters for tower, birdcage, circular and suspended scaffolds and for shoring (Allround instructions, contents), and a lift can sit at any 50 cm step instead of every 2 m.
Why does cuplock count highest here?
A cuplock node has fixed lower cups welded to the standard at 0.5 m intervals and a sliding upper cup that drops over the blade ends of up to four horizontals and turns to lock them, all with one hammer blow (SGB CUPLOK manual, p. 5). BrandSafway, the group SGB belongs to, describes the same circular node point that takes up to four blades in a single action (BrandSafway, CUPLOK).
Four connections per node is enough for square layouts, and there are no loose wedges or bolts. On this house the count goes up for one reason. The deck count stays at about one unit per bay and level, so the gap comes from the bay count: eighteen bays against twelve. More bays mean more standards (132), more ledger and guardrail lines (108 each) and more base jacks (44).
How does the bracing differ?
| System | What the manufacturer asks for | In the ScaFix list |
|---|---|---|
| Layher Blitz | A diagonal on the outside at least in every fifth bay; one diagonal may serve at most five bays (Blitz instructions, p. 12) | First and last bay of each run on every lift: 16 |
| Layher Allround | Stiffen at least every fifth bay with vertical diagonals (Allround instructions, section 5, p. 22) | One per run and lift: 8 |
| SGB Cuplok | Face bracing in one bay per 20 m run, every eighth bay, at least two bays on runs up to 10 m, end bays avoided (CUPLOK manual, p. 29) | Generic cuplock entry: every fifth bay, so the six-bay walls get two per lift: 12 |
The generic entry also puts eight of its twelve braces in the four 1.25 m bays that start each run, the end bays SGB’s manual asks you to avoid.
One more caveat applies to cuplock. The generic entry compared here borrows ScaFix’s Allround-style tie rule and a five-bay bracing rule, because no single manufacturer’s tie table sits behind it. SGB’s own manual has tie patterns with ties at most 4, 6 or 8 m apart vertically on 2 m lifts (p. 33); if you build SGB Cuplok, plan from that manual. The ties in the other two lists follow Layher’s documents, explained in scaffold ties and anchoring.
Which one fits which job?
- Straight facades on houses and small blocks: a frame system. It has the fewest parts to hand up and the fewest to count back, and the decks do part of the bracing.
- Corners, bays, steps in height, round walls, industry: a ringlock system. The rosette every 50 cm and the eight connections per node are what make those shapes possible without tube and fittings.
- Square, heavily loaded or mixed access and support work: cuplock. SGB describes CUPLOK as suitable for general access and for shoring vertical loads, and lists staircase towers, circular scaffolds, loading towers and mobile towers among its uses (CUPLOK manual, p. 2).
In practice the choice is also about what the yard already owns, because the systems do not mix: each manual only covers its own components.
What do the rules say about building to the manual?
In Great Britain, HSE says proprietary system scaffolds must be erected and tied according to the manufacturers’ instructions, and anything outside them needs a bespoke design by a competent person; TG20 covers tube and fitting, not these systems (HSE, scaffolding). The rest of the UK picture is in UK scaffolding regulations.
In the US, 29 CFR 1926.451(f)(7) says scaffolds may be erected, moved, dismantled or altered only under the supervision and direction of a competent person qualified in that work, and only by experienced and trained employees that person selects (29 CFR 1926.451, govinfo). Whichever system you pick, the manufacturer’s instructions are what that competent person works from; the OSHA guide covers the rest of Subpart L.
How ScaFix fits in
ScaFix is a planning tool that turns wall dimensions or a PDF drawing into a 3D scaffold and a parts list for 108 systems, including the three on this page; the iPhone app can also scan with LiDAR. The numbers above come from its engine with fixed inputs, and the Cuplock, Layher Allround and Layher Blitz pages show each list in full. It is not a structural calculation.
This is planning information, not structural approval. The manufacturer’s assembly instructions and approvals decide how each system is built, braced and tied, together with national rules such as HSE guidance in Great Britain and 29 CFR 1926 Subpart L in the US, and a competent person must inspect the scaffold before use.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between cuplock and ringlock?
Both are modular systems with nodes on the standards. A cuplock node locks up to four horizontals at right angles under one rotating cup; a ringlock rosette takes up to eight components, at right angles or at any angle.
Is frame scaffolding cheaper than ringlock?
It usually needs far fewer pieces on a plain facade, 271 against 481 on this house, which saves handling and transport. Hire rates and the yard’s stock decide the actual cost.
Can you mix cuplock, ringlock and frame parts?
No. Each manufacturer’s instructions cover only its own components, so a mixed scaffold is outside every manual and would need its own design.
Why does cuplock use 1.3 m wide bays?
SGB’s manual says the 1.3 m transom supports a five-board platform, which gives a wide working platform. ScaFix still counts one deck unit per bay and level, so the gap to the narrower systems comes from the number of bays.
Which system needs the most wall ties?
On this house the counts are close: 24 for Allround and Blitz, 22 for the generic cuplock entry. Ties follow each system’s anchor pattern and the scaffold area, not the system family.
Sources
Primary sources used for this article, with the date each was read.
- SGB CUPLOK user manual, UK version (Hünnebeck download) (read 23 October 2026)
- Layher Allround Scaffolding, instructions for assembly and use, edition 04.2018 (read 23 October 2026)
- Layher Blitz Gerüst, Aufbau- und Verwendungsanleitung, edition 11.2013 (read 23 October 2026)
- DIBt Z-8.22-64: Modulsystem Layher Allround (2 May 2022) (read 23 October 2026)
- BrandSafway: CUPLOK scaffold (read 23 October 2026)
- HSE: Scaffolding (read 23 October 2026)
- Layher: SpeedyScaf frame scaffolding (read 23 October 2026)
- 29 CFR 1926.451, General requirements for scaffolds (govinfo, 2024 edition) (read 23 October 2026)
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