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10th August 2020, 10:14 AM #1
Yes, you CAN have too many clamps!
A few years back I posted a bit of a WIP on making some wooden-handscrews & repeated the old saying “you can’t have too many clamps”. I was already beginning to doubt if that was true, but I recently decided you certainly can have too many!
My undoing is my desire to test any & every kind of wood that falls into my hands if it looks like a candidate for threading. It has caused a large number of clamps to be made over the years. I put any likely bits aside until I have enough bits for a small batch, & when the mood strikes, I have a little screw-making session. It only takes a few minutes to turn up a screw blank, and once the router is set up, less than a minute to run each one through the threading jig, so it doesn’t take that long to make a batch of clamps.
Recently, a friend asked me to show him the procedure, so I set up & did a demo. After he left, I decided I may as well clean up the remaining bits I had set aside, which turned out to be enough for about 8 of the ¾” screw size (the size I find most handy for cabinetmaking activities), plus several more of the small ½ inch “instrument maker” size.
For an encore I made a couple more with 7/8” screws because I wanted to see how small a diameter thread the “primitive” tap is capable of making. Seven eigths.jpg
But when I went to hang the new lot on my ‘clamp wall’, I ran into a problem. There wasn’t enough room to squeeze in a single ‘nother clamp. Too many clamps! Time for a cull……
I started with the little ½ inch jobs, and reduced this pile of 24 to 16: Half inch.jpg
I had 9 larger ones with 5/8 screws that I’ve come to like using quite a lot, so they all got a place: Five eighth.jpg
The ¾” sets were the main problem – 41 of the blighters! Three quarter.jpg
This ridiculous number is because they are the size I find most useful & I also seem to end up with lots of scraps & offcuts of a suitable size for making jaws (~ 45 x 45 x 250mm) and screws (~ 32 x 32 x 400mm) for them, so despite giving or trading many away, the years have seen a steady accumulation. Only 25 went back on the wall, which is still probably a good half-dozen more than I have ever used at the one time, but I wanted to keep at least one example of each wood that took a good thread, for future reference. A few I kept because they go back 35 years or more to when I first started making them seriously & are old friends.
I have 4 big brutes with 1 inch screws that can accommodate >300mm fully opened. I don’t use them all that much because by the time you get to those dimensions, a bar clamp is usually more convenient, but occasionally, the deeper reach of their long jaws is required. The little clamp in front is one of the ½ inch screw type to show the two extremes in my handscrew collection. One inch.jpg
And finally, three different sizes of clamps made using all-thread for the screws. Metal threads.jpg
These were my first attempt at making my own clamps. I really wanted some Jorgensen clamps, with their left/right thread combination and pivoting barrel-nuts that allow them to close off-parallel. I thought they were the bees’ knees in clamps, but were far too expensive for my meagre tool budget at the time, so I decided to have a crack at rolling my own. I got some all-thread and made some barrel-nuts from mild-steel bar. I did consider making my own RH/LH screws but that was in the ‘too hard basket’, so these work on the same principle as the wooden screws, both screws are RH thread & both nuts in one jaw. The end of the top screw is captured in the opposite jaw so it can’t fall out when spinning the clamp to open or close it. Apart from being slow to open & close, they worked well enough, but I quickly found that being able to clamp the jaws off-parallel is no great boon & something I very rarely need to do. They work well, but the wooden screws are much faster to open & close & can apply more than enough force for practical purposes, so the metal ones don’t get much use now.
I don’t know if I had the biggest collection of working wooden clamps in the country, but I reckon I stood a chance of making it to the top 10. I hope I’ve now slipped back in the rankings, and I’ve certainly reduced the load on my walls: handscrews.jpg
Plus I have a box full of potential trade items: Spares.jpg
Cheers,IW
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10th August 2020 10:14 AM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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10th August 2020, 10:25 AM #2
Wow Ian, these are a lot of clamps!
I'd be more than happy to take a few of you [emoji16]
Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
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10th August 2020, 12:18 PM #3
I'm so impressed with your wooden thread cutting and tapping. Since reading about your vise screw efforts a while ago, it's been on my to-do list, but unfortunately I have yet to get there.
I just read the thread you linked to about making the screws; great read. I'll have to file it away until I can spend some time having a crack at making a tap, which I can then use to make a corresponding die according to your earlier instructions. Hmmmm. I have two wedding presents to make, then perhaps it can be the next cab off the rank.
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10th August 2020, 12:28 PM #4GOLD MEMBER
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Hi Ian. Love it. Trying to think of something to trade with you
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10th August 2020, 12:43 PM #5GOLD MEMBER
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10th August 2020, 01:29 PM #6
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10th August 2020, 02:25 PM #7GOLD MEMBER
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10th August 2020, 02:49 PM #8
NO IAN YOU'RE WRONG, there is no such thing as too many clamps! What you have here is not enough storage!
Cheers, Bob the labrat
Measure once and.... the phone rings!
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10th August 2020, 06:00 PM #9
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10th August 2020, 06:15 PM #10
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10th August 2020, 06:24 PM #11
At one time I would have seized on that excuse, Bob, but I think I really have crossed a line. Up 'till a few years ago, I was able to say that there had been a few times when all the clamps on my wall in use at one time for some major glue-up or other, but I cannot imagine any job for which I'd need 79 clamps! And that was just the handscrew, tally, I was hesitant to mention there's also a rack of bar clamps I've made. There are only 10 of those (plus a pile of pipe-clamps), and so far, they are easy enough to store.
Some of the clamps hanging on the wall had about an inch of dust, woodchips, & discarded spider skins sitting on them - a pretty god indication of how often they've been used lately. There were a couple of racks worth that were shiny & dust-free & obviously well-used, so they went straight into the 'keeper' stack....
'
Cheers,IW
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10th August 2020, 07:22 PM #12
Ian, you should start making acoustic guitars. They need a ridiculous number of that sized clamp from what I’ve seen.
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10th August 2020, 08:03 PM #13
Funny you should say that, Lance. When I made the first little clamps, I was intending to get into violin making, a desire I'd harboured for many years. At the time I had a colleague who was on about his 10th instrument & starting to turn out a pretty decent product. Unfortunately, I moved to another job halfway round the world, life got hectic, kids, job, a major house renno, (the full catastrophe) & I never made a start on an instrument of any kind. Someday, maybe...
Cheers,IW
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10th August 2020, 08:51 PM #14
Yes, you CAN have too many clamps!
Ian Is this some kind of info ad,
Just saying,[emoji6]
Very nice clamps tho.
If it is an info ad , genius.
Cheers Matt.
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11th August 2020, 03:03 AM #15
I am.... watching .... this thread
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