Thread: Has anyone tried using tie downs to clamp glued-up panels?

Try a dry fit with the tie downs and see how they go. I'd say they'd be ok for secondary clamping but the racheting might make it hard to get the right pressure.

If you dont have any pickup some basic f clamps, and use some cauls. Another bonus is you'll get plenty of use from them in the future as well.

I bought some cheapo's from mcjings and they were really good, interstate delivery is normally 2-3 days... McJING Tools Online

joez

Not being experienced at it, but I would have thought tie downs would put pressure on the outer edges and bow in the centre. Just my thinking.

How about making up some L shaped wooden blocks to fit each edge/corner, then place the strap around that, it should pull pretty even. I think putting a strap straight onto it will probably make it bow....

As the ugly one says, make some corner blocks with round outer corners and run the straps over them. I always use tie-downs for large carcass glue-ups. you'll have no trouble getting enough pressure.

Cool. Thanks guys. The prices from McJing are certainly pretty good. I reckon I would need 8 clamps (1 every 400mm) running laterally clamping the boards together, and then 6 running vertically clamping the boards flat. That's a lot of clamps!
I might give the tie downs a shot though as I like to keep things multi-purpose and as simple as possible. I reckon I will still use F clamps to keep the boards flat, and clamp them this way before running the tie-downs around the sides.
Of course, I would love a set of Frontline clamps, but that's not going to happen!

Thanks again for your input.
Dave

Hi Dave, when joining boards edge preparation goes a long way towards a simple glueup with tight gluelines, the edge should be a handplaned dead square to the face and with the slightest curve (concave) along the length of the edge of the board,
Attachment 183700

You can check the edge by holding a straightedge (I use a 1 meter long rule) on edge and checking for a gap in the center of the rule, move the rule the full length of the board edge checking the gap is always in the centerish of the rule and only the ends are sitting on the board edge, I also check by wobbling the straightedge slightly sideways and this gives a visual indication of where the rule is sitting and whether it is on a high point which is not what you want.

With correct edge prep. you then only need clamping in the center of the boards, here I have a clamp top and btm,
gluing top boards together.JPG

Note the even glue sqeeze out along the length of boards, with a ratchet strap with some edge protectors as has been suggested you should be OK, be careful of it tending to pull the outer boards up due to the strap tightening from one side only, unless the strap was able to slip around the edge protectors, as Ugly suggested make them with round outer edges, and definately do a dry run to see how it will work.


Pete

Hi Pete,

That's fantastic! Beautiful simplicity, and puts the focus on getting the edges just right (good preparation) rather than just clamping the bejeezuz out of shoddily prepared boards. I guess we all like the "insurance policy" of loads of clamps. But using your method, the boards will clamp themselves on the ends, so you only need to clamp the centre.

I love it, thanks.

Dave

No worries Dave, the boards in the pic are 300 wide 25mm thick, 2.5m long, the gap would have been somewhere less than say 0.5mm when both were butted together, with wider boards it becomes more difficult to bring together, I'm guessing your boards are narrower so should be easier to pull together and could probably tolerate a wider gap, also yours are longer so maybe two sets of straps but still towards the center, when you do a dry run you will see waht you need to do, also I setup saw horses and straight timbers and cross pieces to setup a level flat surface which I glued up on, it then gives a visual indication if you are getting any unwanted board movement/twist/cup/......


Pete