Thread: Edge Clamps

During this period of lockdown in Sydney, I have spent a little time in the shed working on a home-made edge clamping attachment. Edge clamps are useful when you are trying to put timber edge on, for example, a ply or MDF shelf.


Over the years, I have bought some edge clamps on fleabay, including a Record 129 as shown in this photo.
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They work fairly well but they are rather clumsy to use (although the largest one with the screws from both sides is easier because you don't have to to wedge the top jaw in order to get the centre screw aligned with the edge).


I did a little more research and came across these by Bessey and Dawn. However, the prices of these made it desirable to find a way to make my own.


So this is what I did:

1. Cut a piece of 25 mm square steel tube are about 30mm long and 2 pieces of 25 mm x 3 mm flat steel approximately 25 mm long (as in the photo),
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2. Clamp together so the square pieces are caps for the tube and then weld in the position (as in this photo).
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3. Cut a notch to fit the bars of your clamps across the tube next to one of the end caps. I have old Timbecon F clamps, Bessie K clamps and also Lidwig X4 and X5 clamps, and a notch about 7 mm wide will accommodate all of them.
4. In the end cap next to the notch, drill and tap for a 4 mm (or whatever you have) thumbscrew. This will tighten onto the bar of your clamp and keep the attachment in place.
5. On the side that has the mouth of the notch and on the opposite side drill and tap for 3/8" threaded rod (or whatever you have).
6. Put a pad on the end of the threaded rod opposite the mouth of the notch(I attached the pad with a self tapping screw Loctited into a hole in the end of the rod and then covered with a piece of felt).
7. Screw the threaded rod through the square tube and then put a handle on the other end of the threaded rod (I decided to do a bit of turning practice and whipped these up out of scrap). I painted the handle pink so that it has a chance of standing out in the workshop!

Here's the final product which probably explains the text more clearly.
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My welding is "rustic" and are required are sound significant smoothing with the angle grinder and covering with zinc paint. The good news is that these work extremely well. One benfit is that the