Thread: Home made sash clamps made from cheap pine short cuts

Hi everyone, you might find this additional tip useful. Like Rod, I spaced the holes along the clamps 10 cm apart, except for the first three holes on one end of every clamp. Sometimes the boards are a little bit too narrow for the wedges to lock. On those occasions I just shift the bolt at the end to the second hole along the clamps.

Originally Posted by GarciaJ

Hi everyone, you might find this additional tip useful. Like Rod, I spaced the holes along the clamps 10 cm apart, except for the first three holes on one end of every clamp. Sometimes the boards are a little bit too narrow for the wedges to lock. On those occasions I just shift the bolt at the end to the second hole along the clamps.

Nice touch .

Regards
Paul

After making a few table tops only to spend a lot time levelling, Garcia your clamps sound great.

However I'm not 100% certain of the role of the wedges. But if they are to apply downward pressure on the boards being glued, couldn't Bar Clamps be used for this?

Then you'd have the best of both worlds. Great compression vertically and horizontally.

After making a few table tops only to spend a lot time levelling, Garcia your clamps sound great.

However I'm not 100% certain of the role of the wedges. But if they are to apply downward pressure on the boards being glued, couldn't Bar Clamps be used for this?

Then you'd have the best of both worlds. Great compression vertically and horizontally.

Jorge - I really like your design for these clamps

Good, Cheap & Fast !!!!! (it seems that you can have all three at once)

I was thinking of adding a little "springing" (maybe 1/4" to 1/2" over the 4' length) to the clamps when the two pieces of 19x42 are glued together (opposing directions for each pair) enabling the clamps to apply a little more sideways pressure on the panel.

Thanks for posting your design.

Regards
John

Originally Posted by daryl@kit-chens

After making a few table tops only to spend a lot time levelling, Garcia your clamps sound great.

However I'm not 100% certain of the role of the wedges. But if they are to apply downward pressure on the boards being glued, couldn't Bar Clamps be used for this?

Then you'd have the best of both worlds. Great compression vertically and horizontally.

Hi Daryl,

The bases of the T's one on each side press against the face of boards being glued. The force is provided by the coach bolts on each end of the clamps. It only needs to be tight enough to make the two boards being glued line up perfectly with each other. This minimises sanding and/or planing later. The wedges tighten up between the bolts and the outer edges of the boards being glued, and effectively forces the edges being glued together while the glue dries. Trying to avoid the use of expensive sash (bar) clamps is the reason I built these in the first place, but sure, bar clamps can be used... there are also some scissor clamps that you can get from Carbatec that provide both clamping forces at the same time, but these are about $50 a pair. (So is a cheap bar clamp) You need one pair for each clamp and you need at least three clamps for each board, depending on the length.

I built mine using 12 pieces of 19x42x900 pine from Bunnings and 6 10x150 coach screws, nuts and washers, plus a few off cuts for the square spacers and wedges. Total cost was ~ $20 for 3 clamps.

Bottom line is... other clamping arrangements will work, but I can't imagine that anything will be cheaper than wedges... and the wedges are very effective. If you already have bar clamps, then you might wonder why on earth is GarciaJ using wedges?

Used them again for gluing up shelves and sides for my latest project - a buffet unit posted elsewhere in this Forum, and I am using them again to glue up some 19x185x1800 for a bookshelf for my daughter (the shelf will be 370mm deep).

Originally Posted by jcge

Jorge - I really like your design for these clamps

Good, Cheap & Fast !!!!! (it seems that you can have all three at once)

I was thinking of adding a little "springing" (maybe 1/4" to 1/2" over the 4' length) to the clamps when the two pieces of 19x42 are glued together (opposing directions for each pair) enabling the clamps to apply a little more sideways pressure on the panel.

Thanks for posting your design.

Regards
John

Hi John,

I have been thinking about this too... but I think it may be better to provide two perfectly flat, straight surfaces and as many as you can across the length of the boards being glued together. That way you will not have a resulting laminated board that is cupped or warped. The downward force on the face of the boards doesn't have to be too large. Just enough to hold the edges being glued in alignment while the glue dries.

If you want to clamp harder over the joint, just put a build up of plastic packing tape on face of the clamp were it crosses the joint. That way the clamp will be pinching hardest where you want the two boards to line up perfectly.

If you give your idea a try, please tell me how it works out. My clamps are still going strong so I will not be making any others any time soon.

Regards

Jorge

Jorge

I like your idea of using tape to build up localised pressure...easily changeable depending on the job at hand (and prevents sticking at the joint), as opposed to the fixed springing along the entire length of the clamp.

Thanks for posting.
Regards
John