Page 2 of 6 FirstFirst 123456 LastLast
Results 16 to 30 of 84
  1. #16
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Brisbane (western suburbs)
    Age
    77
    Posts
    12,095

    Default

    I'm coming in a bit late, but didn't have any pics of my clamps to put up, & kept forgettingto take the digital camera home....
    You sure went at it once you got started, Sturdee! But as someone said above, you can never have too many clamps, unless you're looking for somewhere to hang the darn things...
    I went a similar route to Sturdee, but didn't stretch my own imagination like he did, just tried to copy the 'original' concept. I considered trying to threadsome bar with both left and right hand thread, but decided that was too much trouble, so I went with a combo of the old handscrew (or 'patternmaker') design that Sturdee has used and the pivoting nuts, using RH threaded rod. The pair illustrated are made using 5/16 threaded rod and some 5/8 bar. The only tricky bit was deciding how to capture the top "pusher" rod so they don't fly apart when opening. I simply filed down the end to fit through a 1/4 hole in the 5/8 bar, then peined the end over a washer , so that it remained free to turn in the bar (after assembling, of course!). They are a little slower to open and close fully (why is it that whenever you pick up a clamp, it's always at the opposite end of its travel from where you need it?!), but not too bad, and the pressure you can apply with such a fine thread is in most cases, excessive.
    So I made a bunch in various sizes using 1/4, 5/16 and 3/8 rod with jaws from 75mm long to about 250mm, and opening up to about 225mm for the bigger ones. They all worked well, and I'm still using the ones I haven't given/traded away. However, I quickly found the ability to vary the jaws from parallel was something I virtually never need, so why go to all the trouble of having pivoting nuts?. Then about 20 yrs ago, I made a couple of the old all-wood handcrews and became totally addicted to them for all clamping jobs up to 300mm or so. I've also made a bunch of wooden bar clamps, too, so I rarely use anything with metal on it any more. The most useful size for me uses screws of 3/4" diameter, with jaws 200mm or so long, opening to about 200mm. (If you try making the screws any longer, it's too easy to bend and break the centre or tension screw by overtightening the top screw.) I have a few sets of 300mm capacity using 1" screws and a bunch of tiddlers using 1/2" screws (They are extremely useful, but a bit easy to wreck by the inexperienced - some folk just don't seem to get the idea of holding the handles and spinning the whole clamp to open and close).
    Over the last 20 yrs or so I have made a pile of clamps - mostly out of curiosity to see how a given wood takes threading, and also to try different ways of doing it - including making a tap from the guts of an old brass water-tap (saw it in a British mag, in an article called "Make a tap from a tap"!). Many, many pairs have been given away or traded to prevent my workshop being buried under piles of clamps! Since the original taps cost me very little, and all wood used is either scraps or 'found', the unit cost must be approaching a few cents a set, by now... The screws are turned in one piece and threaded on a home-made router jig similar to the (poisonously-expensive) Beale thing. The home made jig consists of two bits of scrap hardwood and two screws. The advantage of the router method is that you can cut a thread on almost anything from Balsa to Gidgee. I've tried dozens of different woods, and the best wood is anything that turns ok, and has a fine, dense grain. Applewood is one of the best going, but any of the harder Acacias, Casaurinas, Penda, you-name-it, make good screws. I prefer to use softer woods for the jaws - even Radiata holds threads well in cross-grain. The only down side of handscrews is they are a bit hard to apply one-handed, but it can be done.
    One word of experience - make sure you oil and wax the threads - if you don't, and you get a drop of glue in the wrong spot, you'll have yourself what must be the strongest wood-joint known to man.....
    Here are a couple of pics, starting with my 'modified Jorgensen' design
    Cheers,
    IW

  2. # ADS
    Google Adsense Advertisement
    Join Date
    Always
    Location
    Advertising world
    Age
    2010
    Posts
    Many





     
  3. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Brisbane (western suburbs)
    Age
    77
    Posts
    12,095

    Default

    Here are the all-wood variety I prefer. The largest one used 3/4" screws, and the centre one is made using the 'tap from a tap'. It works fine, but setting-up and cutting such fine threads is very fiddly...
    IW

  4. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Brisbane (western suburbs)
    Age
    77
    Posts
    12,095

    Default

    And a bar clamp......
    IW

  5. #19
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Pambula
    Age
    58
    Posts
    12,779

    Default

    Ian,

    Do you think you're going to be allowed to get away with that paucity of detail? How do you "make a tap from a tap" and give us some pictures of your thread cutting router jig.

    Please?

    "I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to."

  6. #20
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Brisbane (western suburbs)
    Age
    77
    Posts
    12,095

    Default

    Hmm, yeah, silentC, I suppose I should have thought of that ahead.
    OK, give me a day or two, or possibly early next week and I'll post something with more detail. I've done a few demos at wood shows and clubs, and somewhere deep in the bowels of this infernal eletronic device is a 'how to' that runs over a couple of A4 sheets worth, but I haven't any digital pics of the jig. In fact it's a few years since I had the urge to do any threading, so the jigs are buried a little deeply in the litter. If you'll bear with me, I'll put something together as soon as I can. I thought about directing you to some of the original articles that got me going, but not many people would have access to old FWW mags of the late 70's.
    Til then, avagooday,
    IW

  7. #21
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Perth WA
    Posts
    3,784

    Default

    Ian,
    I like what I see.
    I am very interested for more information as well.
    Cheers,
    Rod

  8. #22
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Pambula
    Age
    58
    Posts
    12,779

    Default

    Cheers Ian, who could ask for more?

    The reason for my interest is that I'd like to make a tail vice for my bench and I was thinking of wooden screws. They used to cut the threads by hand but I don't have the patience for that.
    "I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to."

  9. #23
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Brisbane (western suburbs)
    Age
    77
    Posts
    12,095

    Default

    Originally posted by silentC
    Cheers Ian, who could ask for more?

    The reason for my interest is that I'd like to make a tail vice for my bench and I was thinking of wooden screws. They used to cut the threads by hand but I don't have the patience for that.
    You mean like this?
    The biggest problem is the tap. I have a Heath-Robinson solution for that, which is ok for softer hardwoods, but can't hack it in Ironbark? A wonderful friend turned me up a 2" tap - it takes two fit blokes to drive it, though!
    IW

  10. #24
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Pambula
    Age
    58
    Posts
    12,779

    Default

    That's the one. I thought I might be able to hand carve the 'nut' thread in two halves. There are probably other ways. I've got a book on it somewhere. I'd hate to think how much it would cost to get a tap made.
    "I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to."

  11. #25
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Brisbane (western suburbs)
    Age
    77
    Posts
    12,095

    Default

    SilentC - we aren't that far away - maybe when you are ready, I can help out.
    Wood-screw tail vises are pretty easy to make and work superbly well - I spend 80% of my time using the tail vise, and couldn't contemplate a bench without one, now.
    It's not very practical having a tap made, anyway, because you'll only use it a couple of times. I made a wood one for my first bench - chased a thread into a blank, then drove in a series of 14G screws, clipped and filed them into cutters. It worked, to my own amzement, and will thread woods up to the hardnes of say, Mountain Ash, (the one in the pic was done that way - it's hard Maple, which is pretty tough stuff) but I wouldn't try driving it into anything like Spotted gum or Bluegum, etc.
    Email me when you are getting to the vise stage, and we'll see what might be done...
    Have to sign out here; & won't be in front of a computer for the rest of the day.
    Talk to you later...
    IW

  12. #26
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    ...
    Posts
    7,955

    Default

    Ian,

    It is good to see others making clamps as well. They are not as difficult to make as it seems and at the end you have a very worthwile collection.

    Whilst it seems that I made a lot, I only made two batches of a dozen each. The extra time taken to make a batch rather than one is not all that much more ( apart from the assembling ) as most of the time is taken in setting up the various procedures.

    I thought of making woodscrews ( I have a tap and die set ) but buying threaded rods was easier and less time consuming.

    I love your bar clamps and would appreciate some more details of the construction and sizes.


    Peter.

  13. #27
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Brisbane (western suburbs)
    Age
    77
    Posts
    12,095

    Default

    OK - so as not to hijack this thread, I started a new thread with some details of my threading jig. As I get time, I'll post a bit more on the handscrews and bar clamps I showed above.
    Cheers,
    IW

  14. #28
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    UP urs 2
    Posts
    6

    Default

    Sturdee,

    Would you please give me permission to grab this threads postings so I can put them on my web page? I would give this Forum and you credit, of course.

    I would like to add this to my collection so it cannot just vanish and get lost.

    Thank you very much...

    Perhaps I should also PM Private Message you...

    My web site is:
    http://www.qsl.net/wb6ufx/WoodWorkStuff.html

    Thanks again & have fun,
    Joe

  15. #29
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    UP urs 2
    Posts
    6

    Default

    Doesn't anybody read & reply... ??

    Joe

  16. #30
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Brisbane (western suburbs)
    Age
    77
    Posts
    12,095

    Default

    Maybe he's busy making more clamps!
    IW

Page 2 of 6 FirstFirst 123456 LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •