Planing to start building own furniture.. Gluing up panels for furniture? Clamps? Bes

Hi guys. I am relatively inexperienced in woodworking furniture, but am determined to get myself started to build things like a shoe cabinet, coffe table, bar stools, buffe , bed head currently needed in my home.

I am have virtually no tools at my disposal (I have a hand drill and some chisels), but could borrow some tools like a circular saw, jig saw, hand saw, plane off my mates.

I am forever dreaming of getting a Tablesaw, drill press, thicknesser/planer combo, belt/disc sander, bandsaw, router but that is just a side note for now.

As an initial step I thought I would try and get some clamps for gluing up panels from floorboards (the plan is to build a shoe cabinet).

I saw that there are some board gluing systems out there at carbatec, alternatively clamps..,

I like the idea of panel glue up systems but think they will not be versatile. Hence I thought the clamps might be better?

Doing a bit of research I thought the bessey variable clamps in 2000cm size might be the best way to go? (I would buy 3... One in middle and one for each side.. But since I have never done this, i would appreciate your input on what would be the best way of gluing up panels from floorboards .

You can make your own panel clamps, Google or search here. They're probably a good project to get used to marking out, cutting and drilling timber as well.

Another good starting point is making sure your measuring properly....2000 cm is 20 metres ! Are the clamps 200mm ? Almost any clamps at that size will be fine.

Good luck

Sam

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sam

You can make your own panel clamps, Google or search here. They're probably a good project to get used to marking out, cutting and drilling timber as well.

Another good starting point is making sure your measuring properly....2000 cm is 20 metres ! Are the clamps 200mm ? Almost any clamps at that size will be fine.

Good luck

Sam

---

If he's wanting to make up panels from floor boards I'm guessing he meant 2000mm (2m) clamps.

Many years ago I made up timber clamps using Dawn and Record clamp heads. They have served me very well. They are 1200 long, but if I had my time again I would make them 1800 long. Make them with nice wide (100mm) feet so they will sit upright on the floor while you assemble the boards for clamping.

See bottom of this page: http://www.dawntools.com.au/products...9.pdf?20110428

In the pic you can see my home made clamps (cramps?) on the bottom and a couple of the Bessey K Clamps on top. I would take the home made clamps over the Besseys any day.

Good luck with the new hobby!

I made these pamel clamps after a thread by GarciaJ I hope that's right as I can't find his original post but they work extremely well on panels just set the width to suit the width you wish to glue up slide the boards in and tap the wedges in I have used packing tape on the edges of the clamps and wedges so they don't stick to the panel. Hope this makes sense. I have 3 of these clamps the spacers that the threaded rod goes through are the same thickness as you are clamping so they help to keep the panels nice and flat during gluing up. If you make some of these you won't be sorry and they can be made out of work shop left overs I think the original post they were made from 45x19 pine mine are from 35x70 pine stud that I dressed down to get straight to begin with.
Regards Rod.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jack620

If he's wanting to make up panels from floor boards I'm guessing he meant 2000mm (2m) clamps.

Many years ago I made up timber clamps using Dawn and Record clamp heads. They have served me very well. They are 1200 long, but if I had my time again I would make them 1800 long. Make them with nice wide (100mm) feet so they will sit upright on the floor while you assemble the boards for clamping.

See bottom of this page: http://www.dawntools.com.au/products...9.pdf?20110428

In the pic you can see my home made clamps (cramps?) on the bottom and a couple of the Bessey K Clamps on top. I would take the home made clamps over the Besseys any day.

Good luck with the new hobby!

---

Hi Jack,

It seems they are also available at Carbatec website.

I scooted of to Bunning to see whether they have any 25mm wood planks and could not find any! Bloody hell! I know they are not a proper wood shop but I do not know how I could get a 25mm plank from a 30mm plank (which they have) unless I had a table saw...

Any suggestions?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rod Gilbert

I made these pamel clamps after a thread by GarciaJ I hope that's right as I can't find his original post….

---

I had little luck using the search function on the forum. The verification puzzle seems to be malfunctioning ..

Perhaps someone else could locate the original post?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rod Gilbert

I made these pamel clamps … they work extremely well on panels just set the width to suit the width you wish to glue up slide the boards in and tap the wedges in... I have used packing tape on the edges of the clamps and wedges so they don't stick to the panel. Hope this makes sense. ..

---

Rod I am trying to figure out what you did from photos but not quite sure yet? Are they some sort of cross clamps used for keeping the panels level?

I think this is the post u r looking for
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f44/ho...8/#post1629705

I have bessey parallel 1500mm clamps which I use for table frames and wide panel glueups. They r horrible, I wish I had some decent t-bar clamps because the bessey r too flexible demanding the use of cauls.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by l2oBiN

Hi Jack,

It seems they are also available at Carbatec website.

I scooted of to Bunning to see whether they have any 25mm wood planks and could not find any! Bloody hell! I know they are not a proper wood shop but I do not know how I could get a 25mm plank from a 30mm plank (which they have) unless I had a table saw...

Any suggestions?

---

You could get some 25mm thick plywood and cut strips from that, or if 25mm sheet is not available from Bunnings, get 12.5mm thick and glue two strips together. Just a thought.

thanks Kuffy that's is the post I was referring to. 2oBiN the boards are simply edge glued and slid between the uprights and then the wedge is driven in the top the spacers that the bolts go through are the same thickness as what you are gluing they are about 50mm square the bottom ones sit square the top ones pivot with the angle side of the wedge as the square edge of the wedge go against the job. hope that makes sense. https://www.woodworkforums.com/f44/ho...8/#post1629705 This post describes the making of then and also how they work.
Regards Rod.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 3 toed sloth

You could get some 25mm thick plywood and cut strips from that...

---

That's what I would do. I would go to somewhere like Plyco and have them rip it into strips for me. And don't worry, you'll find plenty of uses for the leftover ply!

Thanks guys,


The 25mm ply might be the way to go. Also wondering whether I should look into metal bars.. Might be heavy though...

How do I find out how many clamps do I need to join wood? Obviously this depends on length, (not sure how long floorboards are but say I want to glue up to 2m long boards ...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by l2oBiN

How do I find out how many clamps do I need to join wood? Obviously this depends on length, (not sure how long floorboards are but say I want to glue up to 2m long boards ...

---

I would use 7-8 clamps. I dont believe that too much pressure will starve the joint of glue, and in practice, if I dont use alot of pressure more glue is left in the joint giving me issues with pva creep down the line. I like to force the glue into the timber.

Finewoodworking.com. has articles written about the topic

Alternatively you could joint panels using Paul Sellers timber dog method. Might take a bit of practice to perfect though and you would probably need a plane. Speaking of planes, you can pick one up from a weekend market pretty cheaply. Then you can flatten it and sharpen it using wet/dry sandpaper and a flat surface like glass, there are plenty of tutorials on youtube.

Here is the link for the timber dog method. Pretty easy to do once you know how. FYI, Paul Sellers is a great teacher if you want to learn about handtool methods and he doesn't use a huge range of tools, mainly saws, a plane and some chisels. A good place to start of you want to get into furniture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehiSOFuBlRo