A few years ago I built a bunch of bar clamps for my shop. The original post can be seen here [link] While they work adequately and I use them, I’ve always been a little dissatisfied with the movable stop (second picture above.) When edge gluing, they tend to force the wood up off the bar of the clamp. Also setting up for the glue up is a bit time consuming with having to unscrew the eye bolt and find the right hole and such.
So Today my old clamps got noticed again, so I decided there’s no better time to make a small upgrade and post it. Below is the result.
The new movable stop is cut from 3/4 in. stock which matches the thickness of the bar. The metal arms are some 1/2 inch strap stock that I had. The screws are stove bolts which I cut to length after putting the nut on, then I mashed up the nut to keep it from loosening and falling off. If I were making the whole clamp from scratch I would not have to drill the holes in the bar, but I did use them to mark where I put the notches in the bottom. The notches, I made by sawing a shallow kerf at the desired location, then I used an aggressive rat-tail rasp to make the half round notches. Now I can easily adjust the movable stop. The stubby dowel at the end of the bar keeps the stop from sliding completely off the end. I just need to upgrade the remaining 11 clamps!
-- Ni faru ion el ligno!
3 comments so far
Oldtool
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3541 posts in 3686 days
#1 posted 03-06-2015 08:55 PM
Nice upgrade, much more efficient.
-- "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The point is to bring them the real facts." - Abraham Lincoln
Tugboater78
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2798 posts in 3687 days
#2 posted 08-21-2015 03:11 PM
Looks like a definate inprovement, ive been saving scraps to eventually make a few myself.
-- "....put that handsaw to work and make it earn its keep. - summerfi" <==< JuStiN >==>=->
Dave Rutan
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2022 posts in 3684 days
#3 posted 08-21-2015 03:29 PM
I’ve got some scraps set aside as well. I need at least two more 2-footers. You really can’t have too many!
-- Ni faru ion el ligno!
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