Assembly Rack
What started out as a simple clamp rack project grew into an entire assembly center.
I started out wanting a mobile rack for all of my clamps to make assembly easier and avoid the running back and forth for clamps and/or having the work table covered in clamps so there is no room to work. The next thing I knew the project grew into the idea of having everything needed for assembly on a mobile cart - clamps, glue, biscuit joiners and biscuits, dowels jigs and dowels, pocket jig pocket hole clamps and screws, and more!
Here is the completed rack (fully loaded) before final sanding and finishing.
I started out with some left over 8/4 Red Oak from my Counter Height Table Top project. I had several long side cuts with wane and one wide board that wasn't good enough for the table top. I also had a large piece (36" by 56") of 3/4 Red Oak plywood from another project, and some left over 3/4" oak stock.
I really enjoy the challenge of making something useful out of scraps and salvaged stock. I set the width dimension of the rack pieces based on the narrowest width. A couple of pieces still have some wane,
but i plan on routing the edges with a 3/4" round-over so i could cheat a little.
I started the project by laying out the profile of the "A frames" in chalk on my workshop floor. This helped me work out the dimensions and the angles. I usually start on paper and work everything out, but I decided to just design on the fly this time.
I had a few requirements in mind to start with - the height at 60" with a top shelf of 12" with 10 degree angles, which determined the base width of the A frames.
I laid out all of my clamps which is what I used to determine a width of 24". Once I put the A frames together I clamped the basic assembly together to make sure the clamps would fit and to work out where the middle shelf and the lower clamp bracket should go.
What started out as a simple clamp rack project grew into an entire assembly center.
I started out wanting a mobile rack for all of my clamps to make assembly easier and avoid the running back and forth for clamps and/or having the work table covered in clamps so there is no room to work. The next thing I knew the project grew into the idea of having everything needed for assembly on a mobile cart - clamps, glue, biscuit joiners and biscuits, dowels jigs and dowels, pocket jig pocket hole clamps and screws, and more!
Here is the completed rack (fully loaded) before final sanding and finishing.
I started out with some left over 8/4 Red Oak from my Counter Height Table Top project. I had several long side cuts with wane and one wide board that wasn't good enough for the table top. I also had a large piece (36" by 56") of 3/4 Red Oak plywood from another project, and some left over 3/4" oak stock.
I really enjoy the challenge of making something useful out of scraps and salvaged stock. I set the width dimension of the rack pieces based on the narrowest width. A couple of pieces still have some wane,
but i plan on routing the edges with a 3/4" round-over so i could cheat a little.
I started the project by laying out the profile of the "A frames" in chalk on my workshop floor. This helped me work out the dimensions and the angles. I usually start on paper and work everything out, but I decided to just design on the fly this time.
I had a few requirements in mind to start with - the height at 60" with a top shelf of 12" with 10 degree angles, which determined the base width of the A frames.
I laid out all of my clamps which is what I used to determine a width of 24". Once I put the A frames together I clamped the basic assembly together to make sure the clamps would fit and to work out where the middle shelf and the lower clamp bracket should go.