It is currently 28 Mar 2024, 11:31

Bar Clamps

This is where we don't want anything but evidence of your finest wood butchering in all its glorious, and photograph laden glory. Bring your finished products or WIP's, we love them all, so long as there's pictures, and plenty of 'em!

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 16 May 2021, 10:31

Andyp wrote:I guess then that the journey must be just as enjoyable as the destination.
I admire your dedication and patience. That level of repetition would drive be up the wall.


I completely understand that sentiment. It's probably worth saying though that the repetition isn't as bad as it looks (bearing in mind I find TIG welding quite relaxing). For example, to weld all 20 jaws onto the frames took me just under an hour & that was probably one of the longest jobs in terms of doing the same thing over-and-over. Even that could have been sped up if I had just done a few short welds (which would have been ample) rather than going all the way round (which I think looks better). Compare that length of time to how long it would take to hand cut all the dovetails on a chest of drawers and it doesn't seem that repetitive to me.
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Andyp » 16 May 2021, 11:16

Dr.Al wrote:
Andyp wrote:I guess then that the journey must be just as enjoyable as the destination.
I admire your dedication and patience. That level of repetition would drive be up the wall.


I completely understand that sentiment. It's probably worth saying though that the repetition isn't as bad as it looks (bearing in mind I find TIG welding quite relaxing). For example, to weld all 20 jaws onto the frames took me just under an hour & that was probably one of the longest jobs in terms of doing the same thing over-and-over. Even that could have been sped up if I had just done a few short welds (which would have been ample) rather than going all the way round (which I think looks better). Compare that length of time to how long it would take to hand cut all the dovetails on a chest of drawers and it doesn't seem that repetitive to me.


Thats a fair point too and probably why I know enjoy turning so much. From log to finished project in just a couple of hours. Mind you trying to turn 2 of anything and getting them to look identical a real challenge.
I do not think therefore I do not am.

cheers
Andy
User avatar
Andyp
Petrified Pine
 
Posts: 11712
Joined: 22 Jul 2014, 07:05
Location: 14860 Normandy, France
Name: Andy

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 16 May 2021, 12:36

Image

The end plates were next. The holes drilled in the end plate are 16 mm and 14 mm. The smaller hole is the equivalent of the hole in the end cap - a very loose fit for the M12 set screw that holds the end plate in place. The 16 mm hole is a close-ish fit on the the M16 threaded rod for the clamping screw. Ideally this would have been drilled a bit bigger to make sure that the threaded rod easily cleared the hole (as I did on the back plates for the screw jaws), but having a 16 mm hole means that I can use the hole to help align the nut in the right place. If the nut moves slightly during welding and the hole is causing interference with the threaded rod, I can pass a tap through from the nut side and extend the thread into the plate.

Image

This shows the "jig" I used to position the nuts. It's a bit of threaded rod held in a vice with a nut above and below the plate. The nut above the plate can easily be lined up with the plate for a consistent orientation.

Image

I tacked two sides of each nut while it was in the jig, then removed it from the jig.

Image

I then welded round all six sides of each nut. This is probably overkill (two sides would have provided plenty of strength), but I was enjoying welding.

Image

The small piece of 30 mm × 30 mm × 2 mm box section is there to help align the end plate with the long bars while the M12 screw is tightened to hold them in place. It's not really necessary and I partly only added it as it adds some symmetry with respect to the end caps on the other end of the bars. To fit the box section, I used my fixture plate again; this made it very quick to add one tack in the corner.

Image

I then took the piece out of the jig and tacked the other corner. As with most previous operations, I tacked all the parts together in one go and then went back to weld them all.

Image

As the box section isn't structural and to save me a lot of work grinding the sides down, I just welded the box section on two sides (and one of those sides was only partly welded due to access behind the nut).

Image

The side plates were attached using the fixture plate again. This time I swapped one of the 20–40–80 blocks for a couple of 8 mm dowel pins to give better access. The eccentric screw made clamping each one in place very quick.

Image

I tacked the two sides in place at the top while the end plates were in the jig.

Image

I then tacked the rear in a few places to hold it firmly.

Image

Finally, I welded round three sides of each side plate. I'll probably round all the edges and corners off with an angle grinder once the weather improves (I prefer to do angle grinding outside), but otherwise these parts are complete and ready for painting.

The only remaining welding to do on this project (unless I've forgotten something!) is to attach the second M16 split nut to its threaded rod to hold the threaded rod in place on the screw jaw.
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 16 May 2021, 13:01

Image

Following a suggestion from @9fingers, I decided to try using a thrust bearing on the screw jaw to make the action of the screw a bit smoother as it's tightened. This has the (potential) disadvantage that it could reduce the ability to cope with angular misalignment, but hopefully the reinforcement of the end plate with side pieces and the relatively accurate drilling of holes with the milling machine should stop that being an issue. The bearings I'm using are designated as 51103: 17 mm inner diameter, 30 mm outer diameter and 9 mm thick; I bought 10 of them for £15, although I could have cut that in half if I were patient enough to wait for delivery from the far east.

The other problem this introduces is how to paint the parts. My plan had been to get everything welded together and then paint. It's going to be quite hard to paint the plate on the jaw and the split nut on the thread without getting paint on the thrust bearing. I'm aiming for at least eight clamp bodies, but have been making ten of each part to give myself some scope for messing things up. Since that's the case, I thought I'd try painting one of the jaws before doing the final weld. All being well, the final weld will be far enough away from the paint that the heat won't ruin the paint! I'll have to paint the outer split nut after welding it to the threaded rod, but this is a small enough area that it should be easy-ish to do with a brush (or I could leave that part unpainted).

Image

There are going to be wooden pads attached to the jaws (to stop the jaws from damaging the workpiece being clamped). These will be glued in place (Neil Paskin used hot melt glue and I will probably try the same). To be sure that the glue has something (other than paint) to adhere to, I masked the central area of the jaws with masking tape. I also masked the threaded rod to stop paint from getting into the threads. For this one, I haven't masked the area where the box section goes (although for the sliding jaw, I hung it on a bit of threaded rod to stop paint getting into the half-nut); it would be much easier not to have to mask the internal area, so I thought I'd try not doing so and see whether it's okay.

Image

This photo shows the set-up I used for painting a pair of jaws (I also covered the rear clamp with a rag to stop the clamp from getting painted). The screw jaw is simply hanging from a spring clamp, which is attached to the ceiling with a bit of wire. The strange-shaped bit of aluminium that is clamped down (to my temporary shelf, which has been covered in a tarpaulin) is something that came out of a skip a while ago and just seemed a good shape.

Image

I gave both jaws a coat of primer (Tractol Light Grey) and left them over night. This was my first go at using spray paint and I was pleased with how easy it was (compared to brushing) to get a good even coat.

Image

I then gave them two coats (about 10 hours apart) of Tractol RAL 4004 ("Claret Red"), again sprayed onto the jaws. Once the second coat had been left overnight to dry, I peeled the masking tape off.

The next job is to fit the thrust bearing and weld the split nut into place. It'll be interesting to see what the paint looks like after I've done that!
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby 9fingers » 16 May 2021, 13:14

I'd thread all the bearing in a stack on a scrap piece of bar/ threaded rod and wrap in tape.
with a knife slice off each wrapped bearing in turn and then complete the painting.
This should give adequate masking but not to excess allowing the rest of the metal to be painted.

Bob
Information on induction motors here
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dBTVXx ... sp=sharing
Email:motors@minchin.org.uk
User avatar
9fingers
Petrified Pine
 
Posts: 10037
Joined: 21 Jul 2014, 20:22
Location: Romsey Hampshire between Southampton and the New Forest
Name: Bob

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 16 May 2021, 13:47

9fingers wrote:I'd thread all the bearing in a stack on a scrap piece of bar/ threaded rod and wrap in tape.
with a knife slice off each wrapped bearing in turn and then complete the painting.
This should give adequate masking but not to excess allowing the rest of the metal to be painted.

Bob


That's a really good idea, thanks. Hopefully the masking tape will survive the welding heat (it'll be much closer that the paint). I'm going to try welding the one I've done anyway (too late to do otherwise) and then decide which approach to take.

Thanks again.
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 16 May 2021, 17:43

Image

The sun came out briefly, so I took advantage and ground all the welds on the end plates. Then I got on with the test of welding a painted part.

Image

I don't want the split nut to be tight as the face of the other split nut (that is inside the jaw) isn't as smooth as the action of the bearing. Therefore, I used a couple of my feeler gauge scraps to help me get consistent spacing on all the jaw frames. With the feeler gauge pieces in place and the nut hand tightened onto them, I tacked in a couple of places. I had the current return clamp attached to the top of the threaded rod to prevent any issues with current trying to spark its way through the jaw face paint.

Image

I then welded all the way round the nut. In all honesty, the tacks would probably do the job, but I prefer the appearance of the full weld.

Image

After welding (and cooling) I inspected the paint carefully. There was some definite marring underneath the bearing (which can be most readily seen if the bearing is slid to one side). Given that it's hard to see unless you're looking very closely and also hidden behind the bearing face, I've decided I'm happy with this. When I do the rest of the jaws, I'll try to weld a bit on each of the nine remaining jaws in a cycle rather than welding all of one and then moving on to the next. All being well, that'll reduce the heat build up in any one part and should lessen the damage to the paint even further.

Image
Image

With that done, I couldn't resist a quick test. I'm happy to say that any paint that got on the inside of the jaw frames has had no effect on the sliding action of either jaw.

Image

Image

Next up was a long and very tedious process of masking all the jaw frames and getting everything mounted in a suitable way to allow me to spray paint all the parts. This took a couple of hours and was very dull.

Image

Image

With that done, I could spray everything with a coat of primer.
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 18 May 2021, 19:24

Once all the parts had received a coat of primer and two coats of paint, I removed everything from the paint stands and took the split nuts off the screw jaw frames.

Having thought a bit more about the method of attaching the split nuts, it occurred to me that if I tidy up the outer face of the split nuts on the lathe (rather than leaving a hacksawn finish) and then try to do four tack welds to join them to the threaded rod, it will probably look quite good (if I can do neat looking tack welds, which isn't that easy) and will provide plenty of strength (the join is just there to stop the nut unscrewing and there's not much chance of that happening once the thread has been melted by the TIG torch).

Image

To clean up the faces of the nuts, I put an offcut of threaded rod into the three-jaw chuck on the lathe. Each split nut could then be faced and the edge chamfered.

Image

To simplify the process of attaching the earth clamp to the threaded rod, I cut a couple of the sides of a spare bit of box section and clamped it to the bench drill's table. I put the earth clamp on the box section and could then hang each threaded rod (with a temporarily attached nut) from the box section.

Image

From there it was just a case of hand tightening onto the feeler gauge pieces as before and doing four quick tack welds. This puts much less heat into the bearing area than the full weld did.

Image

With the welds all complete, they could be given a coat of primer and two coats of paint, this time using a brush (carefully: holding the brush still and turning the thread). This photo shows one after one coat of primer has been done; I'll do the paint coats over the next couple of days. A little primer got on one or two of the bearing washers, but it doesn't matter too much and I may be able to carefully scrape it off when the painting is all done.
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 18 May 2021, 19:25

Image

I had this bit of English Walnut that is mostly sapwood so I wasn't convinced I would get much use out of it. As I also had a lump of English Walnut that could plausibly be made into handles, I thought I'd use this piece to make the wooden jaw faces.

Image

I used the table saw to cut a few 50 mm deep slits in the walnut. The thickness was chosen based on making sure I'd get enough jaws out of the block.

Image

I then cut the slits off to make a set of strips. While they were in this state, I hand sanded them with 80 grit sandpaper to get rid of the worst of the saw marks.

Image

Finally, I set up a stop on my cross-cut sled and chopped them all to length.

Image

This photos shows the jaws ready to be attached.
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 18 May 2021, 19:26

Image

This photo shows the (partially made) handles that I'm going to use for the bar clamps. I don't have a woodturning lathe and didn't fancy covering my metal lathe in sawdust, so had to find an alternative method of making the handles. The dimensions were chosen to be roughly the same outside "diameter" as my favourite chisels (Narex 8116). They're made out of a lump of English Walnut that had a big knot in the middle. There wasn't much of the wood that didn't have cracks going through it (and it wasn't that big a piece anyway), but with some careful cutting up I managed to get ten pieces that I could use for handle making.

Image

This shows the jig I used to make the handles. As you can probably see, it was knocked together out of bits I had lying around. The fledgling handle is mounted "between centres" using the two wood screws in the vertical blocks. The plywood bar gives something to grab hold of to hold the base plate against the table saw's fence. The two blocks to the left of the jig are just there to keep something between my hands and the table saw blade - I'll admit that this isn't the safest jig in the world, but I was extremely careful while using it as I was feeling very wary of that spinning blade! The other block (in the middle of the plywood bar in the photo) is a loose block with one side cut at an accurate 45° and the other at an accurate 90° to the base. In use this is pressed against the side of the fledgling handle (which started off as a square-section block) allowing the opposite side to be cut at either 90° to the opposite face or 45° to the opposite face.

Using this jig resulted in a slight taper to each of the parts (I think this was due to inconsistencies in how I tightened the screws), but I quite like the look of that, so I'm not complaining!

The holes in the end were drilled by placing each piece largest end down on the table of the bench drill, holding it by hand and drilling with a cheap and very nasty 15 mm Lidl Forstner bit. The tapping size for M16 is 14 mm, but I only wanted a very loose thread as I intend to fill in the thread form with epoxy to make a permanent attachment. When Neil Paskin made his handles, he used the threaded rod with a slit cut in to act as a tap. I've got an M16 tap, so I just used that - it went in extremely easily as a result of the large pilot hole and the fact it's cutting wood rather than metal. I may still cut a slot in the threaded rod to give the epoxy a way out, but tapping was nice and easy using a proper tap.

Image

I wanted to get rid of the sharp corners on the backs of the handles, so I set up a couple of blocks on my cross-cut sled to give a consistent length and cut angle.

Image

With the two pieces of plywood fixed in place, I could place the handle on each of the eight sides and trim off the corners.

Image

My first attempt didn't quite look right, so one handle is a bit different to the others, but by the time they're sanded I don't think it will be too obvious.

Image

One of the clamps has a bit of a split in, but it's quite shallow and I don't think it'll cause a problem. I'll probably fill it with something (maybe epoxy since I'm going to mix some of that up to attach the handles to the threaded rod).

The next job for the handles is to spend some (probably quite a lot of) time with some sandpaper tidying them up. I'll do that in between coats of paint on the split nuts.
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby AJB Temple » 18 May 2021, 19:46

This is a great thread and I admire your craftsmanship. But boy, its fiddly. Still, you will have them forever.
Don't like: wood, engines, electrickery, decorating, tiling, laying stone, plumbing, gardening or any kind of DIY. Not wild about spiders either.
User avatar
AJB Temple
Sequoia
 
Posts: 5428
Joined: 15 Apr 2019, 09:04
Name:

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Mike G » 18 May 2021, 20:44

My goodness, aren't they pretty! Great thread. Great effort.
User avatar
Mike G
Sequoia
 
Posts: 9833
Joined: 30 Jul 2014, 22:36
Location: Suffolk
Name:

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 19 May 2021, 17:55

I'm firmly in the part of the project that I hate now. Painting and sanding: urgh.

I've done the first coat of "Claret Red" paint on the split nuts; I'll get the second (and hopefully final) coat done tomorrow evening.

Image

While the paint was drying I got a bit of chipboard that I'd previously taped some sandpaper down to (I think it's 120 grit, but I can't remember for sure) and sanded the handles. While I was at it, I rounded off the pointed tips and added some chamfers onto the end edges to make it more comfortable in the hand.

Image

This shows all the handles after sanding to whatever grit the sanding board has on it. I'm expecting there will be some scratch marks that become obvious when I put some oil on the handles, but since it's just a piece of workshop equipment, I'm not going to worry too much about making them super pretty. After sanding all the handles, I mixed up a bit of Araldite and filled in that crack; I'll sand that off again once it's had a chance to thoroughly cure.

There's not much more I can do at the moment (and apart from the second coat of paint there's not much I'll be able to do tomorrow either).
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 20 May 2021, 19:16

Image

I managed to get up at 5 o'clock this morning so I had time to do the second coat of paint on the split nuts before I started work this morning. That meant it had dried enough by this evening that I could get on with other things. The photo above shows all the parts ready for assembly.

Image

The first job I did was sand down the epoxy that I'd used to fill the crack in this handle.

Image

With everything ready, I installed a handle onto each screw jaw so that I could see how far they went on (they should all be the same as the threaded rods were all the same length and the drilling was done to a consistent depth, but I thought it better to err on the side of caution and check). I put some masking tape on the threaded rod to mark the end position and also to stop the thread filling up with epoxy if any got squeezed out during installation of the handle. I then put a bit of masking tape on the handles so I could mark the paired handles and threads as "A1", "B2", "C3" etc. I like this sequence for marking parts as smudged handwriting can confuse "A" and "D" or "6" and "8", but "A1" will never be confused with "D4" and "F6" will never be confused with "H8". With them marked as pairs I can be sure the masking tape will be in the right place when the handles are installed.

Image

I put one of my home-made cantilever clamps into a vice and used it to grip the masked threads of each screw jaw. The cantilever clamp has a v-groove cut in each brass jaw, so this seemed like a good way to hold the parts.

Image

With the thread clamped, I used a cutting disc in an angle grinder to cut a narrow slit along the thread (to give the epoxy an escape path and make sure the handle can go all the way on), using the masking tape as a guide to make sure I didn't cut too far.

Image

For the same reason as the masking tape on the threads (to catch epoxy squeeze-out), I put some masking tape on the ends of the handles and cut out (with a craft knife) around the hole.

Image

I mixed up an entire packet of Araldite Standard on some masking tape and put a blob of it inside each handle and around the last circa 30 mm of the thread (which was again held in the cantilever clamp).

Image

I then screwed the handle on, using one of the Araldite-provided spatulas to push the squeeze-out into the threads as the handle was screwed on tightly.

Once the handle was tightly in place, I removed the masking tape (to stop it getting epoxied in place); I didn't get any photographs with the masking tape removed but I'll take some tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'll get the wooden jaws fitted and get everything assembled onto the bars. The handles and jaws will then get a couple of coats of Danish Oil & unless I've forgotten anything, the bar clamps should then be complete.
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby AndyT » 20 May 2021, 19:27

Have I missed the bit where you asked how many clamps each of us wants? Where can I place my order? ;)

Seriously though, very impressive work.
--------------
Andy
User avatar
AndyT
Old Oak
 
Posts: 2364
Joined: 23 Nov 2020, 19:45
Location: Bristol
Name: Andy

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Andyp » 20 May 2021, 19:41

Love the colour.
I do not think therefore I do not am.

cheers
Andy
User avatar
Andyp
Petrified Pine
 
Posts: 11712
Joined: 22 Jul 2014, 07:05
Location: 14860 Normandy, France
Name: Andy

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 20 May 2021, 20:08

Thanks both
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Andyp » 20 May 2021, 20:17

Andyp wrote:Love the colour.


Not just the colour or course. The whole build is breathtaking.
I do not think therefore I do not am.

cheers
Andy
User avatar
Andyp
Petrified Pine
 
Posts: 11712
Joined: 22 Jul 2014, 07:05
Location: 14860 Normandy, France
Name: Andy

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 21 May 2021, 17:01

Image

This is the photo I didn't take yesterday: the handles epoxied into place with the masking tape removed. One or two had a little bit of leftover squeezed-out epoxy that I'd missed, but it wasn't very much and was easy enough to dig out.

Image

This is all the pieces fully welded, painted and glued and ready for assembly onto the bars.

After putting everything together, I found that two of the screw jaw mechanisms were very stiff. I presume this is down to one of the following:

  1. Too much paint inside the jaw (where it slides on the bar).
  2. Mis-positioning of the back face of the screw jaw so it doesn't line up with the nut on the end plate when the end plate is tightened onto the bar.
  3. I might have tightened the split nut too much before welding it in place.

I'll do some investigation another day; for now I'm happy that eight jaws are working fine (my target was always to make eight jaws; I made ten in case something went wrong with one or two of them).

Image

Once everything was together, I took 16 of the wooden jaws and chamfered the four edges that would be on the outside (this was just done with a hand sanding pad).

Image

For each jaw in turn I then put some hot melt glue on the jaw and pressed the wooden jaw pad firmly into place. Once both jaws for a given bar were on, I slid the sliding jaw up to the screw jaw and tightened the screw jaw such that it was squeezing the two pads together (and hence against their jaws).

Image

After all the jaws were glued on, I loosened everything back off again ready for oiling with Danish Oil. I'm not completely convinced the hot melt glue is a good option for this (although it'll make it easy to replace the jaws if required), but if the jaws fall off I can always try a different type of glue.

Image

This photo shows some of the jaw pads after having the first coat of Danish Oil.

Image

This shows some of the handles after having the first coat of Danish Oil.
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 21 May 2021, 17:02

Although the wooden components will get a second coat of oil tomorrow, I decided they were probably close enough to what they would eventually look like to be worth doing a little photo shoot.

Image

Top view. The shortest bars can clamp up to 620 mm; the medium bars can clamp up to 1020 mm. Although I haven't put jaws onto the longest bars, I did test them with one of the heads off a shorter bar and they can clamp up to 1700 mm.

Image

This shows another view of the bar clamps. I really like that walnut grain on the handles.

Image

An end view to get a better look at that grain.

Image

The bars can be joined together using a short length of M12 threaded rod. The nut you can see in this picture was fitted after fitting the threaded rod one of the bars. Tightening the nut stops the threaded rod from turning when the second bar is screwed into place (without this there's a chance the threaded rod could end up with only a turn or two of thread in one of the bars and you wouldn't be able to tell).

Image

There's absolutely no good reason to put a clamp across the front of my garage, but it seemed a good test of whether the clamps would work when the bars are joined together.

Apart from another coat of Danish Oil, the only remaining thing to do on these bar clamps is probably the most difficult job of all: finding somewhere to store them in my overflowing garage!

Thanks for reading and I hope you've enjoyed this build log.
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby NickM » 21 May 2021, 17:21

They look amazing and will be incredibly useful. Top work.

You still don't have enough though...
NickM
Nordic Pine
 
Posts: 905
Joined: 08 Dec 2020, 10:13
Name:

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 21 May 2021, 17:26

NickM wrote:They look amazing and will be incredibly useful. Top work.


Thanks Nick

NickM wrote:You still don't have enough though...


That's definitely true!
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 21 May 2021, 17:26

One final thing: I've now updated the page on my website with the pictures and also an interactive 3D model of the clamps.

https://www.cgtk.co.uk/woodwork/handtools/barclamps

Just in case anyone's really bored...
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby AJB Temple » 21 May 2021, 18:06

Very impressive work.

Now you know how to do it you can start taking orders....
Don't like: wood, engines, electrickery, decorating, tiling, laying stone, plumbing, gardening or any kind of DIY. Not wild about spiders either.
User avatar
AJB Temple
Sequoia
 
Posts: 5428
Joined: 15 Apr 2019, 09:04
Name:

Re: Bar Clamps

Postby Dr.Al » 21 May 2021, 18:12

AJB Temple wrote:Very impressive work.


Thank you!

AJB Temple wrote:Now you know how to do it you can start taking orders....


As long as you don't mind paying for materials as well as a fair hourly rate for the three weeks it took me to make them!
My projects website: https://www.cgtk.co.uk
User avatar
Dr.Al
Old Oak
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: 31 Dec 2020, 10:11
Location: Dursley, Gloucestershire
Name: Al

PreviousNext

Return to Projects & WIP

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 23 guests