A question about those glorious Aluminium clamps…
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Hi All,
I signed up a couple of days ago, after devouring everything ‘Paul Sellers’ that’s out there in the public domain. In that, I’m sure my story is pretty much the norm around here. Paul’s ‘pay for’ videos certainly don’t disappoint!
On to my question, I’ve got a couple of the aluminium clamps Paul evangelises about so much and they are indeed glorious. I noticed and copied the bolstering of them with stripwood trick that turns them from useless into brilliant, but I was wondering what you guys do with the metal faces.
I note Paul uses plywood, but I don’t see any holes in the reverse of the faces. Did he buy special ones with faces installed or did he (super)glue little ply faces on? Is that what you guys do?
Also, the trick where he clamps the clamp into the vise. I love it, I’ve used it a couple of times, but won’t that eventually wreck the structural integrity of the aluminium, or should I just shut up and get on with it? 🙂
Many thanks, and I hope to join you guys on the projects soon.
J-P
Hi J-P
Welcome buddy, Paul superglued the plywood to the faces. Clamping them in the vise is fine and wont damage them in anyway.
There is also lots of info on Paul’s blog. Enjoy 😉
Well I’ll be! I’ve read the blog end-to-end and I must have missed the bit where he said that.
Ta Ken!
Well I’ll be! I’ve read the blog end-to-end and I must have missed the bit where he said that. Ta Ken!
Here you go………http://paulsellers.com/2011/11/4473/
I cut up an old leather belt and used contact adhesive to glue the leather to the clamp faces.
http://hillbillydaiku.com
John-Paul
Tip, when super gluing the plywood jaws on to clamp faces make sure to leave small gap at bottom of face.I failed to do so , then found that the jaws bound up in places on the aluminium extruded body . The clamps are cheap and work very well.
Wigan, Lancs. England :
Good tip David, thanks bud
The clamps are great. I used the same leather as for the strop. If I was to do it again I would take plywood because I had gotten some marks when tightening strongly.
A very nice feature is the fact that you can remove both clamping elements and connect two of them either with a piece of wood twice as long or if you don’t want to remove the wood inside you leave it where it is and connect them with two flat connectors (this is probably not the right term, I mean a piece of steel 1/8″x2″x3″ with several holes) you screw to both meeting ends.
I enjoy working wood in Germany.
I found some locally at Harbor Freight, I bought 2 eachof 4 sizes. I have not tried them out yet, but if they work well for me I will add a few more to the set. They are on sale here through the end of the month, so I am hoping to take advantage of that. I am hoping I can find some kind of firm pad to glue on them or glue to the plywood.
I currently use pipe clamps, and they work well, but bow under pressure and are very heavy to handle when juggling with a glue-up.
Memphis, Tennessee
out of interest what length/how many clamps do you guys have of these? I bought 4 x 900mm ones (using the principle as Im only just coming back to woodwork with few tools that I only purchase a tool as I come across the need for it during the tutorials and these I got for my clock) but feel maybe also could do with a set of shorter ones also.
Darren, I bought 2 each of 24″ (610 mm); 36″ (915 mm); 48″ (1220 mm); 60″ (1524 mm)
In the past with other clams I have bought, it seems I always end up with sets of 8. When you need them, you can never have too many.
Memphis, Tennessee
I bought eight of the Dubuque “Universal Clamp” aluminum clamps a while back from a retired woodworker for about 50% retail. I highly recommend these, and I do not think they require extra bolstering with a wood insert. The thickness of the aluminum is quite substantial. I like the they were made in the USA and designed by an aerospace engineer. They may be the original aluminum clamps before all the imported versions became common.
I also have a number of Jorgensen Cabinetmaker clamps (the orange parallel clamps) when they were on sale once for $20 each, and I must say that they are very heavy and clumsy compared to the aluminum clamps. I reach for the aluminum clamps almost all the time for typical projects. I only use the parallel clamps for the more heavy duty jobs like benchtop laminations.
I also have a few light duty Bessey parallel clamps, which are a good compromise between clamping pressure and weight.
-Scott Los Angeles
I bought a couple of the Harbor Freight version several years ago. Only used them for real light clamping jobs. The stick in frame really turns them into some very useful and easier to manipulate than equivalent pipe clamps. I plan to pick up at least 4 more of the 36″ version next time I’m at HF.
Scott, you are correct – I spoke to the guy who makes the USA made Universal clamps. He had the original patent and design – when it expired, the imports and copies came out. On these original ones, its high quality aluminum used and you don’t need a stick in the frame as you mentioned. They do cost about 30% more than the imports but well worth it – I looked at the Harbor Freight ones when I compared the two.
I bought eight of the Dubuque “Universal Clamp” aluminum clamps a while back from a retired woodworker for about 50% retail. I highly recommend these, and I do not think they require extra bolstering with a wood insert. The thickness of the aluminum is quite substantial. I like the they were made in the USA and designed by an aerospace engineer. They may be the original aluminum clamps before all the imported versions became common. I also have a number of Jorgensen Cabinetmaker clamps (the orange parallel clamps) when they were on sale once for $20 each, and I must say that they are very heavy and clumsy compared to the aluminum clamps. I reach for the aluminum clamps almost all the time for typical projects. I only use the parallel clamps for the more heavy duty jobs like benchtop laminations. I also have a few light duty Bessey parallel clamps, which are a good compromise between clamping pressure and weight.
I found a much more practical way to connect those clamps by using the bolts and rivets that hold the clamping elements on the bar. Doing this you only have to drill one hole. Since I only have 10 of the 24″ clamps I needed something longer for my recent box.
I enjoy working wood in Germany.
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