Clamp extension
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- This topic has 6 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 8 months ago by Alan.
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I needed long bar clamps to laminate a 60″ long glue-up, so I found a way to join two Harbor Freight clamps. The idea is to span between the two clamps with the wooden filler that Paul adds. The procedure was:
– Remove the end plug from one of the bar clamps. Slide the moving portion off of the bar.
– One the other bar clamp, drive the pin holding the fixed part of the clamp on the bar (the head of the clamp) and remove the head.
– Cut a wood filler to bridge between the two bars. You want it to be a good, snug fit. It should be long enough to distribute any bending load.
– Assemble the two clamps and wooden bar in the vise. The vise is ensuring that everything is lined up.
– While in the vise, drill and counter sink a hole through the bar clamp and insert a countersink, flat head screw. On my clamps, I needed a 3/4″ screw on the Harbor Freight clamps to avoid hitting the other side of the bar.The extra hole in the photo is from the pin that held the clamp head.
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– I’ve not tried to put the clamps back to their original state, so it’s possible I’ve ruined them for their original purpose.
– Hold the clamps up to the work before you do this. There’s a section where you join the bars together where you won’t be able to put the sliding foot. So, you must make sure the foot will be in a usable place before you do all this, or you may be wasting your time.
– I have no idea how much stress I put on the clamp when driving out the pin. The (cast?) clamp head could shatter. I wore safety glasses.
2 August 2017 at 11:57 am #314250You should be able to put a short bolt and nut in where the pin was….Good idea here….
To clamp a door top-to-bottom, I used three clamps in a row.
They meet better in the centre if two of the heads can be rotated 180.I like the idea of those old Record Bar-Clamp Heads, you can fix them temporarily to any old length of wood.
You could have used a loop of Nylon Rope or Chain, to bridge that gap.
- This reply was modified 6 years, 8 months ago by Alan.
@alan141 the string-of-clamps trick is a good one that I’ve used, too. In this case, I needed the glue-up to be super accurate because there is very little material available for cleaning up. So, I was using the bars as both clamps and as a reference surface / cauls and wanted a continuous, flat bar in this case. It was necessary to shim under the bars to help keep them from sagging.
I thought about rope and wedges but was afraid there’d be too much stretch over such a long distance. Have you used rope for such a long glue up before? if so, I’ll try it in the future.
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