The clamps are irreplaceable assistant every joiner. It is difficult to imagine a master who is able to do without these devices in his work. There are quite a few varieties of clamps and clamps, while manufacturers do not stop looking for new solutions to make their tools even more convenient, functional and adapted to specific carpentry tasks.
In our material, we will talk in detail about the main types of clamps for wood: we will tell you what they consist of and how they work different models clamps, we will consider the advantages and disadvantages of each of them, we will give useful advice on how to choose a clamp for specific carpentry tasks.
G-shaped clamps
Design features... G-clamps, also often referred to as C-clamps, are the most versatile and widespread type of carpentry clamps. The design is based on a cast or forged bracket with a movable clamping screw.
Advantages... L-shaped clamps are lightweight, easy to use, provide great clamping force, do not have jaw play.
disadvantages... Suitable for joining workpieces of small thickness.
Application area. G-shaped clamps are used in cases where it is necessary to apply the same compressive force to surfaces that are parallel to each other. V carpentry C-clips are mainly used for gluing wood.
F-clamps
Design features... The clamp consists of a guide rail, on which a movable and a fixed jaw are fixed. The sliding bracket, which slides along the rail, has a set screw that allows you to adjust the desired grip length and prevents the clamp from loosening. The sponges are completed with overlays to protect the fixed surfaces.
Advantages... The main advantage F-shaped clamps is their versatility. The adjustable gripping length makes it possible to firmly and strongly clamp workpieces of various thicknesses.
disadvantages... C F-shaped clamp it is not always convenient to work, because both hands have to be used to manipulate the instrument.
Application area. Used for fixation wooden products and workpieces of various thicknesses.
End clamps
Design features... The end clamp consists of a cast or forged bracket base with three clamping screws.
Advantages... Simple and available design for specific joinery tasks: the T-bar clamp is used to clamp edges and ends.
Disadvantages. For all its functionality, coping with the end clamp is not so easy: fixing the edge, simultaneously holding the clamp and tightening the three clamps is not always convenient alone.
Application area. Clamping of edges and end elements of wooden products.
Corner clamps
Design features... Clamps for corner joints can have very different designs. Typical design consists of a body, one or two screw clamps with clamping heels.
Advantages... Simple and compact fixture for fixing workpieces at right angles. Such clamps are often supplemented with special holes for fastening to the workbench.
disadvantages... Limited possibilities when working with large wooden elements.
Application area. Clamps for gluing and fixing wood at right angles. Creation of connections on a mustache.
Quick-clamping (automatic) clamps
Design features... A typical quick-release clamp design consists of a metal rail and two plastic jaws (movable and fixed). The movable part is pressed by means of a special lever mechanism. Lightweight and durable body of quick-clamping clamps made of plastic composites fiberglass reinforced... This allows the automatic clamps to be used in almost any environment.
Advantages. One-handed versions are perhaps the most convenient and ergonomic type of clamps. How to use such clamps is understandable intuitively: all manipulations are performed with one hand, while the other holds the part. Even the smallest quick-release clamps have enormous clamping forces.
Majority lever models has a transforming design that expands the capabilities of the tool. For example, on some models, you can turn the jaws in opposite directions to work with the spine, which is very convenient when disassembling the spike joints. Two quick-clamping clamps can be easily rearranged into one long one by interlocking the protrusions on the fixed jaws.
disadvantages... High-quality automatic clamps are quite expensive, and almost all budget counterparts are not highly reliable.
Application area... Quick-release clamps are used for all types of carpentry work: from fixing small parts to gluing side panels.
Spring clamps
Design features. Clamps with non-adjustable clamping force, working like a clothespin. A popular variation of the classic spring clamp is variable clamp width designs.
Advantages... The clamps are lightweight and convenient, all manipulations when working with them are performed with one hand. They provide a stable, powerful clamping force. Optimal for delicate fixation of the bonded parts.
disadvantages... Shallow grip depth.
Application area... Universal device for gluing and fixing oversized parts.
Band clamps
Design features... The strap clamp consists of a strong synthetic strap and a tensioning block. The package usually includes plastic elements for adjusting the corners.
Advantages. Provides gentle clamping of corners and roundings without distortions, which is very important at the gluing stage. Allows you to work with products of any size: from small frames to large cabinets. The use of plastic corner pieces ensures uniform pressure when gluing corners and gussets.
Application area... Choice of clamps belt type – the best option for demanding joinery tasks: clamping roundings large diameter, fixing polygonal joints, etc.
Pipe clamps
Any frame - large or small - is a "strict" design: it makes serious demands on the rectangularity of the corners and their careful execution and connection. To simplify production and get quality frames with less labor costs, the French magazine "System D" offers two simple and comfortable fixtures, which you can make yourself: a tablet for sawing bars or a baguette and a press for gluing blanks.
The angle is not by sight
When making frame blanks, the most difficult thing is to cut them strictly at an angle of 45 °. In l om and is intended to help the tablet, which will serve as a good addition to the small circular saw or a jigsaw and replaces the traditional device - a miter box, which is used when working with a hand hacksaw.
The tablet consists of a small wooden board - a base and two thrust rails, installed strictly at an angle of 90 ° in relation to each other. Tablet base - wood board hard rocks with a thickness of 25 mm and dimensions of approximately 400 × 250 mm. Instead, furniture board or chipboard can be used.
On one side of the base, a small cut is made - a gap into which it will pass saw blade or a jigsaw blade. On both sides of the cut, with an indent on its width, two persistent bars are attached, the opposite ends of which are sawn off strictly at an angle of 45 °. That's the whole tablet device. It is convenient to use it on the saw table, on which two parallel grooves are milled for this, and two guides corresponding to them are attached to the bottom of the tablet. Thanks to them, the tablet can slide with light friction along the guide grooves, strictly maintaining the direction of its feeding.
1 - base; 2 - guides; 3 - cut; 4 - persistent bars; 5 - screws
1 - screed with holes; 2 - fixing angle; 3 - protective pad
The picture shows how the tablet is installed with the frame blank and how it is fed under the sawing when the tablet moves along the guide grooves towards the saw.
In order to cut a baguette on one side of the frame, you need to mark it inner dimensions pencil. Then the baguette is pressed (outside) against the corresponding stop bar so that the length mark is opposite the slot. Now, when moving the tablet towards the saw blade, the baguette is cut at an angle of 45 ° automatically. In the same way, the ends of all other rails that form a frame are cut off.
Gluing press
However, preparing parts of the frame is still half the battle. The next task is to reliably glue them together. A very simple press for assembling them will help out here. It consists of four zip ties - wooden slats made of hardwood with a section of 30 × 30 mm, with holes drilled into them with a diameter of 4 mm. The ties are connected in pairs with each other by means of a loop - a connecting bar with dimensions of 100x30x30 mm and bolts with nuts (flush in). In addition to the ties, four locking angles are made. They are cut from 30 mm thick hardwood blocks. Each retainer has a spike at the bottom - a screwed in screw with a diameter of 4 mm, with a cut off head.
1 - ties (perforated slats); 2 - connecting loop; 3 - angle brackets; 4 - clamp
In order to activate the press, the screeds are laid on flat surface(table) in the form of the letter X. Depending on the size of the frame, the clamps are inserted into the corresponding holes of the ties. It remains to apply glue to the joints of the baguette slats to be connected "on the mustache" and put them in the clips. Now you need a single clamp. With its help, the connecting bars of the screeds are pulled together, and therefore the baguette ends in the clamps, ensuring their tight connection and holding them in the desired position until the glue seizes.
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Using this device, you can glue wood panels different sizes... The clamp itself is easy to use and has a fairly simple design. In the presence of necessary materials making such a clamp for a home workshop will not be difficult.
To make homemade clamps (they are also called clamps), you will need a stud with M10 nuts, a steel strip of 20 mm and two rectangular shaped pipes with sides 40x20 mm 80 cm long. These materials can be bought inexpensively at a hardware store.
Clamps for gluing panels: stages of work
On shaped pipes we make markings and drill through holes every 15 cm, using a regular or step drill for this. We cut the steel strip with a grinder into 150 mm lengths. In these plates we drill two holes of the required diameter.
We connect the profile pipes to each other using plates. You will also need stops - movable square shape and a fixed T-shaped, welded from a profile with side dimensions of 20x20 mm. We screw a hairpin of a suitable length into the movable clamp.
Features of using the clamp
It is good because when gluing wooden boards clamps the workpiece from four sides in two planes. Thus, the gluing is very high quality. By moving the T-shaped fixed stop, the length can be adjusted. See the video on our website for the assembly process of the clamps for gluing wood panels.
The distortions of the products will be done away with thanks to the right methods of work and fixtures.
You only have a few minutes to assemble the project details, align the edges and tighten the clamps. By the way, are you sure that all the corners are right? Using the right tools and fixtures, as well as several useful tips, you will be able to achieve every time perfect results without much fuss.
Assembly accuracy depends on the rectangularity of the parts, so make sure your equipment (saw, planer, thickness planer and other machines) is set up correctly before you start machining parts. Then prepare a flat and clean work surface for assembly. For successful work Learn one or more tried and tested techniques to avoid distortions.
One part aligns the other
Assemble the drawer dry and wiggle it from side to side to make sure that the bottom inserted into the grooves ensures that the assembly is square.
If all the parts of your project originally had right angles, they will align with each other during assembly, provided that the clamps are installed correctly. As shown in top photo, The hangers of the crossbeams, sawn exactly at right angles, automatically align the frame. The trick is to direct the clamping force of the clamps perpendicular to the edges of the parts. If the clamp is angled, the pressure can cause it to skew.
Another way to make the assembly self-leveling is with a plywood bottom or back wall must fit snugly into the tongue or fold in order to maintain the squareness of the drawer or cabinet (photo A).
Do you need gaps around the bottom or infill to compensate for seasonal fluctuations in humidity?
To assemble a box with a bottom, insert the assembly template into it and fix it with clamps. The pressure of the clamps is distributed by the pressure bars installed next to the joints, not on top of them.
Make a simple assembly template that fits snugly into the opening of the drawer (photo B), and make cutouts on its corners so that it does not stick to the details.
When assembling boxes in which straight spikes protrude slightly at the corners, use spacers or pressure bars as shown in (photo B), so that the jaws of the clamps do not touch the joints. This method is also useful when assembling dovetail joints.
As per template
For precise alignment and fixation simple connections end-to-end it is convenient to use a metal mounting square (photo C), which holds the parts at right angles to each other and prevents them from shifting. If you prefer homemade gadgets, make your own mounting angles of any size (PhotoD). Quick tip! No mounting angles? There is a way to ensure the immobility of the butt joint parts during gluing. First apply glue to the end of one piece, then join both pieces together, rubbing them in to distribute the glue. Separate them for 10-15 seconds, let the glue dry a little and become more viscous and sticky, and then rub the parts together again. Increasing the viscosity of the glue will help prevent parts from shifting when installing the clamps.
This mounting square is due to the rounded outer corner fits snugly on both parts to be bonded.
When determining the dimensions of a homemade mounting square, make cutouts in it that correspond to the jaws of the clamps you have.
Other self-made alignment devices - pressure bars or strips of any size with cutouts that hold parts in position while simultaneously distributing the pressure of the clamps (photo E). The V-groove prism bars will help to tighten the gusset fittings tightly.
Cutouts in the pressure bars prevent the parts from shifting, and the prism bars, tightened with clamps along the diagonals, squeeze the parts together.
The steel band of this clamp distributes pressure to all four corners, tightly tightening the joints of the burr parts.
Some of the jigs, due to their design, help to ensure that the glued is square. For example, a tape clamp with four corner blocks (PhotoF) and a four-way screw clamp for frame assembly (PhotoG) allow you to align all four corners at the same time.
The four-way screw clamps, commonly used for gluing frames, can be used in pairs to assemble drawers. Metal corner pieces help to achieve squareness.
Compare the length of the diagonals without measuring them with a tape measure
Even if you don't have a square you can trust, you can check the squareness of an assembly by comparing distances between opposite corners. If the diagonals are equal (and opposite parts are also the same length), you can be sure that all corners are right. If the clamps get in the way of measuring with a tape measure, or if you are gluing several of the same items together, try another method. Saw two thin strips out of the scraps. The length of each of them should be more than half the length of the diagonals. Then cut one end of each batten at an angle of about 30 °. Pressing the bevels to the opposite inner corners assembly, fold the strips together and secure them with a clip. Then measure the other diagonal with the same leveling rod to make sure that the assembly is square. To correct the skew, use a long clamp to gently tighten opposite corners along the longer diagonal.
Each carpenter uses clamps during work, reliably fixing the workpieces with their help. You can make such a device yourself, and there are several options for execution.
Clamps are simple, versatile and specialized. Not so long ago appeared the new kind products - quick-release. Such an element can compress up to 450 kg. It will be useful to study the instructions for creating do-it-yourself clamps for a tree.
Corner option
Regardless of the type of clamp, it must firmly grip the parts for their connection or processing. Corner joinery helps to fasten wood blanks at a certain angle (most often 90 °, but there are others). This is indispensable when assembling furniture and frames.
In order to make such a wood clamp with your own hands, you will need the following materials:
- two wooden bars 25 mm thick hardwood;
- plywood with a thickness of 12 mm or more;
- self-tapping screws, studs;
- jigsaw or hacksaw;
- drill.
A square plank with a side of 25 or 30 cm is cut out of plywood.Two bars are fixed on it at an angle of 90 °.
Important! The angle must be measured from high precision since it depends on correct fixation details.
First, the bars are glued, then countersinked, holes are drilled with a drill and self-tapping screws or other fasteners are tightened. Perpendiculars are drawn from the center of the bars - screw pins will pass here.
At a distance of 20 mm from the corner, persistent bars are attached, maintaining a gap between them. It should be slightly larger than the width of the parts to be clamped with a homemade clamp. It is better to screw in the studs immediately, before fixing the stops. You will also need to cut out the movable pads, which will be connected to the hairpin (when unscrewing it, the workpiece will be pressed against the corner bar).
As a screw, it is best to take studs with a rectangular profile or trapezoidal thread. The thread pitch is 2 turns per cm. It is very good if on one side of the stud there is a whole with a slightly smaller diameter than the thread. It can be used to plant a handle. On the other hand, a slightly larger rear sight is desirable to fit the bearing.
So, in the simplest clamp, one end will be motionless, and the other will advance by means of a worm gear.
To free the workpiece, you need to move the bracket to the required distance and turn the knob a few turns. This will fix the element. After that, you can release the mechanism and the workpiece will be released.
The simplest version of this model is equipped with a rail structure. The guides, which are arranged in parallel, have grooves cut out on equal distance... Fixed stops are fixed with rods made of metal. They can move exactly along the width of the workpieces. At the end of the beams, fixed stops should be installed, which have a worm gear. In the usual way there is a clamping with a hairpin and a furniture nut.
Self-clamping option
For gluing parts, it is better to choose the most simple model a clamp that is F-shaped. The stores sell various models that consist not only of wood, but also of metal. The cost of such tools is high. Therefore, many craftsmen prefer to make them with their own hands.
A cam-type clamping clamp is ideal for small operations. For example, if you need to glue small parts or fix workpieces. This model works in the same way as the F-shaped element. The tool includes 2 jaws and guide rails. Jaws: movable and fixed. For a secure clamping, it is necessary to fix the workpiece well and rotate the cam 90 degrees.
You can make such a tool yourself with minimum set tools and materials. Before starting, you should draw a drawing of the product. You can use any material for crafting, as well as change standard sizes at will.
The tire is made of wood or metal. Small bolts and rivets can be used in place of metal pins. It is recommended to make both movable and fixed jaws at the same time, as they mirror each other. Their width and length can be changed to increase the grip of the product.
For gluing boards (boards)
Clamping clamps are needed to fix the plots, which, after the glue has dried, are used to furniture boards... Such products differ from simple ones in their length. In other words, they have a large sponge swing. If you buy such material in the store, you will have to pay a decent amount. Therefore, craftsmen prefer to make clamping mechanisms on their own.
Materials and assembly steps
In order to make wood clips, you will need the following items:
- beech or birch bar;
- feather drill;
- pipe 2.5 cm;
- mortise nuts of a suitable diameter;
- a nut that has a rounded knob (used for decoration);
- cutter with a diameter of 2.5 cm and a long hairpin.
The basis of the material is a pipe, from which a piece of the required length is cut. Depending on the size of the jaws, it is necessary to cut the bar. The pieces should be from 15 to 20 cm. For the free movement of the timber along the pipe, a hole with a diameter of 2.5 cm should be made at a distance of 2.5 cm from the edge. Parallel to the hole, cut from the same end. To fix the sponge on the pipe, connect the hole to the end.
For the drive nut, an additional hole must be drilled to the side of the cut. It is necessary to drive a nut into it and tighten it with a bolt from the back side. To fix the jaw, clamp the pipe in the hole. To move the pipe, it is necessary to unscrew the bolt, then move the element and repeat all the steps again.
In the lower clamping part there are 2 jaws, it is slightly larger than the upper one, it has an additional nut. In terms of structure, both parts are the same. An additional drive nut is located at the opposite end of the pipe, into which a stud with a wing nut is placed.
The second collapsible moving part does not have clamping parts such as cuts and nuts. The dimensions of such an element are also rather big. In this part, it is necessary to make a recess for the stud device.
Operating principle
The working principle of the clamp is very simple. It is necessary to spread the very sponges so that they are at a distance of 3 cm larger from each other than the width of the shield that will be installed. Next, you need to fix them on the pipe. For this, the nuts are clamped, which are located at the edges. The workpieces must be placed on tubes and sealed with glue. Then they need to be pulled together by rotating the "lamb".
With the ability to use a grinder and welding machine you can make the same clamp for gluing wood from metal.
To maintain the flatness of the plot with pipes, it is recommended to arrange the clamps in a checkerboard pattern. The main advantage of such a tool is ease of manufacture and operation.
Special designs of clamps
Having mastered the skills of making clamps of a simple form, you can improve them and make adaptations for connecting complex parts.
There are homemade clamps made from wooden hanger, which is sawn into pieces. They combine wood and steel, make more comfortable handles that allow you to quickly tighten the screw. This is especially important if you need to change position frequently or use several clamps at the same time. In the case of complex workpieces, you can first cut them out of paper and then transfer them to plywood.
Although more reliable are welded products made of metal, wooden structures also used not only for carpentry, but also for turning, carpentry work. You do not need to have special skills to create a clamp. You can make such a product out of wood in unlimited quantities with your own hands. You just need to devote some time to the manufacturing process.