Simple small clamps

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charangohabsburg
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Simple small clamps

Post by charangohabsburg » Tue Mar 05, 2013 9:29 am

Simple clamps for small instrument assembly and repair:

Image

Wood: jaws:plum; screw knob: beech; the flexible lining: pear
Bar: CF neck rod 1/8" x 3/8", its glossy surface is the reason why I am reluctant to use them as advertised
Screws: M3
Pins: 1.5 mm nails

Some time ago I have showed a similar clamp, only slightly larger. I usually make such them when I need some more, but never in advance because being not a prophet, most of them would be of the wrong size and thus never get used.

When arranging the picture I actually was surprised how many tools had been necessary.
These are almost all tools (forgot to show the handsaw) I needed to make these two clamps:

Image Image

At this stage the upper and lower jaws are still one single piece of wood which makes it easier to work on.
I could have cut out the shape with a jig saw but was too lazy to reach for it and I carved the shape of the jaw tips with a knife. The nails in the picture above were then used as cross pins to connect, respectively guide the jaws to/along the CF bar.

Pre-drilling for the cross pins:

Image

The exact position for the pins of the sliding jaw is crucial, or the jaw will not stay in a right angle to the bar. The safe solution is to drill for a "too tight fit" (the sliding jaw would point away from the fixed jaw), and then file down the pin diameter (only the part that shows in the slot) with a square needle file.
Of course it is also important that only the pins (of the sliding jaw) make contact t the bar, but not the narrow face of the slot in the jaw.

When cutting carbon fiber stuff I put a drop of water on the workpiece to avoid the nasty CF dust to get airborne. when done I clean up the mess with a paper towel and bind the remaining still wet CF dust with some glue.

Image

First I just mark the CF rod with the drill (dry) and then drill the holes wet:

Image Image

Then I cut/filed the pins to length and mounted the clamps.
The last step was to glue on a flexible lining of laminated pear veneer (glued up two 0.8 mm veneer strips and then planed this down to 0.6 mm)

Image

Thanks for looking.
Markus

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nnickusa
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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by nnickusa » Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:26 am

Really nice clamps. I'm not sure I have the patience for that kind of stuff.... :roll:
I wish I was half the man my dog thinks I am....

Cheers,
Nick

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Allen
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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by Allen » Tue Mar 05, 2013 7:18 pm

You bloody clever bastard!

I've got heaps of CF off cuts that were just too long to toss out, but too short to do anything with.....Not anymore :D
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charangohabsburg
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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by charangohabsburg » Wed Mar 06, 2013 1:36 pm

It seems like the participants of Allen's next ukulele building course will use some nice tiny CF-blackwood, CF-tiger myrtle and CF-ziricote clamps. 8)

Nick, one just needs some tiny clamps when building tiny instruments and even more so when repairing them. I see those clamps as a part of the building process. Sourcing the exactly right sized and light clamps would probably take way more time than just making them. Also, I think that laminating the clamps would be more time consuming than mortising the slot for the bar.
Markus

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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by charangohabsburg » Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:03 pm

I use those cheap small quick grip "clamps" to hold things in place (they do not really clamp). They are of a similar size as my plumwood clamps, but much bulkier:
2013_D70_6217.jpg
2013_D70_6217.jpg (38.48 KiB) Viewed 25935 times
...and more than four times heavier!
2013_D70_6215-16.jpg
2013_D70_6215-16.jpg (56.6 KiB) Viewed 25935 times
Markus

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It's only the others who suffer.

liam_fnq
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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by liam_fnq » Wed Mar 06, 2013 5:52 pm

Which one holds tighter?

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charangohabsburg
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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by charangohabsburg » Wed Mar 06, 2013 10:36 pm

With the wooden one I can clamp hard, the plastic one doesn't really clamp but only holds things in place.
Markus

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Steve_E
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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by Steve_E » Thu Mar 07, 2013 6:04 am

How did you cut that small mortice? Drill press?

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charangohabsburg
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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by charangohabsburg » Thu Mar 07, 2013 8:29 am

Yes, I used the drill press to drill three holes for each mortise pre-drilled with a brad point bit (3 mm), followed by a metal drill bit of the "exact" diameter (3.2 mm) of the bar thickness and then cleaned the slot up with the two chisels you can see in the second picture (2 mm and 6 mm).

For one mortise I used the hand drill which takes a bit more time and nerves. ;)
Markus

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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by lauburu » Sun Mar 17, 2013 2:41 pm

I was shown a very simple clamp recently which may be of interest. Not all that powerful but good for holding things in place while glue sets - for example holding kerfing.
Two pieces of wood say 10*10*100. One bamboo skewer as used for BBQs/satays etc. - this one is just over 3mm in diameter. Cut the skewer in half. Drill holes in the wood. The holes should be a snug fit so the pieces of wood slide easily over the skewers but don't wobble. When the pressure goes on the skewers bend unequally prohibiting further movement. You could make dozens in a few minutes.
Hope some people find these useful
Miguel
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SimpleClamp.jpg
ClampInUse.jpg

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charangohabsburg
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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by charangohabsburg » Mon Mar 18, 2013 6:22 am

lauburu wrote: [...] good for holding things in place while glue sets - for example holding kerfing.
Hey Miguel, that sounds like a good idea. :D

I tried it out, modified it a bit and the jigs for making my lifetime supply of kerfed lining clamps are in production. 8)
Markus

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charangohabsburg
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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by charangohabsburg » Thu Mar 21, 2013 9:32 am

lauburu wrote:You could make dozens in a few minutes.
Well, I couldn't... :oops:
But I certainly struggled much more (and it took more time) making the video than the clamps!

OK, here we go. My small clamps production site video with a coffee making device introduction dedicated to needsmorecowbel. :dri


youtu.be/
Markus

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Allen
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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by Allen » Thu Mar 21, 2013 6:19 pm

Very nice plunger you have there Markus.

Great video as well, and thanks so much for going to the effort to show us how to get a production run happening.

But what I'm really curious about is if all that equipment is in your apartment, next to the dinning room table/work bench?
Allen R. McFarlen
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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by charangohabsburg » Thu Mar 21, 2013 10:59 pm

Thank you Allen. Yes, everything you can see in the video is in the apartment, next to or on the "dining bench".

Those who are interested in making some of those enhanced clothes-pegs might be interested in some details that maybe do not appear very obvious when watching the video:

For boring the holes of the sliding jaw in the correct angle in order to have approximately parallel jaws when clamping pressure is applied, I first made a clamp with all holes perpendicular to the jaws, clamped something with it and transferred the angle the jaws were forming to a wedge which then served as the drilling jig base:

Image Image

The other important detail to ensure full functionality of the enhanced clothes-pegs is that the holes of the fixed jaw are slightly smaller (-1/10mm) than the dowel's diameter (in order I didn't need to apply glue), while the holes of the sliding jaw are slightly wider (+ 1/10mm) than the dowel. The dowel factory indeed seemed to have thought of this issue: they made them 4.1mm (sell them as "4mm"), so I could use a 4mm and a 4.2mm drill bit, the latter one happens to be a drill bit I always have in in my box for pre-drilling for cutting M5 threads.

As you also can see in the video, for getting all the holes at the right place I marked their positions with this gizmo which features two "embedded" steel nails as marking pins:

Image
Markus

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lauburu
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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by lauburu » Fri Mar 22, 2013 6:16 am

:x Bloody brilliant Marcus :x
Now I'm going to have to throw out all those clamps I've made to replace them with your upgraded model. :x

Still, it looks like I'll be needing a new coffee making machine too so it's not all bad :D :D :D
Thanks for the lesson in precision mass production. Most impressive.
Miguel

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Nick
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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by Nick » Fri Mar 22, 2013 6:27 am

charangohabsburg wrote:Thank you Allen. Yes, everything you can see in the video is in the apartment, next to or on the "dining bench".
Bet your neighbours love you! :wink:
Nice video Marcus but now you've presented me with a conundrum....beer fridge or coffee machine :? Hmmmmm
"Jesus Loves You."
Nice to hear in church but not in a Mexican prison.

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charangohabsburg
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Re: Simple small clamps

Post by charangohabsburg » Fri Mar 22, 2013 7:14 am

lauburu wrote:Thanks for the lesson in precision mass production. Most impressive.
There seems to be a lot of room for improvement. As I insinuated before I am far from cranking out "dozens in a few minutes" with this kind of equipment. ;)
Nick wrote:Bet your neighbours love you! :wink:
Sure! If they would not love me they would complain, I guess. :lol:

Last year I put the noisiest piece of equipment (the shop vac)* in a "silencer enclosure". This helped a lot, which means that I am using now my bandsaw without restraint!
Nick wrote:beer fridge or coffee machine :? Hmmmmm
:lmao :lmao :lmao

*) I hardly ever use a router which I believe is louder than a shop vac.
Markus

To be stupid is like to be dead. Oneself will not be aware of it.
It's only the others who suffer.

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