Hello to all at Knots,
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In an upcoming issue of Fine Woodworking, we’d like to run an article on clamp racks; from small, wall-mounted types to larger roll-around versions.
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With that in mind, I’d like to find out how you store your clamps.
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Post your comments here (and photos, if possible). If we use your clamp-rack in the magazine, I just might come visit you to take some photos.
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Thanks.
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Tom Begnal
Associate editor
Fine Woodworking magazine
Replies
I built two clamp storage devices in my shop.
For the bar and C-clamps, I put a strap of wood across the opening created by a couple of blocks screwed to the wall. (Although my shop has finished walls, you can think of this as being a strap across a stud bay in an unfinished space.
Various sizes and types of large clamps hang from this, or are clamped to this.
And for the couple of dozen hand-spring clamps I have, I altered the trim around one of my shop windows. I extended one of the vertical jambs to the point that it protruded into the room by an inch or so. This gave me the edge of a (3/4" thick) board placed directly above my workbench, which is beneath the window. The spring clamps, when not in use, reside there.
I'm still working with the thrown-together prototype of my ideal clamp rack, and there's not likely to be a "presentable" version for awhile, but it incorporates these characteristics:
An A-frame, with K-body and other bar clamps hanging vertically, feathering together from top to bottom. The spring clamps, small bar clamps, quick ratcheting clamps, etc., hang on pegboard-mounted pegs on the side. I don't use C-clamps often, but they could hang there also. The base has a plywood insert that can hold like the Bessey-K rail-and-style jigs or the dome-shaped Jet supports.
I'm several hundred miles from home right now, no pics, and it's not very photogenic anyway. But the basic design lends itself to a perfected version down the road!
Tom,
While certainly not the fanciest clamp racks out there, "Cherry Clamp Rack 3x" is probably one of the prettier ones. It's made of live-edge cherry, just a "scrap" I had lying around the shop.
The other one is a make-shift clamp rack in my entryway.
Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
(soon to be www.flairwoodworks.com)
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Chris..
I do something like your vertically hanging clamps. (The other one is a make-shift clamp rack in my entryway.) However, I have mine clamped to some 3/4 inch boards that are attached to my overhead wood storage. Yes, I have to slide them in and in some cases I have to clamp them to a board.
I have to be sure those clamps are higher than my head when walking around the shop. My really small shop has NO room for another anything that sits on the floor.
Edited 12/6/2008 11:40 am by WillGeorge
No fair -- your clamps, with or without any rack, are better looking than mine. All sorted by size, and all the same color.Man, you're just cheating.(LOL)
Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.
Gotta get that competitive edge somehow.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com(soon to be http://www.flairwoodworks.com)
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Holds 40 Bessy's (20 each side) plus a bunch of hand clamps 5 deg ramp keeps the Bessy bars tilted back.
View Image
Does piled in the corner next to the last place they were used count as clamp storage? I think I need to get organized....
Please see attachment.
Better life through Zoodles and poutine...
Do you really need that many clamps? Ok, I already know the answer.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com(soon to be http://www.flairwoodworks.com)
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
I love the new Jet clamps. So when they came on sale a while ago at damn near half price, I loaded up because someone had agreed to buy all my Bessy clamps. Then that fell through so I ended up with a s*it load of clamps.
Better life through Zoodles and poutine...
Oh, isn't that awful! I hope you can use them!Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com(soon to be http://www.flairwoodworks.com)
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
If you want simple, here it is. It's expandable, flexible, cheap and works great.
There's about a 5-8 degree angle to keep the clamps on the upper support. Other than that, there's nothing else mechanical holding them in place. Holds any size clamp and most styles.
Joe
Here is one I would like to build, but just haven't got around to.
Space-saving Clamp Racks
(best tip award winner, Fine Woodworking Magazine, October 2006)
http://woodworking.phruksawan.com/clampCabinet/
Hi Tom
I am in the process of rebuilding my shop from scratch - after 12 years it needed it! One of the issues is space, or the lack there of. I have a double garage, which sound like plenty room, but after you add in tool and wood storage and power equipment (although I am mainly handtool orientated), then there is little left over for those fancy stand-alone and roll around clamp racks.
My aim is to sneak clamps into unused wall space. Generally this is behind some equipment, such as a drill press, or in "dead" spaces, such as entrances to doors.
These pictures are early on in my re-build. The number of clamps has more than doubled.
View Image
View Image
Regards from Perth
Derek
I like your tidiness but I have an issue with the need to close the clamp to keep it on the rack. Seems like a waste of time.
I posted my pic above where the clamp rack is at an angle. There's no need to close the clamp to keep it on the rack.
I like your tidiness but I have an issue with the need to close the clamp to keep it on the rack. Seems like a waste of time.
Hi Joe
I wish my shop was always tidy! Heh.
Interesting point about leaving the clamps open. Some will probably balance better that way. The Besseys, for example. I'll try it out. Others, such as the F-clamps, are closed to a mark, then slid into the holder as this is a more stable option for them (on my set up at least). Quick-clamp types just grip on a ledge.
My aim is to get the clamps out of the way. I need the workspace. Usually I am up to my ankles in shavings. I figure it takes as much time to open up a clamp all the way as to close it up. Six of one ...
Regards from Perth
Derek
I agree on the quick clamps, they're weighted too top-heave to just hang. They need to be clamped tight.
But your pipe clamps or besseys can just hang on a rack, like the one I drew up attached. The clamp can be open or shut, doesn't matter. The rack needs about a 5 degree angle to make it work.
Your drawing is similar to what I have made, but mine is flat. I just hang the Bessey handles over the top of the rack.
Bessey clamps will hang on a flat, but the pipe clamps, et al, need a little angle to keep them secure.
My pipe clamps hang right next to the Besseys with no problem at all.
I like your tidiness but I have an issue with the need to close the clamp to keep it on the rack. Seems like a waste of time.
I do that and I agree but I have mine overhead. Hate to have one fall on my head~
AND I'll bet, if I looked really hard, I have clamps I have not seen for years!
Edited 12/8/2008 7:19 am by WillGeorge
All of the clamp racks shown are very nice, but I don't have much wall space. I haven't seen any racks that come out from the wall like mine do. By coming out app 18" from the wall, I am able to store 8 clamps in each row. I modeled this on a welded clamp rack I saw at a school. I dont weld, so I made the braces from wood, and used angle iron to hold the clamps. The clamps hang well and can be lifted out with one hand. Sometimes when the rack is full, I may clamp the outermost clamp to the rack so it doesnt slide out, but it hasnt been a big problem. I also have a cart that I can wheel to the work.
Pre4tty impressive! Looks like a nice way to store several clamps in a small space.
I have two wall mounted clamp racks, the second becoming necessary when a big box store let me have the remainder of their old style Bessey K's at a pretty low price.
The design is simple: a 2x4, three sided "box" glued and screwed with a plywood back. The top (open) end of the 2x4's are notched to receive a piece of 3/4 x 4 (or so) board (or scrap of plywood). The handles of the Bessey's (and the pipe clamps) are hung over the top board so that the bar rests against the bottom 2x4. (One of the racks has a middle 2x4 that works well for the 24" Bessey's). Spring clamps, C clamps and 6" bar clamps are attached to the side 2x4's. The plywood back allows me to hang the racks where I choose in the shop (which is far too small to accommodate a free standing or mobile rack).
Sorry for "large" photos--My Young Bride is the "keeper of the camera" (and all of the grandbabies pics).
I used to have "issues" with my clamps (os as my British friends would say "cramp problems") until we made this wagon. Anything up to 4' long rolls to where it's needed, then rolls to stay out of the way. The really long clamps are still on the wall, but this wagon serves most of the daily uses.
Tom - I dare you to show up at my shop!
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
That, I like.
Very nice.
Better life through Zoodles and poutine...
"cramp problems" LOL..
Sorry I had to laugh a bit..
Wife and three daughters.. I think every thing in my house was female.. I think I was changing into one!
Now, I have my oldest Granddaughter living here. I think she likes the free rent?
Now my house is filled with college girls of all sizes and colors...
I go to my 'Shop' with a bottle of Jack Daniels!
Edited 12/11/2008 7:08 pm by WillGeorge
I thought of making one like that, David, but thought it was just a pipe dream, so to speak. ;-)
Here's mine (my son welded it). It ain't pretty, but it holds a H***OFALOT of clamps. Takes up 3 feet x 3 feet of floor, and it rolls around.
kreuzie
I have limited floor space in my shop so I went with a wall mounted system, one of my main goals was to be able to grab any clamp with one hand.
Fire22,I like how you hang your quick clamps upside down by the pin. I hadn't thought of that approach.Clamp racks were something I planned on doing someday. Meanwhile they sat on the floor against the wall or under my bench. Thankfully, I ran across two clamp racks from Peachtree Woodworking at the Woodworking Show in Chicago. There is one for pipe clamps and one for bar clamps. They work just fine. I was disappointed that they didn't carry a rack for quick clamps.
Pretty spiffy, but where is the empty space for more clamps? ;-)
If you look close at the Quick Clamps on the top right you can see there are some doubled up. I have got some more Jets that are not in the picture, I need to add a rack for them. I hope that my clamp collection is just about complete.
I was just kidding about more - along the lines of the famous saying, "A fella (or, gal) can never have too many clamps." ;-)
Understand the kidding, I have a had time turning down a good price on a clamp when I see it, sometimes it gets me in trouble.
In my basement shop I clamp them to the over-head joists. sometimes in the night there is an alarming crash!
Tom
Tom, I hope you don't ever work in your shop at night!Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com(soon to be http://www.flairwoodworks.com)
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
i do love a great rack.
Here's my method for pipe clamps. The pvc is 1-1/4". Same idea works well for garden tools. Not original with me, I saw this somewhere years ago. It's a good way to store a lot of clamps in a small space, and I can roll them to where I'm working.
What do you do for a small shop? In my basement C clamps are hung by strategically placed 10 penny nails inserted at an 87-1/2 degree angle 5/8" into the overhead floor joists over the workbench. Spring clamps and 12" bar clamps are also clamped to the floor joists. My 6 pipe clamps hang from the top of the concrete foundation on the other side of the shop (8 ft away from the workbench). These racks also have the advantage of being pretty cheap!
I made a rolling one,pictures below. Most of my pipe clamps aren't on it-they don't mix in as well with the other clamps--maybe if they had their own side. The box at the top is for the really small clamps and band clamps. All I need now is more JET Parallel Clamp sales for my empty slots.
Edward
Edited 12/24/2008 3:34 am ET by ef
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