Woodcraft - clamping sytem (Rating: 4)
I just purchased six of the Woodcraft clamping system clamps, they were on sale, plus if you bought $100 or more the shipping was free, I have been having trouble keeping any panels flat on glue ups, this system does a great job, though not totally perfect, you can get near and sometimes perfect if you are careful, and your 2×2 are made very square.
you must plan ahead carefully when doing a glue up, otherwise it can be awkward trying to get your boards aligned, it is best to not add the top part of the clamp until after your boards are laid out as close as you want them , also on the 3rd picture you can see how I have held one of the clamping mechanisms back out of the way, this makes it much easier to lay everything out, this could be done on both ends.
I only gave 4 stars because, you have to make your own 2×2s, and it is somewhat awkward to use, but not that bad, one very good thing is that you can make your clamps as long as you want, I made 3/ 36" long and 3/32" long.
make your 2×2s a little longer than needed, then you have more adjustment without making more 2×2s, I did number them so as to match up pairs.
overall I really like them, I have had much less sanding after glue up to get flat all over. practice on your first time after that it gets easier.
one other limitation, the clamping pads are about 1/2" thick, so that limits your board thickness, to get around that I made some shims from plywood to make up enough thickness.
also I finished with water based poly and used packing tape on the shims and 2×2s to keep them from being glued up to the project.
I am thinking of trying wax to see if that works .
I just purchased six of the Woodcraft clamping system clamps, they were on sale, plus if you bought $100 or more the shipping was free, I have been having trouble keeping any panels flat on glue ups, this system does a great job, though not totally perfect, you can get near and sometimes perfect if you are careful, and your 2×2 are made very square.
you must plan ahead carefully when doing a glue up, otherwise it can be awkward trying to get your boards aligned, it is best to not add the top part of the clamp until after your boards are laid out as close as you want them , also on the 3rd picture you can see how I have held one of the clamping mechanisms back out of the way, this makes it much easier to lay everything out, this could be done on both ends.
I only gave 4 stars because, you have to make your own 2×2s, and it is somewhat awkward to use, but not that bad, one very good thing is that you can make your clamps as long as you want, I made 3/ 36" long and 3/32" long.
make your 2×2s a little longer than needed, then you have more adjustment without making more 2×2s, I did number them so as to match up pairs.
overall I really like them, I have had much less sanding after glue up to get flat all over. practice on your first time after that it gets easier.
one other limitation, the clamping pads are about 1/2" thick, so that limits your board thickness, to get around that I made some shims from plywood to make up enough thickness.
also I finished with water based poly and used packing tape on the shims and 2×2s to keep them from being glued up to the project.
I am thinking of trying wax to see if that works .