# Striplox Connectors --pic heavy.



## WalkerR (Feb 8, 2017)

There are a couple ways to mount these. The provided template is handy, and the company also offer jigs for marking holes. Neither are really necessary though, if you make some layout pencil lines it's easy to line these up and mark the holes. One side of the connector has slotted holes to give you some adjust-ability. There is about a 1/16th of movement available.

The first way to mount is to flush mount. This method leaves the connector visible once assembled. 




































The second way is to rebate the connectors, which makes it hidden. To do this you must make the hole a little bit bigger than the unit, in order to allow room for the connectors to slide in and out. The instructions give all the dimensions, but for sake of speed I traced the unit onto the wood. I used a hinge mortise bit in the router. Depth must be set accurately for both piece in order for the resulting joint to be flush and tight. The nice thing is the connectors have rounded corners, so there's no need to square up the corners of the mortise.


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## WalkerR (Feb 8, 2017)

The Clip 50 claims a load capacity of 275lbs. The other models are more or less respectively. The Pro 55 has a load capacity of 440lbs!! To test this, I put my full body weight on the little test piece I made. I weigh 220lbs, and I even jumped on it a bit. It held up well. Then I put a bar clamp on it and tightened against the joint as much as I could possibly squeeze, and again it held up. I was curious if it did fail, where the point of failure would be. So I tried some other testing methods that I won't post because they were probably dangerous and stupid. Eventually I made something snap, but the joint held together. Upon inspection it turned out to be one of the four screws had sheared off, making the joint wobble a bit. And actually, I ran out of the #8 screws suggested in the instructions, and had used a #6 that was also too short. So in reality the Striplox connector never actually failed at all. All in all though, this joint is only as strong as the screws used to mount the connectors.



















Once assembled, I did notice the very slightest bit of racking going on. I have a couple videos, but I'm not sure how to post them. I know for sure that some of the racking was due to the 2×4 scrap I was using being slighting cupped. The connector was "rocking" against the convex curve. If I had flat substrate, I'm sure the racking would be none or very close to none. My other thought was that some racking may be happening because each half of the connector only has 2 screws. The models other than the Clip 50 have more screws, and therefore more points of contact to maintain stability. There is also the option of adding the glue. If racking is of major concern to your project, I suggest trying the Striplox first on a scrap project and see if it will work for you. Again, the racking I experienced was extremely minimal and probably due to my sloppy workmanship, not the product.

My final conclusion… I will definitely be using these on the aforementioned future project. The Striplox connectors seem like a very viable option if you're looking for concealed joints and don't have a lot of material to work with. I'm not suggesting anybody replace all of their mortise and tenon joints, but this is an economical time saving alternative. Installation was fairly simple, the Stiplox website has good instructional videos and pictures of many applications. If your project requires some unconventional joinery solutions I would definitely give these a good look.


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## ChuckC (May 13, 2010)

I could see this as being handy for hanging something on the wall but I couldn't image ever using it for joinery.


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## PPK (Mar 8, 2016)

Very interesting!


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## WalkerR (Feb 8, 2017)

Chuck, I agree they wouldn't replace a traditional joint in most cases. I see them more for knockdown furniture, as an alternative to cross dowel bolts, or certainly for hanging things on the wall. Their website even shows them hanging an entire sink/vanity. http://www.joinlox.com/skill/striplox-products/


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## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

I could have used these a few times in the past. I had to devise my own methods. This would have been much much easier. Thanks for sharing. A mental note made for future need.


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