boat shape; casting epoxy; clamps

[Alan]

After modifying frames for my skin on frame boat I was left with two skinny slivers of wood and I just couldn't help gluing them together to make a lovely boat shape; I hope you agree.




And I still get a childish pleasure out of breaking out hardened epoxy from the mixing cup and admiring the finish, although it's not really visible in this image:


Now the grown up part of my post. In need of more clamps I bought eight of these 300mm x 80mm clamps for £22 delivered. I knew they would not be great but was surprised at just how not great they are. The plastic protector slips off the moment you try to use the clamp, or before; the static clamp face is skewed, and the thread is drilled and tapped at 5 to 10 degrees out of parallel to the bar, which has a razor sharp sheared end. And all for the price of one Bessey clamp.



So, do you buy cheap and pile high, or does the quality remain long after the price is forgotten?

[alopenboat]

On 13 Feb 2015 at 6:52, Alan [via UK HBBR Forum] wrote:

> Now the grown up part of my post. In need of more clamps I bought
> eight of these 300mm x 80mm clamps for £22 delivered. I knew they
> would not be great but was surprised at just how not great they are.
> The plastic protector slips off the moment you try to use the clamp,
> or before; the static clamp face is skewed, and the thread is drilled
> and tapped at 5 to 10 degrees out of parallel to the bar, which has a
> razor sharp sheared end. And all for the price of one Bessey clamp.
> <http://uk-hbbr-forum.967333.n3.nabble.com/file/n4028479/DSC04444.jpg>
>
>
> <http://uk-hbbr-forum.967333.n3.nabble.com/file/n4028479/DSC04445.jpg>
> So, do you buy cheap and pile high, or does the quality remain long
> after the price is forgotten?

Considering the fact that most of us need lots of clamps, but not
often for very long at a time, it is surprising that we haven't
disorganized a box full which can be passed round as required.

That said, I managed to build my Paradox with 6 clamps and some
spring clips from the Pound Shop.

--
Sail when you can, row when you must, motor
when you have to be at work in the morning.

Alastair Law
Yeovil, England.
<http://www.little.jim.freeuk.com>

[Timmo]

Here's my most recent 'clamp shot'. Not the complete collection, but pretty much every smaller clamp (under 20 cm) I have is displayed.



Some years ago I acquired a decent number of those red handled F clamps from Screwfix at a very low price. They still sell them in pairs for under a fiver (http://www.screwfix.com/p/f-clamp-set-pack-of-2/61440.) The plastic foot does come off the cast end very soon, but only a couple needed a touch with a file to make them smooth. They're not quality, but they do a very adequate job when quantity is what matters most.

The Irwin F clamps are much better quality and I have longer ones of these as well. The green G Clamps are actually Axminster's deep throat variety and have helped out on lapstrake builds when the strake was narrow enough.

There's one wooden handled F clamp I inherited from my Father-in-Law. It's at least 60 years old and a very fine piece of engineering.

The relatively cheap orange quick clamps are also very useful. They are more tolerant of epoxy splashes and other abuse than my more expensive quick clamps so get reached for more often.

Not shown are a collection of Market Traders steel spring grips (cheap off E-Bay, strong and immensely useful.)

However, I built my first lapstrake almost solely with the plywood wedge clamps Iain Oughtred displays in his book. That collection has grown as I've made more with all sorts of widths and depths for different occasions. I've also made significant use of clamps made from slices of slit waste pipe as well as windlasses, weights and every other manner of improvisation. On balance I've concluded it's nice to build up a collection of proper clamps, they do help. A mix of quality ones for accurate joinery projects (though I've not sold any children to buy a Bessey clamp... yet) and a bucket or two of cheap ones for those jobs that just have to be done with a lot of clamps.

[Paul H (admin)]

I have one Record G clamp, the strong ones we had for metal work classes at school. Pricey but I wish I had another.

Then a collection of clamps including 6 bought at a beach shop near Bournemouth for £1.50 each. Screwfix do some chunky G-clamps. I must admit my metalwork O-level leans me towards chunky G-clamps, strong enough to hold and bend metal into shape.

But my secret weapon is often:



Just great for holding 4mm/6mm panels onto a frame. No pilot hole is needed so they are super quick. Remove when cured and fill prior to painting.

When I re-decked MilliBee I used dozens of them.

-Paul

[Port-Na-Storm]

Ah Clamps.
Sometimes you just can't get enough !



I think mine are quite like yours, Cheap!

[Jeremy]

For light clamping between bigger clamps (thin gunwhale strips, for example), I have a selection of extremely cheap plastic clamps, made from old pipe.

These range from strips sawn from the end of left over bits of 4" plastic soil pipe, then cut with one slit so they can be pulled open and slipped over as a clamp, through a lot made from left over plastic rainwater drain pipe, to quite a few made from 1 1/2" plastic waste pipe.  If you want more clamping pressure, then cut a wider ring off the pipe before you cut the slit.

The other nice thing is that epoxy doesn't stick to them.

Sorry, I don't have any photos as they are all over at the new house, but it's not my idea so here's a photo nicked from elsewhere that shows the idea:

[Alan]

Tim, that looks like clamp heaven.
Great help, thanks. I've tried the cut PVC pipe clamps and also have some poundshop spring clamps. Since the first post I've found that I can carefully untwist my twisted clamps, with that and filing off the burrs they become quite useful. I think I'll go for the Screwfix ones if I need any more.

[mike160304]

I have a lot of the red-handled cheap Screwfix F clamps and they are the most versatile ones I have. They are light, which is good when making ultralight structures. I stop the fixed pad plastic cover coming off with 2-sided tape, that slows it down at least. The plastic pads are great, no wooden pad needed, and set epoxy falls off them.

My motley small collection of heavy G clamps are the answer sometimes.

Rolson and clone black plastic spring clamps are great too, up to about 2" thick gluings.



Mike