Shop & tools • Shop-made fixture

A clamp made for the boards

Instead of buying another set of clamps, I made a fixture around the job in front of me.

Documented August 2020Build story

The need

Repeated board glue-ups created a need for more workholding.

The response

Build a dedicated fixture with horizontal clamping and vertical restraint.

The result

A shop-made clamp tried on an actual mixed-wood panel.

Professional notes

Contribution

Fixture design, fabrication, and trial use.

Result

Instead of buying another set of clamps, I made a fixture around the job in front of me.

Return to selected contributions →

A batch of boards called for another tool

Instead of buying more clamps for cutting-board glue-ups, I built a dedicated fixture. The original post gives a rough material cost of $30 and shows it on a mixed-wood panel.

How the fixture clamps

The horizontal bolts squeeze the panel across its width, while the vertical bolts keep the boards from lifting. I built both adjustments into one frame so I could control the glue-up without stacking more loose clamps around it.

The first test

I tried the fixture on a panel made from teak, canarywood, and purpleheart. The glue squeeze-out looked comparable to what I was getting from my commercial clamps, although I did not measure clamp force.

Why I made it

I was making enough cutting boards that the glue-ups had become a repeating job. Building a dedicated fixture gave me one setup I could adjust and use again.

A fixture for a repeating job

I was making enough cutting boards that the glue-ups had become a regular setup. Instead of adding more loose clamps every time, I designed and built a fixture with horizontal pressure across the panel and vertical restraint to keep the boards down. I tested it on a teak, canarywood, and purpleheart panel. The glue squeeze-out looked comparable to my regular clamps, although I did not measure the actual clamp force.

Credits & project notes

Design and making: Michael Pytlowany.

Original cost and pressure comparisons were informal creator observations, not measured benchmarks.

Sources

Mike's Functional Artistry project archive
20 August 2020

Tools used in this work 5

Kobalt table saw ↗Milwaukee M18 drill/driver ↗Milwaukee M18 batteries ↗Irwin quick clamps ↗Grid paper ↗