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Where is the cheapest place to buy clamps? I need spool and cam clamps? Thanks

The best deal I know about is in your scrap pile for cam clamps: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/steve.mask ... uthier.htm If you want metal bars they sell them cheap in the hardware section of Low's/HD along with a pack of fresh hacksaw blades.

For spool clamps go to Lowe's/HD and buy a wooden closet rod, a length of 1/4 X20 threaded rod and a handfull of 1/4X20 wing nuts.

Tarhead wrote:The best deal I know about is in your scrap pile for cam clamps: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/steve.mask ... uthier.htm

And here's the accompanying video.
-tommy

I made about 15 or so when I started building. I used 3/4 inch birch covered scrap plywood I had laying around. I used aluminum strips for the bar that joind the two parts of the clamp and aluminum dowels.

Here they are while in use.

I have had zero failure with any of them.

Ended up about $3.00 each. And a few hours of time.

watergunn wrote:I made about 15 or so when I started building. I used 3/4 inch birch covered scrap plywood I had laying around. I used aluminum strips for the bar that joind the two parts of the clamp and aluminum dowels.

Here they are while in use.

I have had zero failure with any of them.

Ended up about $3.00 each. And a few hours of time.

Nice! What did you use for the cross pins?

1/4 inch aluminum dowels cut to the width of the wood. I got it at Lowes.

Also, the way that I assembled them was fairly easy. I used a dado blade in a table saw to cut the groove for the aluminum "runner" that the top part rides on. I cut it on one side only. Glued the two parts together. then pushed the aluminum runner into the dadoed slot. Then I drilled holes for the pins at two places on the halves.

For the top you need to place them so that they are actually touching the runner at the top and at the bottom of the slot. That is where the clamping force will be exerted.

For the bottom. I drilled through the wood and through the runner. Then I just inserted the pins. No glue was needed. They wedged in pretty tight.

I made them at 6, 8, 10 and 12 inch lengths.

I cut them all out at once after I made a prototype. then it was just a matter of dadoing and glung the two sides together for the tops and bottoms.

We sell these if you don't want to make any.

http://www.waldronmusic.com/product_inf ... cts_id=106 We also offer two other sizes.

Anyone from the forum wishing these clamps we can offer a $ 3.00 discount through the end of Jan. 2013 off current list. ( These clamps have gone up a lot since the original post... same company...... not sure why. )

God Bless.

Kevin

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsea ... bar+clamps
I use a lot of the 6 inchers

dofthesea wrote:Where is the cheapest place to buy clamps? I need spool and cam clamps? Thanks

Here's a good video on making spool clamps:


Two dozen will do the job nicely, and will cost you about what you'd pay for a half a dozen if you bought them instead of making them.

Habitat for Humanity Restores are great places to get closet clothes rods which you can cut into discs for the jaws of a spool clamp.