Official Luthiers Forum!

Am I doing something wrong. I know I am new but it seems like I never have enough clamps. Maybe I am over clamping.

It does not matter how many you have, you will always need two more.

_________________
wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Funny, I only have 13 clamps over 14" open depth. I don't seem to have an issue.

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Kent, I doubt you are over clamping. Maybe so, but I doubt it. It really seems to be true: Not only can one never have enough clamps, but one must have clamps in all sorts of sizes and configurations. Clamping can be a truly crazy process sometimes. I expect a few people here would disagree with me, but many, MANY more would agree that we could all profit from owning just a few more clamps. My advice: Buy one or two more every time you go to a yard sale or to your local home center or hardware store. Also, when you have nothing better to do in your shop, make some clamps. When you think you have enough, make or purchase a couple more. Then put a couple on your Christmas wish list for next year, too...just in case. You will eventually need those, as well. You might own too few, but I doubt you will never own too many.

Thank you. I would love to make some clamps. Is there any instructions on here any where.

There's only two subjects that most people on here will agree on.
1. Guitar builders do not get rich building guitars.
2. People who build guitars never have enough clamps.

Search for cam clamps and spool clamps, they're easy to make and plans are not hard to find.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

I think it was Sam Maloof, the famous woodworker, who said "...clamps are like friends, you can never have too many".

Kevin Looker

_________________
I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I made some spool clamps and a spool clamping table a few months back.

I made 40 cam clamps based on this video. Great stuff!
http://youtu.be/b6hDK-7LDvo

_________________
Doug

Don't let fear or common sense stop you from trying to build something

Thank you. I am loading it now.

Hi, Kent,
Doug beat me to the video link. There are several available on youtube. Also, there are lots of plans and discussions about cam clamps available online. Just use "cam clamps" or "luthier clamps" as your search terms. There are a couple of ways to make the cam, as you'll see when you start looking around. And there are others ways to excavate the ramp for the cam, too. I did mine with a small back saw and a chisel, because I don't like to mill short pieces on my table saw. You can also stack-laminate the entire clamp together out of 1/4" thick wood if that suits your working style. And finally, the jaws can be made from virtually any hardwood scraps that you have on hand. For that matter, the beams can be made from wood, too, although it's a bit more springy. They are fun to make and very useful for lots of things. Make a bunch! And I pad my clamp jaws with cork, too. It's a common hardware store, or hobby shop item.
Best of luck!
Patrick

Clamps.

_________________
Old growth, shmold growth!

My efforts look pretty sad after that, but here's more clamps.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

More clamps

_________________
Doug

Don't let fear or common sense stop you from trying to build something

Nice!

i LOVE clamps!!!

_________________
Old growth, shmold growth!

Is that awesome red wood padouk or bloodwood or something else?

_________________
Old growth, shmold growth!

I do like the control I get with glueing on tops and backs using cam clamps.

_________________
Doug

Don't let fear or common sense stop you from trying to build something

It's bloodwood, and this piece is the only figured one I've seen. I've only cut up three or four boards of bloodwood, so my sample size is limited. It's a great wood for backs and sides, bending can be problematic. The sides on that one are around .06", at that thickness it bends reasonably well.
Looks really good under finish.

Here's the build thread:
viewtopic.php?f=10133&t=37283

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Wow! It looks like that thing should be in orbit!

_________________
wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Looks like you need a few more. Lol.

If I had twice as many I could clamp 2 guitars.

I've thought about making cork lined cauls and reducing the number of clamps I need but I'm too lazy. Or busy. Or something...

_________________
Old growth, shmold growth!

Hi,
Nice pics of the bloooodwood!
One never has enough clamps,
but a go bar deck helps a lot!
Alan

One of my favorite clamps are the Irwin pistol grip clamps. I have at least 30 something of the 6" length the and another 26 of the micro clamps and an assortment of larger sizes. I have some wooden cam clamps but not enough so I have been picking them up little by little as I go along. If I add all the spool clamps, small to large spring clamps and the ton of c-clamps I would probably think I still don't have enough. I just bought a few of the Bessey light weight cam clamps to check them out....Mike

_________________
Another day, another dollar.

I posted this on another forum a few years back, it should fit nicely in here...

Here's a quick glance around my shop, at various clamping devices. I forgot to take pictures of my go-bar deck, toggle clamps on fixtures, a box of shop made spool clamps, some press screws and turnbuckles, various holding devices for small items, and probably a few more things that I use to press things together (tape, rope, rubber bands, paper clips, what else...?), but this is about all the 'normal clamps' I found.

These are my utility clamps, they get used for all kinds of stuff; for glue ups, to hold jigs and fixtures to the bench, or whatever. The 100mm, of which I have quite a few, and 150mm Klemensia clamps are probably some of the most frequently used clamps in my shop.





These 100 mm C-clamps can put on a lot of pressure, and I use them for things like neck gluing operations; to glue the laminates, the headplates, the fingerboard etc.





The bar clamp rack. The longes ones are used for my guitar holder / vise, the shorter (600 mm) ones are freat for gluing plates. They also come in handy in other, general carpentry operations.





For bridge gluing, I prefer to use 3 deep throat clamps, usually the Ibex / Shop Fox ones. I don’t use the SM “bridge gluing caul” or whatever they call it any more, after a couple of “incidents”…





Here are my lining clamps. The metal ones have stronger springs than the plastic ones, so I use them accordingly. I have enough to do all linings on two guitars at the same time in there. I also have a box full of paper clips that I tried for this, but I didn’t like it much. They are nice for things like clamping side purfling to bindings, though.





Assorted smaller clamps, including spool clamps, small C-clamps and metal spring clamps of various sizes.





Then there’s the vises. Here’s the one I use the most, the “patternmaker’s vise”. The original, German one (by Ulmia?) is supposed to be superior, but this one work just fine, disepite its rough castings .





The Parrot vise, which is a copy of anothe classic, the “Versa vise”. For some things, I like it better than the patternmaker vise. The leather padded inserts, one which is curved, allows it to hold tapered objects.





This heavy vise, currently not bolted down, is nice to have around for the few metal working tasks I do in my shop. It is also a nice anvil…





This tiny vise is handy as I can clamp it to the bench when I need it, usually when soldering or other electronics work.





I use these little hand vises for the same type of tasks, and to hold small objetcs when I file or sand them. Also great for saving your knuckles when feeding small objects to stationary belt sanders (I have plywood shop made ones that I use for things like nuts and sadles).





The drill press clamp…





Then there’s the wooden bench vises. This one has German hardware, current address is at the south west corner of my main bench. It used to live on my previous “planing bench”, before I canibalized it for parts. Nice, multi purpose front vise.





My ancient woodworking bench has all wooden vises. This “dog leg” vise is the traditional choice for front vise in these parts…





…as is this type of “drawer” vise for the other end of the bench. Yes, I know, I should fix it, and I will, one of these days. Sooner or later.





And lastly, my favorite clamp; inherited from my father, which I've used it since I was a boy.

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin

That's pretty impressive Arnt!
So, do you have enough clamps?

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon