Throw away your woodworking clamps and make this instead | DIY clamping panel

if I told you there was a tool so useful so functional and so versatile that it could take the place of 10 of these it would have to cost an arm and a leg right nope here's what you'll need a small sheet of melamine a 12 inch length of dowel it should be 3 8 of an inch or larger but otherwise the diameter doesn't really matter you'll also need a drill bit that matches the size of the dowel a couple scraps of wood plywood is best but anything will do and a few screws let's start with the base melamine is the best material for the job because it's glue resistant it's also relatively cheap stays flat and if glue does get on it you can easily scrape it off with a chisel see as for size think about the longest panels that you'll want to glue together for me that's about 24 inches long but you can make this eight feet long from a 4x8 sheet if you want you just need to think about how you'll store it and use it now the width involves a bit of math start with the max width of the panels you'll likely make then add the width of the back plate then at least three inches more I want to glue up 18 inch wide pieces so 18 plus two plus three I'm gonna rip my melamine at 23 inches instead of using a blade specifically for melamine which would be best I'll just add a little bit of blue tape on the surface to reduce any chip out chip out is when the top layer splinters and creates a rough Edge [Music] the trick to the clamping panel is the grid of holes that accept the dowels I'm going to Mark a few rows of these holes you'll see in a moment though that it doesn't actually matter how many rows you have I spaced the holes three inches apart starting two inches from each Edge blue tape helps with the chip out as I'm drilling but also makes it easier to Mark the center of the holes pencils must be made of glue or something because melamine seems to resist those two now all we have to do is drill out the holes we've marked with the right size drill bit you're looking for a snug but not tight fit so you can see here that I have a 3 8 inch forstner bit a 3 8 inch twist bit and 25 64 twist bit there's really a Goldilocks size here and so I end up going with the portion of it the idea for this jig isn't really new I saw it buried in an old YouTube video I was watching about the best clamp and techniques for woodworking I know how to pick exciting videos it was in my queue after the video on cleaning roof gutters once the holes are drilled you can optionally route small roundovers or chamfers on both sides to protect the edges from crumbling just don't go too deep because you want to keep as much of the hole's vertical surface area for the dowels to Bear against let's talk about the cleat it's really straightforward attached with screws what matters is that the edge that faces the holes is as straight as possible a hump or low spot in the middle will end up causing trouble later when you clamp also I'd use a piece of three quarter inch thickness or thicker for the cleat a really thin cleat could distribute the pressure unevenly on thicker panels causing them to cup another piece of scrap becomes the wedges Mark the same distance from two edges then connect the lines you can use a handsaw a bandsaw or if you have a bionic laser eyes to cover the angle doesn't need to be perfect so I won't tell anyone if you don't last step cut three or four dowels to roughly two inches so how do you use the panel I'll dry fit this to show you how dry fitting is actually something I like to do before the main event anyway so I don't come across any surprises later I Like to Lay My paneling to The Jig against the cleat then I'll look for a row of holes that can fit a scrap of wood plus my wedges between the dowels and the panel the scrap of wood between the wedges and the work piece spreads the clamping force and protects the wedges from marring the edges of the work once everything looks good spread glue on the seam return the scraps of wood and the wedges to the party and knock the wedges lightly you should see a nice even bead of squeeze out if you tighten it too much you could cause your panel to cup upward if it's too loose you won't get an even bead of squeeze out just tap lightly on the wedges until you get an even bead I just put it on the top floor to dry overnight the takeaway you can DIY the most versatile clamp in your shop and it's not going to cost a whole lot if you like this video please leave a like and a comment below and let me know and if you haven't yet please consider subscribing to the channel as always thanks for watching and I'll see you next time on the bike City Woodworks Channel [Music] thank you foreign [Music]

Channel: Bike City Woodworks

Views: 315,144

Keywords: woodworking clamp, woodworking clamps, woodworking clamps diy, clamping panel, woodworking, diy, panel clamps, clamp, clamping, clamps, shop projects, panel clamp, bar clamps, panel clamps diy, panel clamps rockler, izzy swan, bike city woodworks, fine woodworking, basic woodworking

Id: 2dyO8dcOkUE

Length: 5min 6sec (306 seconds)

Published: Sat May 20 2023