Poor Man's Clamps

[jsears]

Quite some time ago, a thread was started concerning the "Blokkz Clamp". I'm not sure, but I think it got poofed.



I thought they looked pretty useful, but refused to pay $25 a pair for them.

I've been doing some stuff that requires some acute angles, and thought the Blokkz Clamps were just what was needed to clamp the pieces. But being the tightwad that I am, I decided to try and make some clones.

Here is what I came up with. EXTREMELY simple, they cost me nothing, and by golly, they work.



I took a piece of 1/4" oak, 1-1/2" wide, and cut it to about 6" in length. I then epoxied a piece of 3/4" dowel rod to one end and attached a piece of 80 grit sand paper to the other side. That's all there is to it. They work like a charm.

In my photo, although the angle looks to be a 45°, it is actually 36°. I have tried it on very steep angles such as 72°, and they work equally as well.

45's and 90's are easy enough to clamp with about any conventional clamp. But the more acute angles are a little tougher. Maybe this will be of use to some others here.

Jim

[bennybmn]

Nice! I feel the same way, very useful, but I think I could make them myself. I never had an occasion to, so it's nice to see someone else try it! Well done.

[fredhargis]

I need to figure out a way to store this kind of info in case I need it...looks great!

[RokJok]

Thank you for that clever idea. The round clamping surface of the dowel accommodates many angles. Very indeed and saved to my Tips 'n Tricks archive.

Here is link to the larger picture:
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u127/...blokkzclone.jpg

[rjwz28]

Jim, I did the same thing when I built my wife's corner curio. The face had a joint that wasn't 90 degrees too. I put them all the way down the face.

Rob

[Edwin Hackleman]

Rob and Jim, you should both consider sending this idea to a WW magazine. I imagine you would pick up at least $100 for it. My personal collection of these is now in progress.

The flat side of the dowel that Rob recommended improves the bond to the short length of 1/2" thick stock. I'll be using two screws and yellow glue rather than relying on epoxy alone. 2" width looks about ideal.

[mickanick1]

Three thumbs up!!, I’ll keep that in mind

Dean

[jsears]

Edwin Hackleman said:

---

Rob and Jim, you should both consider sending this idea to a WW magazine. I imagine you would pick up at least $100 for it. My personal collection of these is now in progress.

The flat side of the dowel that Rob recommended improves the bond to the short length of 1/2" thick stock. I'll be using two screws and yellow glue rather than relying on epoxy alone. 2" width looks about ideal.

---

Yeah, the flat is a great idea. I don't know why I didn't do that. As far as submitting this to anyone as a tip to be published, I'm pretty sure the tip has to be an original idea from the contributor. And if I recall, the guy who designed the Blokkz Clamp is not all that much of a people person. He probably wouldn't see the humor in it, and have a heyday in a civil suit. Or at least try to.

[rjwz28]

Edwin Hackleman said:

---

Rob and Jim, you should both consider sending this idea to a WW magazine. I imagine you would pick up at least $100 for it. My personal collection of these is now in progress.

The flat side of the dowel that Rob recommended improves the bond to the short length of 1/2" thick stock. I'll be using two screws and yellow glue rather than relying on epoxy alone. 2" width looks about ideal.

---

I did use screws in mine with titebond 3.

Rob

[woodsman83192]

Excellent..Thanks


Jake