Popular Woodworking 2002-12 № 131, страница 35
Ingenious Jigs Clamp CaddyOrganization is everything. I once belonged to a woodworking club that ran an annual contest for clamp ownership. The woodworker with the most clamps won - what else? - another clamp. That, of course, made him one clamp harder to catch the next year. I always thought that the real contest should be for clamp organization. Most of us who are serious about woodworking have a lot of clamps. And we are always acquiring more, better and niftier clamping devices -at least, as long as our clamping funding holds out. The reason for collecting clamps is that you never know just what sort of assembly nightmare is waiting for you in the middle of a project, and you'd better hope you have the clamps to handle it. But having the clamps is only half the battle. The other half is finding them - being able to put your hands on just the right clamp a split second before the working time of your glue expires and a bezil-lion dollars in walnut becomes firewood. 1/8" wide x -6" long slot This simple roll-around box holds dozens of clamps at arm's length. No more sprints to the rafters for handscrews or dashes to the far wall for bar clamps. It's just for that sort of emergency that I built this clamp caddy. This caddy is to a workshop what a triage cart is to a hospital emergency room. All your clamps are or- 1" diameter thru 3/8" x 4" carriage bolt, washer and wing nut (2 sets required) 1/4" plywood drawer bottom resting in 1/4" deep x 1/4" wide dado in drawer parts Exploded view ganized, displayed and held at ready so all you have to do is choose one and tighten it down. Another disaster averted, another project saved by skill, cunning and intelligently organized clamps. Making the Caddy OK, so what is this organizational wonder? Well, it's a plywood box. Specifically, a plywood box with some holes in it. And some pipes - there are some pipes sticking in the holes. I also threw in a drawer and a 2 x 4 to make it really high-tech. Small clamps, such as C-clamps, spring clamps and short bar clamps, hang on the horizontal pipes. Handscrews rest on the 2 x 4, which forms a ledge. Long bar clamps and pipe clamps are organized in the holes. Finally, specialty clamps such as band clamps and corner clamps are stored in the drawer. What did I tell you? All your clamps at an arm's length! And to keep them at an arm's length, the box is mounted on casters so you can roll it around your shop. The box itself is made from 3/4" plywood. A simple system of V4"-deep rabbets and dados join the various parts. The drawer uses the same simple joinery - the front, back and sides are assembled with rabbets while the continued on page 38 36 Popular Woodworking December 2002 |
