It'll be fine!

[Wend]

"Don't worry", they said, "the clamps will pull it together", they said.

Never mind, my bench will just have slightly splayed legs! Perhaps I can pass it off as better for stability or something.

 

[meathead]

that reminds me 2 use the piles cream again tonight!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Glue it back. The hole was a little close to the end, though.

 

[Wend]

The hole was a little close to the end, though.

Oh, I assumed you were meant to put it close enough to the end that you could spin the handle freely, rather than having to keep sliding the bar back and forth through the hole.

 

[katellwood]

if you have others, drill then glue some dowels either side of the end hole.

this will strengthen the grain

 

[Wend]

if you have others, drill then glue some dowels either side of the end hole.

this will strengthen the grain

Interesting, thanks. Is it stronger because the grain of the dowels is in a different direction?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My post disappeared. Yes, it's because the grain runs the opposite way. A decent wood screw (threaded all the way up the shank) run through in the same way would help and is probably easier. Or else get a decent bit of hardwood, a piece of box section ally or steel it you're going to use it regularly. That is one spectacularly weak bit of wood.

 

[Beau]

The hole was a little close to the end, though.

Oh, I assumed you were meant to put it close enough to the end that you could spin the handle freely, rather than having to keep sliding the bar back and forth through the hole.

Yes you need it that close to end or you cant use all the thread.

Pretty rubbish piece of softwood though so you cant expect too much of it.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You could still use all the thread, but you'd have loads of half turns of the bar. It's just an excrement bit of wood for that purpose, as you say.

 

[Bodgers]

The hole was a little close to the end, though.

Oh, I assumed you were meant to put it close enough to the end that you could spin the handle freely, rather than having to keep sliding the bar back and forth through the hole.

Yes you need it that close to end or you cant use all the thread.

Pretty rubbish piece of softwood though so you cant expect too much of it.

100%

I have always wondered about the strength of these bar clamp heads and softwood is not the way to go.

Ash or similar has to be the way to go.

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Beau]

Ash or similar has to be the way to go.

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk

Mine are Iroko as it's what I had at the time. Probably 20 years old now and only had one break and that was due to abuse. Ash should be perfect I would have thought.

 

[Bm101]

This thread might be of interest to you Wend. I used box steel to make mine. They have some drawbacks such as initial price, weight in use is a definite factor and for a well supplied workshop that has scrap to hand you lose storage space I suppose. I don't have hardwood lying about though to use as a hobbyist so for me at least this a a better option. (As always) Custard's last comment on wedging is worth noting and works well.
Also worth stating again that Paramo and then Record are far superior to the ones from rutlands.
Just in case it appeals, coating the steel in BLO and buying rubber ends have made a huge difference in maintenance and I'd recommend that if you chose this option.
Cheers
Chris

clamp-choices-t93528-15.html

 

[Raymond UK]

Are those clamps from Rutlands? I just bought 4 sets last week.

Cut some CLS down to 28 x 60mm and drilled a load of holes in.

Trying them out tomorrow... :|

 

[Wend]

My word, this thread has been way more informative than I expected when I started it!

Mine are Iroko as it's what I had at the time.

That's why mine are rubbish softwood

I have a mix of second hand heads from ebay; that one's a Record one.

To be honest, I'm not sure the quality of the wood is to blame here. I think I was just too slow in getting the glue-up done, and it grabbed before I could get this into place. I spent a while hitting it with a mallet after the clamp broke, and didn't get anywhere with that either. So something had to be the weakest link: Either the the glue, the clamp wood, the clamp head, the thing I was clamping, or my ability to turn the screw. I'd rather the wood broke than the thing I was clamping or the clamp heads!

I'm not sure I'll be doing anything big enough to need these clamps for some time after the bench is together (I mostly got them for the bench top), so I'm not sure if it's worth me replacing it at the moment. Although I did just get some 25mm thick ash, so maybe the universe is trying to tell me something. PAR might be overkill, though!

If I were to use ash, how deep (tall? Not sure what the right name for that dimension is) would be recommended?

Thanks!
Wend

 

[ColeyS1]

Same thing happened to mine

You can just about see the glue smear. I like the dowel idea- prevention better than cure.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[Woody2Shoes]

My 2 d's-worth:
I think that - as was said early on - the hole was a bit near the end. I think that another key reason for that failure was the wonky grain around that knot - you could well have got away with it if the knot hadn't been there, with nice straight grain instead. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with softwood for this job - you just need to select it (and where you drill it!) with some care.
Cheers, W2S

 

[DTR]

My 2 d's-worth:
I think that - as was said early on - the hole was a bit near the end. I think that another key reason for that failure was the wonky grain around that knot - you could well have got away with it if the knot hadn't been there, with nice straight grain instead. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with softwood for this job - you just need to select it (and where you drill it!) with some care.
Cheers, W2S

+1, mine are softwood and no problems (so far!). Maybe I've just been lucky :duno: I like the idea of cross-dowels to strengthen the end.

 

[thetyreman]

I think it was the actual choice of stock that caused the break, if you use pine you want tight rings and slow growth, ideally straight grain and knot free, I'd be tempted to replace it with a piece of ash.