# Extend Your Clamp Reach



## gmercer_48083 (Jul 18, 2012)

Working alone assembling a bunk bed end frame with many mortice and tenon joints can be cumbersome when gluing it up. I came up with this solution and it works excellent. I remove one end of the squeeze clamp then attach another clamp with a ¼” bolt and nut. I Clamped one end of the unit to the post and the bench, then swing the other end into position and clamp! This also could be configured to push the parts apart with control and no damage to the wood.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Good tip, Gary.

Thanks for posting.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Nice idea. I like this one even better, because you wind up with very inexpensive clamps, and about whatever length you want.
How to make a Luthier clamp - by Steve Maskery @ LumberJocks.com ~ woodworking community

I made a batch of them years ago, plywood and glue, and they had plenty of pressure. I figured at the max, they ran me about twenty five cents each, and ranged from 12" to 4'. Thinking I may have to make some more one of these days.


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## bdusten (Mar 22, 2013)

Very nice thank you for sharing!


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## PRDarnell (Mar 21, 2012)

Gary and Theo, thanks for sharing both your ideas. I'm putting them in the back of my brain. I just hope I can still find them next year!


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

> This also could be configured to push the parts apart with control and no damage to the wood.


Good tip - Thanks for sharing! I would like to offer one word of caution, though. I am retired from Structural Engineering Design / Documentation and now I do a lot of Product Development. There is an old saying that applies here, "You cannot push a chain". What this means in your situation herein is that although these [joined clamps] work fine in *TENSILE* applications, _it could possibly fail_ in *COMPRESSIVE* applications. What you have here is often referred to as "Wrist Pin Fixity". The eccentricity of load will allow work to a point in the clamping application (where parts are being pulled toward one another), but it will likely push the main bars out-of-parallel when it is used as a spreader (pushing parts away from one another will cause a flex). A possible cure for light-duty applications could be to add a second hole about 10- diameters (of the 1/4" bolt size), or in this case 2.5" apart.

Thanks again for sharing this! For _clamping applications_ this will work quite well as you have it illustrated.

Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia


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## mikelley (Aug 2, 2012)

How about a sleeve (3") with each bar inserted halfway and anchored with a pin or bolt?


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## gmercer_48083 (Jul 18, 2012)

I agree with your assessment on the pushing joint problem. I just wanted to share the solution I found in working with a cumbersome project where when gluing all those parts. I needed to quickly assemble them without getting glue dripping before I could get it assembled and this worked very well. I suppose this could be used with for instance 5 clamps pinned together to pull together a pentagon with some control.


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

> How about a sleeve (3") with each bar inserted halfway and anchored with a pin or bolt?


MIKE, this configuration would yield similar results to the double-bolted arrangement that I described.



> I needed to quickly assemble them without getting glue dripping before I could get it assembled and this worked very well. I suppose this could be used with for instance 5 clamps pinned together to pull together a pentagon with some control.


Gary, for pulling-together something polygonal, it will work perfectly! An application such as that would require a concentric ring rather than a single bolt, but that is actually a very good idea!!

Otis


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## Everend (Mar 15, 2013)

or a pipe clamp


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

Gary (or interested others), I thought-back to this thread as a coworker was backing a heavy trailer-mounted machine down my driveway; he is great at driving vehicles pulling or backing-up trailers - but still, he found need to straighten his reversed route a couple of times in the process. Pulling-away is never a problem, but reversing (because of the one-point connection) can become a pivot point. Just food for thought...

Otis Guillebeaufrom Auburn, Georgia


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