3-Way Panel Clamp System
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- Опубликовано: 13 фев 2018
- Clamping panels, while not a difficult process can be cumbersome at times. In this video, I develop a way to combine all of the components of a good panel glue-up into one clamping system. Any suggestions for improvement? Let me know in the comments below...
00:07 Introduction
03:00 Build start
06:53 A word of warning on welding Zinc
10:00 Demonstration
Instagram: / thomaslightle
Facebook: / redbarnwoodworking
Twitter: / tnlightle
Website: www.redbarnwoodworking.net 
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Thanks for the post, great idea, I wonder if square nuts or spring nuts would have worked instead of welding nuts at the far end.(they sit in the channel)
A lot of people have asked this question and yes, I had considered it, but there were a few issues with using the spring nuts. First and foremost, the whole load would be placed on just the inner lip of the unistrut. I didn’t feel like that was strong enough for the application. Second, since I was placing a lateral clamping load on the piece, I was concerned about the spring but moving as I was tightening down the clamp. I was also concerned about warping the inner lip with the lateral clamping forces. Finally, if I used a spring nut, the threads of the bolt would dig in to the edge of the board I was clamping, leaving marks behind. They way I designed it, it bears the flattening load across the whole unistrut, it won’t move because the nuts are welded into fixed locations, and the bolts are long enough that the shoulder of the bolt is what interfaces with the panel, so the threads won’t mar the edge. This idea isn’t perfect. Someday I will release version 2.0, but for now it does the job. Thanks for your comment!
@@SouthpawWorkshop you can cut the springs off the nuts, you don’t really need them. There is no way the clamping force would bend the lips of the unistrut, most people tighten the clamps way too much, only a small amount of pressure is required. Great idea!
Really thoughtful engineering you have, regarding the use of welding instead of spring nuts. You raise extremely important engineering reasons for using the welded nuts. However, I do feel that if you're going to use Unistrut, then you absolutely have to use spring nuts, because spring nuts are part of the magic of Unistrut. The magic of spring nuts is the clean look, no welding, but most importantly--infinite adjustability. Spring nuts also allow nothing protruding from the bottom of the strut, so it would sit completely flat. The spring nuts won't deform the strut, as long as you use a standard thin washer on the bolt that tightens the two pieces together--the washer will deform visibly and will continue to deform, before the strut deforms.@@SouthpawWorkshop
It is a nice job and a great idea incorporating the cross-body bolt into the top/bottom struts.
I like the use of an impact or drill into the system, certainly makes it easier to clamp down and over.
You could use a piece of angle iron or flat bar as protection for the Cross-body bolt.
Brilliant solution! Thank you so much! There's much glue-up hell in my foreseeable future bc I'm using a bunch of scraps and tree stumps to make my wood workbench top. Your idea is going help so much in ensuring my efforts to save some money doesn't go to waste.
Hello Thomas,
Go to a decent electrical contractor supply chain, get the taller 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" that has your same narrow width, it will not flex as much. Get the spring tube speed nuts by the box (come in different thread pitches), insert as many as you need in each tube, which looks like one to two to save all that fabricating time. That is why Uni-strut has all those holes/slots. Use regular speed nut and two 1" wedges opposing each other to put your side pressure. That way you don't need to use extra fabrication skills and steps. Industrial mechanics, electricians hvac and other tradesman use this stuff all the time for permanent or temporary projects. Ask electrical supply for one of their uni-strut accessory catalogs, might get other labor saving ideas.
I did watch a spanish woodcraftsman on y-t make something similar with a ripped 2x4 drilling five holes through the tall sides with 3/8" bolts, washers, wing nuts and wedges, did not mark the wood.
The first morning I welded galvanized metal, I was sick to my stomach in no time. I was informed at lunch that drinking a glass of milk before welding galvanized will help coat my stomach and help keep me from getting sick. Worked like a charm. Used it for years since and when coupled with good ventilation and it has never failed me.
1) use metal strips instead of sacrificial wood strips. 2) put metal panels on each side of the panel boards. Make it so the bolts and the unistrut only bear against metal, and let that metal spread the load for you. It's a nice concept - well done!
I like your ingenuity, your persistence and a sneak preview of what I think will eventually be a real asset to woodworkers! Please keep on with it and end up with the kinks out. I am looking forward to it! Thanks!
great idea and it was a great starting point, we all seem to expand on each others ideas in this community keep up the good work.
Add wood inserts to the clamps where they contact the wood surface. This may also provide an alternate way to locate the nuts by locking them into the wood. No welding necessary. I am going to make a set and see how my idea works out. Thanks for a great idea.
If you pause at 0:24, one clamp lines up perfectly with the red hand pallet (?) in the background that an optical illusion is formed. While the video plays, I thought that was part of some nice DIY clamp. Good video as usual, thanks for sharing.
Nice DIY Clamps! These look like they will come in really good handy!
I just love this. I will be making myself a set of them. Great job.
I like your clamping system a lot! It has inspired me to make something similar, maybe using wood cleats and wedges, but using your design outright. Thank you for sharing your design and creativity.
Thanks!
Great idea, even with a good few hours invested into it it’s still cheaper than buying all the clamps you need for a glue up like that and it seems to work better.
That's a really cool idea! I'm 100% interested in this idea!
Thomas, that is a real good tool!! Smart guy! I love working with with, I was an insurance appraiser for years until I retired last year and now I have been starting to work on projects that require clamps and your idea is great! Good luck!
Thanks, David!
I was just thinking of doing the exact same thing (almost) last night. I would probably use punched square tubes and instead of the bolt use wedges for the horizontal pressure. Thanks for confirming my idea would work 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I thought of a similar idea years ago but yours is much more thought out. I like the simplicity and ease of use. I've used more Uni-Stut than I care to remember working in the HVAC/R field, mainly for supporting refrigeration lines and hanging unit heaters. In regards to he fears of welding on galvanized, they also make a painted version as well as specialized nuts (I've always just called them cone nuts) and with a little ingenuity one might eliminate the need for welding.
@Tvzblaze Ggg To respond to the question of using spring nuts: The reason I did not use the spring nuts has to do with how those nuts interface with the Unistrut. There is a small lip on the inner channel of the unistrut that catches these nuts and all of the clamping pressure is applied to that narrow lip. In normal pluming and structural unistrut applications, the nut and lip are always pressing against something say, a pipe, a piece of structural steel, or another piece of unistrut. In this application, there is nothing backing up the nut and the tendency will be for the lip to bend outward away from the inner channel of the strut. I am using the full thickness of the unistrut to behave like clamping cauls, so the bolt and nut needs to press equally from the outside of the unistrut, using the rigidity of the strut as the caul action while the bolt provides the clamping action. With a spring nut in use, my belief is that only 1 side would provide the caul action and the nut side would just fail over time because of the pressure being applied to the inner retaining lip. I sure hope that book I just wrote gives you some insight to how I was thinking when I approached this project. I did consider using spring nuts at one time, but decided against it for the reasons stated above. Thanks for your input, guys!
Amazing.. you just solve my problem i was thinking of the whole week...
Very nice! I have some table tops to make, so this is inspiring!
Fill the void in the unistrut with some hardwood to displace the clamping force
Great idea, I've been planning to build a clamping jig from plywood and 2X material with threaded inserts like the dustin penner jig, but I like the fact that your system has no length limit, need to clamp a longer piece, make some more clamps! Great build!!!!
Definitely planning to build some of these. Thanks so much! Loved this video.
Absolutely and awesome diy clamp!
Great idea. Solves so many issues with the glue up process! I will definitely be making a set of these. Thank you.
Awesome! Thanks for checking it out
Exactly what I need for gluing up end grain cutting boards.!!!
I really liked the idea and the material you used. I'm thinking about building some of these.
Ive made a set but used the 2" unistrut. I build some very large tables from reclaim lumber or just pine or fur. I need to weld the nuts to mine. Good idea. I use clamps to pull the boards together but the panel clamps to make it flat. Awesome 👍
Great job Thomas, definitely a thumbs up from me!
Oh yeah. I’ll be using this idea. 👍👍. I have a few mods in mind to suit my own purposes but great concept. Thanks for sharing.
Cool idea! I might try to adopt it for my own use.
I love this idea, and I'm looking forward to expanding upon it. I make a lot of heavy duty tables and have been looking into other methods for clamping. I have looked into the industrial clamp racks / tables and not only are they pricey, but they are usually rather large. I would definitely like to collaborate with you - or at least brainstorm a little. Great Idea and Thank You for sharing this approach.
I would suggest going with deep unistrut for rigidity, I'd REALLY like to see what you come up with. I use a set of 4' pieces and just nut and bolt thru them as cauls but use conventional clamps to join the boards.
Thomas, I love your concept. I might follow your lead on this one. Thank you.
Thanks!
nice clamps and an ingenious build. the first thought that came to mind was just strips of 1/4 attached to the beams to avoid marking
I would totally build these if I knew how to weld! Great idea
Enjoyed the video,man.thanks for your time.
It looks great, the glitch are all easy fixes well done
This is an excellent idea, you could even turn it into a board press that was hinged on one side and made adjustable for different board thicknesses with a swing down tightening system on the front, and if you fixed a board top and bottom of your press you could sandwich the new board you are gluing and this way you would only need 3 clamps as the boards would spread the weight also dispensing of any marks or dents on new boards, this would also be much quicker, as you would only have 3 clamps to shut and 3 bolts to adjust for your width. I would also weld a small rotating plate on the cross bolt ends to distribute a more even pressure. thanks for sharing.
Truly appreciate the safety issue on welding prep. 👍👍
Great idea. I’m making a set. Thanks a bunch
Good idea. It’s one of those things I feel like I should have come up with.
Tom you're almost there I would recommend planed hard wood between the unistrut and your work
This is a great idea. I'll have to build some too.
Can't turn unistrut over if you want downward clamping force guys. I didn't think of that as an option so super glad to see this post! I would've been the dummy that had them "flat" side down. I've been thinking about doing this for a while, glad to see I'm not the only one. Yes there are more parts available he probably didn't know about at time of this build, he woodworker not electrician after all.
Thanks for the support, Mike. I am aware of all the available accessories available for unistrut. There are many reasons I built it the way I did and maybe I didn’t explain very well in the video. What it all boils down to is speed of deployment and ease of storage. Neither of which can be done when you have a bunch of loose bolts and spring but that need to be inserted and adjusted for each application.
This is a genius idea. I will definitely implement it, you could weld small handles onto the side pressure bolts to feel out how tight you are clamping, versus the drill method, or you can just set the torque setting on the drill to a known tightness. I was a little worried about the twenty minute video but your explanation was extremely concise and very thorough.
Thanks! I know my videos can be long, but I try to keep the filler to a minimum. I like the idea of setting the torque on a drill to control the tension. I’ll try that out next time. Cheers!
Best clamp system, plan to use it with some modifications, like middle tightening for larg panels and flat head on the tightening bolt to increase pressure area.
Pretty awesome build, I was wondering about soldering galvanize material so this was also good information as well.
Just incredible.
Great job looks fantastic thanks for sharing love the idea. 🍺🍺👍👍👍👍👍👍
Good job Tom. I'll remember that for sure. I was going to suggest a few things but, you're aware of what's needed and you're a smart guy with way too many suggestions coming your way already. LOL Hey, I like that big ol' vise man.
Thanks, Charlie! I'm always up for suggestions. I want to make sure all the bugs are worked out before I make the 36" versions!
Brilliant,Excellent clamping system
Outstanding. I’m a woodworker, so I was thinking about using JB weld to fit the nuts and bolts. After all they are to just keep things in place.
This is a great idea. Keep up the good work.
Thanks!
Great idea, I might try mounting the unistrut upside down with the nuts inside. That way, I would have a larger surface area on the wood panel and reduce denting. Also on the panel tightening bolt, I want to try putting a 10-32 bolt or threaded rod through a hole to use as a T handle. A couple of cap nuts would finish the handle. That way I don’t put too much pressure on the panel by using a drill or impact. Again, great idea!
I used your idea . But I changed the nuts , instead of welding them , I drilled a piece of bar stock that fit inside and tapped it so it slide where needed . works great. Also used made wood strips that look like dental molding ( gap fits over glue joints) no indentations or stains THANK YOU for your GREAT idea
Great ideas. Glad you improved upon it
Nice idea just a few tweaks and that will be a awesome set of clue clamps I'll be making some for my shop maybe Evan built on the wall so I can clamp up boards and keep working but thanks for the idea
Great idea!
I have been thinking of this for awhile , with a few tweaks it will be perfect.
The real danger is welding in a wood shop. Most men are not tidy and organized, and they won't stop to clean and vacuum everything before welding.
Welding galvanized isn't smart, but farmers have been welding it for decades (my agriculture shop teacher never warned us, he just said that you can "taste the zinc" when you're welding it).
Love the design! And I think it's a very good use of Unistrut; it should be utilized more in woodworking; your design is the best homemade panel clamp system I've seen so far.
Awesome idea, i will be making some, thanks for posting.
Thanks!
Very excellent problem solving!
Like your clamping idea.
Great video, you’ve inspired me to make my own. I really like the your video.
Excelente idea, gracias por compartir.
De nada!
Very nice. I plan on building a set.
Really nice idea, I like it
I have been using strut as clamps for years as I am an electrician. I think I'm going to build it a couple of the ideas that came to mind is I was watching your build I'll implement and then I'll post my video giving you credit for the original build ⚡😎⚡
Hey Amped, any progress on your video ? Sounds interesting. Love to see it.
I just discovered Unistrut (some call it Superstrut). Thinking of loads of different use cases. But the price is now insanely high.
Muy útil y genial esta adaptación, la llevare al cabo. Gracias¡¡¡
¡Gracias por ver!
Definitely going to build some of those. Thank you! Perhaps some steel sacrificial strips would make life better
Thanks! Great video and great clamps! 👍👍👍
Thanks!
Excellent idea. I've 3 recommendations for improvements.
1. Deep well socket for your impact gun.
2. Turn the unistrut over to help avoid denting the wood.
3. For added strength, get the 1 1/2" deep unistrut.
You can get bolts, nuts and washers that will go inside the strut and make it quicker and more streamlined.
Great idea and execution.
Great suggestions. I think there are a lot of ways this can be tackled. I hope others try it out with their own improvements.
What if you bolt a pine strip to the inner surface of each clamp, (countersunk bolts of course)? That might help prevent the clamp from digging in.
Doug Sholly And the strip could be tapered down to the ends so that the pressure would be even across the width (notice the dents are on the outside edges, showing the caul pressure is not even across the width)
Great idea going to build one myself
Good idea 💡 pal! I like 👍 it!
Great idea. Thanks!
Great vid!!!
these are best i ever seen, nice one bro for butchers block counter top
Really nice idea.
Nice job I like this very much
GOOD DONE THOMAS GREETING FROM NETHERLAND
Thanks for sharing! I'm going to have to make some!!
Thanks for watching!
This is a great idea. I will give it a try
Awesome! Let me know how it works out
Excelente ideia
Great idea. I will make some pieces like you. tks and good luck
Cool idea!
Thanks!
Great design and build video. I fell turning the uni-strut the other way to give a broader side for clamping pressure, both top and bottom, would enhance the value of these clamps. It would also put less damaging on both surfaces of the panel being glued. Thanks for sharing the build details. I would soon make a few and share my experience with you.
Thank you!
I agree the unistrut flipped so that the flat side touched the wood would work better but its a great idea probably will copy the idea
Bakthavathsal Kadambi I think the onside down allows for smaller thickness panels so the horizontal bolt isn’t limiting your downward pressure. For thicker panels could have some hardwood inserted in the openings top and bottom
excellent design i like it
Very good,I was looking for something just like this, will be making it, thanks
Good luck!
I think it is a good idea. Gonna build me some. To prevent the unistrut from digging into the wood, I would cut strips of pine or other soft wood to match the length and just a little bit wider than the width of the unistrut for better load distribution and cut a channel in the middle of the wood for the bolts to pass through and then attach the wood to the unistrut with screws and washers making sure the screws don't go all the way through the wood and gouge the panel. You wouldn't need to have the screws to go any further than where your most inner clamping bolt starts. The other screws will keep it lined up and attached plenty good enough. I'm also going to cut out some round slugs from some 1/8" plate and weld them to the ends of the lateral clamping bolts. If that doesn't work like I want, I'll fabricate some swivel cups for the ends of the bolts instead.
Definitly making one, thnx
Put wax paper down before the clamping. Thanks nice idea 💡👍
Clever stuff! 2 little suggestions you've probably already thought of... a piece of waste wood between the top of the piece and the clamp to prevent the clamp from marring the surface and also possibly putting hardwood shoes or metal shoes on the horizontal bolts to spread the clamping pressure and spare you having to use a sacrificial hardwood piece each time.
Nice concept.... seems to work good. If you get the dented wood and need to use that section... Just dab a finger in water and put on the dent, it will swell grain out and then when you sand, it will disappear.
how many millimeters thick is the metal?thank you,for the work you created, and I also want to make that too
Great idea you had there. I think there are possibly a few minor improvements that can be done although the overall concept and idea is great. Thank you. I plan on building two sets of these. One extra large to do 60” wide by 80” long glue ups. And one to do standers size stuff maybe 32” x 48”
Glad you liked it. If you try any improvements and they work out good, let me know!
We have tons of Unistrut and fittings around the shop at work rhat we use for all kinds of sruff. Square "U" bolts (you can get rhem any length) works to clamp the ends. Two peaces threaded rod running the length of the Unistrut gives side clamping pressure. Use a piece of bar stock at each end with double nuts counter tightened on the end inside the Unistrut, and the other end a piece of flat steel covering the ends. Your system has fewer bolts to tighten. Mine has 6 for each clamp. Also, I won't take the time to cut the strut, so I use awkward 10 foot clamps.
Great idea. I will have to make some. You might weld washers on to the 1/2 in bolts that tight the side clamping to give the contact to the sacrificial boards. Thanks for sharing.
Well done.
Nice idea! Maybe use the unistrut with the flat side against the wood with a threaded piece of steel that slides in the channel.
You've got a good idea there, though the thing about experiments is that they show where refinement can be done.
I think I'd make the panel clamps longer, weld both vertical bolts to the bottom bar. I'd also use a much longer horizontal clamping bolt. As the distance between the two vertical bolts will determine the maximum width of the panels you can make with it, the length of the horizontal clamping bolt will determine the minimum width of the panels. Since both vertical clamping bolts are welded, in this concept, I'd want as much range in panel widths I can make as is reasonable -- maybe somewhere between min of 6" and max of 48". On the vertical bolt for the far end, weld a plate to the bolt for a broader surface area for the wood. Hopefully, the broader surface area contact would help reduce the risk of marring the wood. On the edge or horizontal clamping bolt, on the end, I'd weld a ball and have the pad or plate mount to that ball. With the ball between the bolt and the clamp surface pad that would allow the pad to sit stationary on the wood's surface while the bolt continues to increase the pressure.
Anyway, those are my two cents.
Very innovative.