Planking clamps

Patrick

Patrick

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Mar 4, 2018
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Location
Charlotte North Carolina
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I have been using the expensive thumb clamps for a few years to hold planking but recently stumbled onto wire clamps(tie downs) when working on a project for a friend. If you use a small screw and he wire clamp turned over or not they work great! Very cheap at hardware stores. I got a box of 100 plus screws all for less than $5. No more nail holes in planking or spring clamps that creep or dont hold. Hope this helps others!
 
The screw looks a bit big, perhaps a smaller dia screw? Can you attach a picture using your new find?
 
Someone taught me to take apart spring clamps, then insert a handle from one into another clamp. These and the tiny clothespin clamps are very handy. Here are 3 in use on the garboard planks on Capt. John Smith's shallop kit. The planks are heated wet in the microwave, then clamped in place while they dry. They are then glued with PVA glue.

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GuyH said:
Someone taught me to take apart spring clamps, then insert a handle from one into another clamp. These and the tiny clothespin clamps are very handy. Here are 3 in use on the garboard planks on Capt. John Smith's shallop kit. The planks are heated wet in the microwave, then clamped in place while they dry. They are then glued with PVA glue.

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I have used those also but they creep and I find that they dont alway put enough pressure on the plank to hold it in place. But they have their place. I think a person needs an arsonal of different clamps. I just wanted to pass on one I found that is way cheaper than the commercial ones.
 
Moxis said:
Same idea but slightly different way. I glued small wooden stick into those spring clamps with epoxy. Bulkheads of 7 mm plywood are thick enough to keep the clamps strongly in place:

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Moxis said:
Same idea but slightly different way. I glued small wooden stick into those spring clamps with epoxy. Bulkheads of 7 mm plywood are thick enough to keep the clamps strongly in place:

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Moxis, good idea, cheap and efficient ! Tks
 
Patrick said:
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I have been using the expensive thumb clamps for a few years to hold planking but recently stumbled onto wire clamps(tie downs) when working on a project for a friend. If you use a small screw and he wire clamp turned over or not they work great! Very cheap at hardware stores. I got a box of 100 plus screws all for less than $5. No more nail holes in planking or spring clamps that creep or dont hold. Hope this helps others!
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If you can't find them under "wire clips" in furniture making we call them "z clips for table tops"
 
I used some of the Model Expo plank holders and was disappointed in their performance. They tended to come apart no matter the glue. Just my experience…
 
I've been able to use shot bags- lighter ones were made for draftsmen, back when they were a thing and heavier ones for scuba divers to weight things down while the glue sets. The nice thing is they will conform to a curved shape.
 
pebbleworm said:
I've been able to use shot bags
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Again same idea but a bit differently. From metal scrapyards you can get old letters used in printing houses very cheaply. Those are made of mainly lead, thus being quite heavy. Put those in small plastic bags and you get handy weight bags for very small investment:

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