Sash Clamps for Lightweight Work

Interested in Good, Lightweight Clamps

Cabinet making needs are just a little bit different than joinery clamps in that the extra strength needed for joinery is usually best attained with steel clamps. I like alluminium box-type claps because they so minimise the risk of damage when making fine furniture. Screwfix UK has two clamp types I think are worth getting for the shop and Ricardo from Brazil, one of the men in the class, wanted to take clamps back home with him so I picked them up for him and added an additional two types for testing and retrofitting. The results are really great!

There is something about lightweight clamps I really like. This week I bought two types of two-foot clamps from Screwfix that look similar to the ones I posted on some time back - I wanted to test them out to see whether the good name of Screwfix could be a better National supplier for everyone to buy from. Along with the recommended retrofit I did in the previous blog outlined here, I made an additional refinement that helped too.

On the alluminium clamp, the same model as the red ones  shown in the blog here, I filed the inside of the leading edges of the clamp shoe, those that parallel the back edge of the clamp. This prevented the shoe from biting on the back of the alluminium bar as is common with alluminium clamps and also allowed  the shoe to move freely. Waxing with furniture wax made the whole thing as slick as can be. More on the second clamp shortly. These clamps cost £8.99 - £12.99 inc tax depending on length. Here is the link for the 2 footers.