In another post I mentioned I'm (slowly) moving my shop. This has allowed me to do the following things; 1) Find the stuff I misplaced. 2) (Re-)'Discover' things I've forgotten I had(!), and 3) Reevaluate what works and what doesn't and make changes.
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A number of years ago I saw Norm Abram built a clamp rack and he said it was going to "Change life at The New Yankee Workshop as we know it" (or something like that). That's a pretty bold statement, but I'm come to find out it's also probably pretty accurate.
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I immediately could see how useful something like that would be. So, I decided that I needed one too, got a plan and headed out to the shop and this is the result...
Norm used plywood and pocket screws for his clamp cart, I made mine out of 1x4's and half-lap joints (I hate plywood! Don't remember why I didn't use pocket screws, I had the jig and everything at the time.). Finished it with a couple of coats of polyurethane, just to seal it.
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The main design criteria was that I wanted to be able to hang 24” Bessey K-Body clamps top & bottom to maximize the space, so that kind of dictated what the overall height would be and mine just happened to end up being a little taller than the one Norm made.
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Well, that was then and this is what it looks like today, 10+ years later...
The main difference being that I've consolidated all the same size clamps together on one side, added some things to the sides of the A-frame (more on that later) and revised the number of casters (more on that later, too!).
The front side has 12”, 24” & 40" Bessey clamps, large spring clamps hang on a 1-1/4" dowel between the ladder frames and on the sides are 8" & 12" KliKlamps, Handscrews, C-Clamps and other various clamps.
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The back side has spring clamps hanging on 3/4" dowels, 4" Mini, 18" UniKlamps & 50” Bessey K clamps, plus two 24" K-Bodies (as a result of poor planning on my part).
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There is a shelf at the midway point (Norm's didn't have a shelf there) that's useful for holding glue, brushes, biscuits, etc. and another shelf at the bottom.
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The key to this unit is movability (I believe that's the "life changer" Norm was talking about)... and I'll be honest with you, fully loaded mine didn't move very well at all - I think the caster size I used was 2-1/2", one at each corner (total of 4) and to make it easier to roll I had to end up using 3-rows of 3 (yes, 9 casters in all). At some point I did a back of napkin calculation that showed fully loaded it came out to a total of about 400lbs (that includes the wood frame). 100 lbs per caster should be an easily attainable rating to achieve, but in looking back at it now, I should have just went for 3-1/2” or maybe even larger casters and be done with it. But, at the time I was trying to keep a low profile and didn't want to add another inch or two to the height if I didn't need to. As-is it rolls fine now, but I’ve come to the conclusion that caster quality and caster ratings very greatly!
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Someone said that clamp cart has to be the most expensive real estate in the shop! On a per square foot basis it probably does cost more than any other spot... although, come to think of it, I bet the router station could easily exceed it, when you figure in all the router bits, dovetail jig(s) & templates, etc. etc.!
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In looking back at it now, if I were to build it today what would I change? Hard to believe, but I would make it just one Bessey K-Clamp wider (1-1/2"). Yeah, just an inch and a half wider would be perfect for my needs so that I could keep all the 24" K-bodies I have together on one side - right now I have 2 of them that wound up being separated from the others. Oh, and yeah, larger casters (larger than you think you need!) from the get-go!
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Some usage/building notes.. The 5-degree slope of the A-frame is absolutely perfect - clamps stay put even when moving it around. And the shelf at the mid-point is awfully handy too! A word about hanging stuff on the sides... I have a 4' long straight edge and a 4' edge clamp both hanging on the same side. This limits where you can put your hands to push the thing around. Just something to keep in mind when laying out where everything goes. Keeping all the same size/type clamps together makes a lot of sense, like I mentioned before, I originally had the 24" clamps separated front/back to distribute the weight better, but have found that's not really necessary... and on a related note; Gluing just the top and bottom horizontal ladders rungs (and maybe the ones at the middle shelf) that hold the clamps, allows you to make changes easily - I initially glued all of them and I have indeed needed to make changes since I built it.
Dowels that stick past the base are prone to get broken off, especially if you happen to push the unit up against a wall (d'oh!). Keeping the dowels near the top of the rack gives you plenty of length to hold clamps and are protected by both the natural slope of the A-frame and the base overhang.
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Offsetting the large dowel that holds the big spring clamps keeps the clamps from falling off the ends - it doesn't take much, maybe 3/8" of an inch or so of overlap of the the A-frame is all it takes. Relying on friction alone to hold clamps in place really doesn't work.
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Right now I have a couple of Bessey GRZ SG-8 SuperGrips that are stored this way and it works okay, but I sometimes find them backing themselves out of the hole. The bar is long enough (8") that they have never fallen out, but this is one thing that needs a better holder/method and I really don't like the idea of clamping the clamp to the cart... Having to unclamping it first is just one more step you have to go through to use the clamp, then clamping again to put it away (I'm lazy!) is too much effort to go through.
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If you don't have all the clamps you need/want, plan for expansion... I didn't, but had a good assortment to begin with and right now I can't really see myself adding any more clamps to the cart (there's no room for them anyway), but I guess you never *really* know something like that!
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Should you want to build your own clamp cart, here's a full size (8-1/2"x11") clamp cart drawing file and a CAD file if you want to modify it to fit your own needs...
Norm used plywood and pocket screws for his clamp cart, I made mine out of 1x4's and half-lap joints (I hate plywood! Don't remember why I didn't use pocket screws, I had the jig and everything at the time.). Finished it with a couple of coats of polyurethane, just to seal it..The main design criteria was that I wanted to be able to hang 24” Bessey K-Body clamps top & bottom to maximize the space, so that kind of dictated what the overall height would be and mine just happened to end up being a little taller than the one Norm made..Well, that was then and this is what it looks like today, 10+ years later...The main difference being that I've consolidated all the same size clamps together on one side, added some things to the sides of the A-frame (more on that later) and revised the number of casters (more on that later, too!).The front side has 12”, 24” & 40" Bessey clamps, large spring clamps hang on a 1-1/4" dowel between the ladder frames and on the sides are 8" & 12" KliKlamps, Handscrews, C-Clamps and other various clamps..The back side has spring clamps hanging on 3/4" dowels, 4" Mini, 18" UniKlamps & 50” Bessey K clamps, plus two 24" K-Bodies (as a result of poor planning on my part)..There is a shelf at the midway point (Norm's didn't have a shelf there) that's useful for holding glue, brushes, biscuits, etc. and another shelf at the bottom..The key to this unit is movability (I believe that's the "life changer" Norm was talking about)... and I'll be honest with you, fully loaded mine didn't move very well at all - I think the caster size I used was 2-1/2", one at each corner (total of 4) and to make it easier to roll I had to end up using 3-rows of 3 (yes, 9 casters in all). At some point I did a back of napkin calculation that showed fully loaded it came out to a total of about 400lbs (that includes the wood frame). 100 lbs per caster should be an easily attainable rating to achieve, but in looking back at it now, I should have just went for 3-1/2” or maybe even larger casters and be done with it. But, at the time I was trying to keep a low profile and didn't want to add another inch or two to the height if I didn't need to. As-is it rolls fine now, but I’ve come to the conclusion that caster quality and caster ratings very greatly!.Someone said that clamp cart has to be the most expensive real estate in the shop! On a per square foot basis it probably does cost more than any other spot... although, come to think of it, I bet the router station could easily exceed it, when you figure in all the router bits, dovetail jig(s) & templates, etc. etc.!.In looking back at it now, if I were to build it today what would I change? Hard to believe, but I would make it just one Bessey K-Clamp wider (1-1/2"). Yeah, just an inch and a half wider would be perfect for my needs so that I could keep all the 24" K-bodies I have together on one side - right now I have 2 of them that wound up being separated from the others. Oh, and yeah, larger casters (larger than you think you need!) from the get-go!.Some usage/building notes.. The 5-degree slope of the A-frame is absolutely perfect - clamps stay put even when moving it around. And the shelf at the mid-point is awfully handy too! A word about hanging stuff on the sides... I have a 4' long straight edge and a 4' edge clamp both hanging on the same side. This limits where you can put your hands to push the thing around. Just something to keep in mind when laying out where everything goes. Keeping all the same size/type clamps together makes a lot of sense, like I mentioned before, I originally had the 24" clamps separated front/back to distribute the weight better, but have found that's not really necessary... and on a related note; Gluing just the top and bottom horizontal ladders rungs (and maybe the ones at the middle shelf) that hold the clamps, allows you to make changes easily - I initially glued all of them and I have indeed needed to make changes since I built it.Dowels that stick past the base are prone to get broken off, especially if you happen to push the unit up against a wall (d'oh!). Keeping the dowels near the top of the rack gives you plenty of length to hold clamps and are protected by both the natural slope of the A-frame and the base overhang..Offsetting the large dowel that holds the big spring clamps keeps the clamps from falling off the ends - it doesn't take much, maybe 3/8" of an inch or so of overlap of the the A-frame is all it takes. Relying on friction alone to hold clamps in place really doesn't work..Right now I have a couple of Bessey GRZ SG-8 SuperGrips that are stored this way and it works okay, but I sometimes find them backing themselves out of the hole. The bar is long enough (8") that they have never fallen out, but this is one thing that needs a better holder/method and I really don't like the idea of clamping the clamp to the cart... Having to unclamping it first is just one more step you have to go through to use the clamp, then clamping again to put it away (I'm lazy!) is too much effort to go through..If you don't have all the clamps you need/want, plan for expansion... I didn't, but had a good assortment to begin with and right now I can't really see myself adding any more clamps to the cart (there's no room for them anyway), but I guess you never *really* know something like that!.Should you want to build your own clamp cart, here's a full size (8-1/2"x11") clamp cart drawing file and a CAD file if you want to modify it to fit your own needs...AutoCAD DWG - http://rapidshare.com/share/78669580...29315093653A86
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Originally Posted by Daniel Dioguardi
