Gluing up shelves

mountain4don · Post by **mountain4don** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 10:43 pm

I am in the process of gluing up 3/4" oak boards for a shelf system I am building in along the stairway in our dining room. The individual shelves are 25" wide and 22 inches long roughly and I am making panels out of random width oak boards, 3/4" thick. I run them through the jointer on the Shopsmith to square up the edges and then cut them to length and use the Shopsmith biscuit jointer before gluing them edge to edge. My trouble is that I have a bunch of old pipe clamps and they aren't working out worth a darn. They keep coming loose and they are so heavy I can't lift up the clamped up panel to clean off the glue on the back side. Today I tried doing one of the largest of the dozen I have to do and a clamp came loose and slid down knocking the other clamps off and then the panel broke in half and came all apart when it fell to the floor. And the 106 degrees in the shop didn't help my attitude either. So, now that I have gotten over my failure and cooled down, what might I do different in clamping up multiple board panels? Or should I invest in some light weight bar clamps of some sort? What are good lightweight bar clamps to get? These old rusty ones need to go!

oscarthefuzz · Post by **oscarthefuzz** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 3:40 am

I didn't know Shopsmith even had a biscuit joiner!

Rather than buying a bunch of clamps that would have to be at least capable of 24' (which won't be cheap), I would suggest you just make a frame out of scraps with 2X4's or rips of 3/4 ply spaced about 25 inches apart and then just tap wedges in?
Something like this..

derekdarling · Post by **derekdarling** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 11:51 am

I use a similar jig to fasten guitar tops and back halves. Use wax paper underneath so the work doesn't become a permanent part of the jig!

Also, have a weight ready to place over the pieces so that they are flat. I use only one joint, so I have made up a jig that attaches to the sides to press down on the middle.

One advantage to this type of jig, especially if you have incorporated something to hold the pieces flat, is taht you can move it out of the way and stand it up... clears the work area!

Derek

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 1:18 pm

mountain4don wrote:I am in the process of gluing up 3/4" oak boards for a shelf system I am building in along the stairway in our dining room. The individual shelves are 25" wide and 22 inches long roughly and I am making panels out of random width oak boards, 3/4" thick. I run them through the jointer on the Shopsmith to square up the edges and then cut them to length and use the Shopsmith biscuit jointer before gluing them edge to edge. My trouble is that I have a bunch of old pipe clamps and they aren't working out worth a darn. They keep coming loose and they are so heavy I can't lift up the clamped up panel to clean off the glue on the back side. Today I tried doing one of the largest of the dozen I have to do and a clamp came loose and slid down knocking the other clamps off and then the panel broke in half and came all apart when it fell to the floor. And the 106 degrees in the shop didn't help my attitude either. So, now that I have gotten over my failure and cooled down, what might I do different in clamping up multiple board panels? Or should I invest in some light weight bar clamps of some sort? What are good lightweight bar clamps to get? These old rusty ones need to go!

Sounds to me as if you are attempting to glue up a number of boards at a single clamping. This is often times asking for trouble, no matter how carefully jointed.

I suggest clamping no more than 3 boards at the same time. In fact only two boards (one glue joint) will yield the best joints. Yes, the project gets time consuming considering - at least an hour before removing clamps, however when finished, it is hard to remember the time consumed. It is also helpful to place the clamps on alternate sides of the panel and tighten in sequence.

Not to worry about squeezeout too much, If clamps are removed at an appropriate time (1 hr. for yellow glue) the globs of squeezeout are easily removed with a putty knife and a little sanding. If the squeezeout is first smeared to a fine thickness while in clamps, this practice can lead to a harder removal over a larger area than leaving a the globs for an hour or so.

You may want to invest is some rather inexpensive but lightweight clamps at Harbor Freight. Any type of clamp that will reach the width are suitable. After a while you will probably want to invest in some more expensive clamps. Although pipe clamps are almost indispensable!! All it takes to make different clamps is to use different length pipes.

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 6:27 pm

charlese wrote:Sounds to me as if you are attempting to glue up a number of boards at a single clamping. This is often times asking for trouble, no matter how carefully jointed.

I suggest clamping no more than 3 boards at the same time. In fact only two boards (one glue joint) will yield the best joints. Yes, the project gets time consuming considering - at least an hour before removing clamps, however when finished, it is hard to remember the time consumed. It is also helpful to place the clamps on alternate sides of the panel and tighten in sequence.

Not to worry about squeezeout too much, If clamps are removed at an appropriate time (1 hr. for yellow glue) the globs of squeezeout are easily removed with a putty knife and a little sanding. If the squeezeout is first smeared to a fine thickness while in clamps, this practice can lead to a harder removal over a larger area than leaving a the globs for an hour or so.

You may want to invest is some rather inexpensive but lightweight clamps at Harbor Freight. Any type of clamp that will reach the width are suitable. After a while you will probably want to invest in some more expensive clamps. Although pipe clamps are almost indispensable!! All it takes to make different clamps is to use different length pipes.

Several years ago I became so frustrated with pipe and or plastic ended cheap junk clamps that I began investing in Jet bar clamps. No they are not cheap but if one is careful in where and how they shop some good assortments. The link I am attaching being one option. I have over the last few year acquired a good assortment which allow me to glue up what ever when ever with great results. Check out the link and make your own decisions. http://www.amazon.com/Jet-70411-Paralle ... ood+clamps
Jim

gchapman · Post by **gchapman** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 2:24 pm

After breaking the 3/4 inch pipe on 3 of my pipe clamps, I started looking for better heavy duty clamps. I remember using Jorgensen I Beam bar clamps in High School shops and found they are still available thru several sources including www.clamps.com. They are not that much more expensive than pipe clamps by the time you buy the clamp head and the pipe and are rated for 7000 lbs clamping pressure.