Show us your "Rack"!


ChetlovesMer

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==>Just clamp envy TripH  ;)

Ha... No need for envy – more like pity: I struggled for years this way until I got a vac setup… BTW: that’s part of the message – I was a dumb-ass and should have purchased a vac setup much earlier…

 

Wanted to point out one important item missing from the photos… The rack was designed, built and loaded in one day... What we did was build all the holder’s ‘arms’ on one of three templates – we termed them small, medium and large (creative, eh?)... The length of each arm was designed to support around twelve clamps of a given size... We batched-out a stack of the holder arms… For assembly, we grabbed a stack of clamps, determined the spacing between the ‘arms’ from the width of the clamp's bar and then glued/screwed the arms onto a backer board. The assembled clamp rack unit was then positioned and screwed to a field of ¾” ply…

 

Our workflow: We placed one clamp-holding unit, loaded it with clamps, and then moved along with the next stack… Our idea was to assemble the individual holders and mount them one-at-a-time in an optimal layout… We wanted to maximize the number of clamps on the wall, but needed to keep enough spacing to make the clamps easy to grab… We also organized the clamps that the most heavily used are at head/arm height, with rarely used clamps near the floor…

 

Note: The assembly table is right in front of the clamp wall… It’s like placing your bench right in front of your plane till…

 

Note: Before someone asks about French cleats… They sure look cool, but waste a lot of space and, quite frankly, how often do you actually need to move a plane till after it’s screwed to the wall? You’re much better off with a field of ¾” plywood painted white… Our racking stems from the KISS school of shop management... Quite frankly, folks tend to way over-design shop aids... Keep it simple...

 

Note: We’re not sure how much all those clamps weigh, but bet it’s a lot… We made sure the wall was very well built and substituted ¾” ply for sheetrock…

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TLC's new fall lineup:

 

New Yankee Intervention

with Dr Drew and Dr Abram

 

Tool Hoarders

 

 

And stay tuned for NBC Nightline's

To Catch a  Woodworker

 

Opening Scene: Guy drives from San Bernadino, CA to Tuson, AZ

 

Woodworker: Hi, I'm here for the used Stanley #80 from Craigs List we discussed online

 

Female Voice: I'll be right there...help yourself to some sweet tea

 

John Hanson <enters room>: Why don't you have a seat right over there <points at chair>

 

<Woodworker runs out door, gets tackled by Steve Ramsey>

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks to the pictures/plans of Marc and others on this thread and built a clamp rack for my new (Black Friday sale) and old (craigslist and bessey sale the month before and various others). Basic design is the same but I went for a longer stretch. Now, my OCD did revolt but I plan to add additional clamps.

I used my dado stack and a miter gauge jig to make the groves and it them perfectly spaced. I followed up using the same jig and regular blade to knock off the corners. I countersunk and screwed/glued from the top and back and cracked a couple of the 45 degree braces so I can see the merit of pocket holes but overall the speed made the difference. Wood screwed the final assembly into the tapcon 2x4s.

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post-16249-0-79600600-1419912930_thumb.j

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Haha yes, I had to go back and see exactly where I had first seen that jig concept and confirmed the box joint.

For the angle, I used the same jig but went back to the single saw blade tilted at like 30 degrees. To adjust the cut, I just slid the jig on my miter gauge until it took off the corner and locked it down. Went all slots in one direction, then flipped the main section around and went back.

Thanks for the feedback.

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First pic is exactly that, a James Taylor clamp rack, 27 section automated clamp carrier. Not your normal clamps but they are my favorite clamps! I have clamps all over the shop in different places so I have no specific one spot for them. Long clamps get stood up in a corner and I have a bunch in some drawers under my rolling work bench and also my main assembly table. Dustin

 

I had to Google that Taylor clamp rack thing. It's pretty awesome. I'm guessing it's useful if you glue up a heap of panels. Is it clever enough to sense the width of the panels or do you need to adjust for each size?

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I'm trying to get a bit more organized this year... I'm identifying items as I work on projects, pulling them from racks and setting them aside... I leave it like that for a while – if I work on a couple of projects and don’t even look at my ‘to be eBayed pile’, then I know I’ve made the right call… Right now, I’ve got 36 Bessey Heavy Duty Tradesman, 36 Jorgenson bar clamps, 3 LN planes and some other misc stuff… I don’t think any K-body clamps will get eBayed this year… Sorry... I’ll post something in the Marketplace when I actually pull the trigger…

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I had to Google that Taylor clamp rack thing. It's pretty awesome. I'm guessing it's useful if you glue up a heap of panels. Is it clever enough to sense the width of the panels or do you need to adjust for each size?

Youtube the clamp rack, look for James Taylor automated clamp rack. It will show that the clamp heads are very easy to adjust and have over 2" of travel so different widths are no problem. Dustin

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==>What 3 LN planes?

Selling three (maybe four) LN-BU planes: LA-J, RBP, LA-AMBP plus a draft choice to be named later. Don’t get me wrong, they’re all great planes and all very useful in any shop --- it’s just that I have accumulated so many tools over the years that I have significant overlap…

 

After reading “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest”, I took a good hard look at my entire collection (hand and power) --- and came to grips with what I had long suspected… My workflow had shifted, but my tool kit didn’t – it simply grew with the new requirements -- I had never culled a single thing – I had become a tool junkie -- there were tools I hadn’t used in years…

 

In line with CS’s goal of selling one hundred tools on his road to anarchy, I decided to do the same --- one hundred tools in 2014 --- I hit that mark, just… For 2015 I’m shooting for another twenty or so, plus about fifty to one hundred clamps…

 

 

BTW: I’d suggest any new woodworker get a copy of the “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest”…. It’s worth the read… If it’d been published a decade ago, I’d have saved serious cash…

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