My clamp storage solution(s)...

[Jason White]

I think I've finally come up with a solution for storing all of my clamps.

Having tried a wall rack and a roll-around clamp cart (sorry Norm, your cart is great but I just don't have the floor space!!), I thought I'd try hanging them from the ceiling joists.

I work in television and we hang our lights from a "grid" of steel pipes mounted up near the ceiling. Based on that idea, I got some 1/2" black steel pipes, some 3/8" threaded rod and some "F&M" split-ring hangers. That took care of the K-bodies, pipe clamps, C-clamps and hand-screw clamps, but I still needed a way to hang the smaller bar clamps. So, I made a couple of racks out of plywood and mounted those to the joists as well. I also incorporated some rubber-coated ladder-hangers that slip over the tops of the joists for some other miscellaneous clamps.

It's a little weird having all of these clamps hanging over my head, but they're all within easy reach near my outfeed/assembly table.

Whad'ya think?

Jason

[Prashun Patel]

I'm jealous of yr clamps and yr solution...
Q: Is it hard to get the long k-bodies off the rack to use them?

[Jason White]

Last picture.

[Jason White]

It's not too bad, but far from ideal.

This whole setup is a bit of a compromise. I much preferred the rolling cart/rack, but I was constantly tripping over it in my tiny one-car garage shop.

Jason




I'm jealous of yr clamps and yr solution...
Q: Is it hard to get the long k-bodies off the rack to use them?

[Andy McCormick]

Any shadow problems?

[Bruce Page]

Looks great Jason but that's a lot of weight hanging off of those little aluminum castings.
I'd hate to see them fail and clobber someone in the head.

[Jerome Hanby]

I've got all my f and k-body clamps hanging on plywood holders like yours. I added the "L hooks" to hang them on my pegboard wall in the shop. Looks like you are much more organized than I am :D.

[Ellen Benkin]

Those of us in earthquake country might be a LITTLE afraid to hang heavy stuff overhead. I won't even have a picture hanging over my bed.

[Andrew Schlosser]

I like your use of all thread and black pipe.
might the smaller brackets that you've got your f-clamps on walk along the rafter after taking them on/off a couple of times?

[Jeffrey Makiel]

I thought I was king of overhead storage in the framing. I bow my hat to you now.

Just be careful when swinging long stock around. Hitting one of those clamps and knocking it from its perch can be painful and unhealthy.

-Jeff :)

[glenn bradley]

That looks like a great solution. There have been a few times that I thought I was out of room till I started thinking "up".

[Jeff Nolan]

Like you I found that a cart posed it's own challenges... I had a pretty slick rolling cart that held a good number of clamps and then one day I realized that it hardly ever rolled, it mostly stood there stationary taking up floor space.

I salvaged some of it and created 2 clamp "walls", one on either side of my shop... one is always within reach. I'm stocked up with pretty much all the sizes and varieties of clamps that I need for any piece of work that I do.

What I like about this is that instead of piling clamps on a cart, this approach spreads them all out and makes retrieving the clamp I need when I need it to be pretty easy. This is one of those shop topics where everyone is going to have something slightly different based on their needs, clamp inventory, and shop layout.