What's the largest Handscrews you have? Anyone made them from a kit?

[Andrew Joiner]

Has anyone here made them from a kit? http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=59472&cat=1,43838,47843&ap=1
Lee Valley says you can custom-build jaws for round or irregular shapes, or extra-deep, long or thin jaws to suit other specialized applications.

I want make some that have a 12" or 14" reach. I'd like to go a bit longer but my arms can only reach 30'' and I don't want to knock my self out cranking them!

The biggest Jorgensen size 7 has a 24" Jaw length, 12" reach and Maximum Opening 17" but they're $70 each for the complete clamp. Anyone used size 7 Jorgensens?

[Larry Edgerton]

I have a few sevens Andrew, and when that is what you need they are great, but they are BIG. I don't think you would want to go too much bigger than that for the reasons that you mentioned and that you lose clamping power the deeper the reach.

I bought a half a dozen at a yard sale for $5 apiece, guess I did alright.......

Larry

[jeth chiapas]

I made mine, as I needed some extra clamps for a panel lay up and couldn't find any suitable locally. It was really not a lot of work, and the jaws are the best part of it so compared with the kits it's a whole lot cheaper, just some threaded rod and nuts. I made 6 6" clamps for about $15usd. They don't work exactly like a normal handscrew, which use specially threaded rods with both left and right hand threads I believe.

Mine use common garden threaded rod, one of the jaws has a stopped hole and the rear rod acts as a "pusher" while the fron one sets the opening. They work well and it is easy to get even pressure or crank up the back end a little to concentrate the pressure towards the tips of the jaws.
I used 5/8" rod, they are very sturdy and I guess you could make them pretty big with no problems. If you're interested I can PM you a link to another forum where I posted more details (I don't think I can post it here, forum rules and all) , don't have time just now to repeat it all here though I'll add some pics and you can probably work it out.

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[Andrew Joiner]

I have a few sevens Andrew, and when that is what you need they are great, but they are BIG. I don't think you would want to go too much bigger than that for the reasons that you mentioned and that you lose clamping power the deeper the reach.

I bought a half a dozen at a yard sale for $5 apiece, guess I did alright.......

Larry

Wow $5! Good point on the reach I may make slightly thicker jaws so they flex less.

[Andrew Joiner]

I made mine, as I needed some extra clamps for a panel lay up and couldn't find any suitable locally. It was really not a lot of work, and the jaws are the best part of it so compared with the kits it's a whole lot cheaper, just some threaded rod and nuts. I made 6 6" clamps for about $15usd. They don't work exactly like a normal handscrew, which use specially threaded rods with both left and right hand threads I believe.

Mine use common garden threaded rod, one of the jaws has a stopped hole and the rear rod acts as a "pusher" while the fron one sets the opening. They work well and it is easy to get even pressure or crank up the back end a little to concentrate the pressure towards the tips of the jaws.
I used 5/8" rod, they are very sturdy and I guess you could make them pretty big with no problems. If you're interested I can PM you a link to another forum where I posted more details (I don't think I can post it here, forum rules and all) , don't have time just now to repeat it all here though I'll add some pics and you can probably work it out.

217521217522217523217524217525217526


Thanks jeth,

I made some big ones like your 35 years ago. They work fine but were the last clamps I'd grab because they were so slow.

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Andrew
Check out Seven Corners Ace Hardware. http://www.7corners.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=clamp+kit I made several clamp from the kits years ago. All you need is to supply wood for body and a finish. Tom