Clamps and glue

[Jeff Bartley]

Good Morning SMC!

We have clamps, we have glue. And most of the time when we use one we're using the other too. And clamps usually produce some squeeze-out which likes to drip all over our clamps.
Just wondering how others like to deal with cleaning glue off clamps; wax, top-coat, clear tape?

After learning that Pony closed up shop I panicked and ordered a few Jorgensen I-beam clamps. They're so shiny and new and I just wondered how others protect from glue, if at all. I can imagine glue really sticking to the steel bars of these clamps!

Thanks! Jeff

[Jim Becker]

Scrape off what you can and you can also use Acetone to soften and remove the rest of the PVA glue. (Ventilate appropriately)

[Prashun Patel]

remove your glue ups from the clamps after a couple hours and wire brush the bars clean.

[glenn bradley]

You know where the seams are and where glue will squeeze out and the location where drips will possibly land. To quote Robin Williams "gravity works". :D I (usually) put a bit of painter's tape where squeeze out will occur or where drips will land. Remove assembly from clamps, peel tape and toss. You can take a little time during prep or spend your time cleaning up. With the time spent in prep there are no harsh chemicals or elbow grease required during clean up.

[John Schweikert]

Clear packing tape, blue or green painters tape, wax paper all work for me in different situations. Scraping original Gorilla glue from parallel clamp bars sucks. PVA glue doesn't stick to clear packing tape on my cauls.

[jack duren]

Just clean them best you can and move on. We sand blast clamps at work after a period of time because there in constant use. But I won't lose sleep over glue on my clamps...

[Carpenter Mark]

Get some Gulf Wax from the grocery store in the canning section. Rub a bar of it on the inside of the clamp, the glue won't stick. I also keep packing tape on my cauls.

[Mel Fulks]

Where PVA glue is used much more than UF ,the laminate spray booth coating can be thinned and used on clamps. The UF glue ,after a while , pretty much just falls off the all metal clamps. I've seen the booth coating used on the wooden Jorgensens too. The coating must not get on the steel threads of the wood clamps as it can make the clamps unwind and become useless

[Jim Tobias]

I like to wrap a strip of Saran Wrap (sticky kitchen product) around the bar in the areas where there are seams and glue might drip.

Jim

[Kevin Jenness]

Don't use so much glue. The drips that do occur pop off easily if the bars are waxed periodically. Same with cauls.

[Jeff Bartley]

I've used tape and wax successfully plenty of times, and I'm definitely not loosing any sleep over glue on my clamps (I have two young kids who keep me from sleep😁). But this was on aluminum clamps and the regular pony pipe clamps.
These I Beam clamps have an almost textured steel surface, like a course sand-blasted surface. As I took them, bright and shiny, out of the box all I could see was future glue drips!
I'll probably use tape during glue ups but before anything I think I'll either wax or spray some bostick top-coat on them.
Thanks for the suggestions.

[Lee Schierer]

Don't use so much glue. The drips that do occur pop off easily if the bars are waxed periodically. Same with cauls.

Glue squeeze out should be small beads all along the glue joint on both sides of the boards, no drips or runs, any more than that is wasting glue, causing more work and not making your joints any stronger.

[Mel Fulks]

Agree on not using too much glue ,where that is applicable. Some big projects with two or more laying on the glue with big brushes and rollers are inherently messy. Just a few door cores are pretty messy because of many imperfectly aligned pieces being clamped at once. Work of that sort merits more attention to clamp coatings and such than they usually get. All comercial shops need some "flow sheet" lists to avoid excuses of "I didn't have anything to do".

[Jeff Bartley]

Mel, I worked at a bike shop many years ago where it was said: "Time to lean, time to clean".

[Jerry Olexa]

Simple advice: use less glue...Brush out before clamping.

[Mike Henderson]

I use the side of an old chisel. The "edge" of the side is usually pretty sharp and works well for scraping the old glue off.

Mike

[Robert Engel]

If I could ever remember the packing tape I would do it, but it also keeps you from being able to wipe the glue off.

Its really no big deal. I just slide the clamp head back and forth several times that usually strips off any dried glue.

[Pat Barry]

I lay some newspaper over the bars beforehand and that seems to work pretty well as a drip guard.

[Marc Burt]

Wow. Some of you are hard-core.

I don't do anything to the clamps. They all still function fine. If there is enough glue squeeze out on the bar I've always just been able to chip it off by riding the clamp head over it. I also stand my glue-ups vertically and set them on the floor after clamp up (k-bodies) so I guess that probably minimizes the glue on the bar issue although I just do it to free up bench space.

[Prashun Patel]

I used to be in the 'run the clamp head over the bar' camp. Tt works fairly well - for a while. Eventually, there were some drips that needed a little scraping. Also, it does give you stained bars after a while. Eventually, the bars didn't slide as smoothly. To be fair, it never stopped the clamps from working completely. However, on large glue ups, I want to be able to move those heads quickly and smoothly and swiftly. Dirty bars sometimes added minor speed bumps.

Now if I can just practice what I preach on my pipe clamps....

[John Lanciani]

Keeps the glue from sticking, no negative impact on clamping ability.

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