How do I store all these clamps???

[Jason White]

Now that I've cleaned out Lowe's of their Bessey K-bodies, I'm wondering how to store them (about 12). I don't have room for a rolling cart, so I need to hang them on the wall. I also have some pipe clamps that I want to hang as well.

Any suggestions? Pictures are most helpful. Thanks.

Jason

[Lance Norris]

I have these and like them.

http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/11609

[Jim McFarland]

I like these Woodpecker's clamp racks for K-Body and F-style clamps. No help for pipe clamps. I'll try to add a photo later (but they are not very interesting!).
http://www.woodpeck.com/36steelclamprack.html

Edit: Added photo
White trimmed add-ons are to keep the deep F-style clamps from tumbling down. Racks placed near ceiling to allow storing 4 98" K-body's.

[Bruce Page]

Jason, you can get some ideas here:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=9464

[Ben Cadotte]

I posted a pic of my shop but hard to see. I have my clamps on pegboard. I don't have any cabinet clamps, but quite a few aluminium bar clamps. I keep mine horizontal on 2 hooks. I can put 4 on 8" long hooks.takes up less room than mounting them individually vertically. I also have my f-clamps that way. With them I keep about 6 on 2 hooks. There are 14 48" aluminium clamps, 9 - 36" f clamps, 12 24" f clamps, 4 18" f clamps, 8 6" f clamps. Takes up less than 1/2 sheet.

http://www.cadottephotography.net/images/Lathenorth_web.jpg

[glenn bradley]

Here's what I did. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=72897 Cleat fixtures allow re-arrangement (which has happened several times since these first pics.

Here's a newer shot:

[Kevin Groenke]

We have solid wood boards screwed to the wall vertically x" apart with conduit spanning the gap at x" intervals depending on clamp. Clamps either clamp onto the rack or the handles hang behind the conduit. Works great, accommodates a wide variety of clamps, pretty high density. I'll get some pics next I'm in the shop.

-kg

[Mark Kosmowski]

Here (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=88770&d=1211072965) are some of my clamps on pegboard. Some others are hanging off the chain holding up my ambient air cleaner.

[Mike Heidrick]

From a shopnotes article. T-track with toilet bolts through 2X4 and 2X3 blocks.

[Jason Beam]

From a shopnotes article. T-track with toilet bolts through 2X4 and 2X3 blocks.


That's what I do, too. I love being able to adjust them for whatever clamps I buy next :D

[Norman Pyles]

I just notched a tubafour, and screwed it to another and hung them on the wall.

[Russell Tribby]

Now that I've cleaned out Lowe's of their Bessey K-bodies, I'm wondering how to store them (about 12). I don't have room for a rolling cart, so I need to hang them on the wall. I also have some pipe clamps that I want to hang as well.

Any suggestions? Pictures are most helpful. Thanks.

Jason

Jason, here's what I did, http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=85011&highlight=clamp+rack. I put it together last week and it's worked great. It has a small footprint and only protrudes from the wall about 9".

[Paul Girouard]

It looks hopeless for you , I'd suggest shipping the lot of the to me :D You , of course, incur all related shipping costs. :eek:

No need to thanks me, I'd do the same for anyone here on SMC forum. I'm just a nice guy:D

[Lewis Cobb]

From a shopnotes article. T-track with toilet bolts through 2X4 and 2X3 blocks.

I must have missed that Shop Notes article Mike - can you shoot a close up of that set up of yours and post 'er up here? I really like the idea of your set up - looks to be infinitely flexible - something I always strive for. Now if I could figure out a way to "stack" a set-up like this like pages of a book, I'd be all set.

Cheers,
Lewis

[Ted Jay]

From a shopnotes article. T-track with toilet bolts through 2X4 and 2X3 blocks.

Mike
They look neat the way they are displayed, but that seems like alot of T-bolts.:eek::)
I guess you could have made 2 foot sections with slots to accomidate the bar for the clamps and a T-bolt at each end. Just wondering if you find any advantage to the way you have done yours?
I can see the advantage of being able to readjust them individually to different widths, like for pipe clamps.
How many times have you adjusted yours since you put them up?
Is there anything you would change about them?
Ted

[Jay Albrandt]

Jason,

I have a garage shop with limited wall space.

What I did is buy some tool racks from Duluth Trading Co.

http://www.duluthtrading.com/search/searchresults/HR12.aspx?feature=Product_1&kw=tool+rack

Get the 12 inch model with two prongs. The bar fits easy between the prongs and the clamp spans the prongs so they hang straight. I can get 6-7 clamps on one rack without taking up so much lateral wall space.

They have two holes (top and bottom) so you can screw them right to a stud, but what I did was mount a 2x6 to the wall that spans two studs and mounted three racks side by side to save even more space.

I work the next two days, but if you want a picture, PM me and I will send you one.

Good Luck,

Jay

[Jim Fox]

How about this? Did this with some left over plywood scraps, and it since has double in size/quantity.........actually clamps have probably tripled.

http://www.planesnsuch.com/Woodworking/shop/clamp_rack_1.jpg

[Brian J Holmes]

Mike
They look neat the way they are displayed, but that seems like alot of T-bolts.:eek::)
I guess you could have made 2 foot sections with slots to accomidate the bar for the clamps and a T-bolt at each end. Just wondering if you find any advantage to the way you have done yours?
I can see the advantage of being able to readjust them individually to different widths, like for pipe clamps.
How many times have you adjusted yours since you put them up?
Is there anything you would change about them?
Ted

I did the exact same thing, I've adjusted/reorganized them several times since building them as I've bought more clamps, the one mistake I made though was cutting the longer pieces (2x6 for deeper clamps) crossways across the grain meaning that when installed the grain runs vertically. As a result over time the pieces have slightly bowed making it difficult sometimes to hang the clamp. Cutting the pieces with the grain so that the grain was perpendicular to the mounting surface after installation would have solved that.

It was alot of toilet bolts but they're pretty cheap, more importantly it was alot of dados, drill holes, and counterbores for the track system. The repetition was kind of a beatdown

BTW the article was in Issue 73 of Shopnotes from jan/feb 2004

89687

89688

89693

89695

[Lewis Cobb]

Jason,

I have a garage shop with limited wall space.

What I did is buy some tool racks from Duluth Trading Co.

http://www.duluthtrading.com/search/searchresults/HR12.aspx?feature=Product_1&kw=tool+rack

Get the 12 inch model with two prongs. The bar fits easy between the prongs and the clamp spans the prongs so they hang straight. I can get 6-7 clamps on one rack without taking up so much lateral wall space.

They have two holes (top and bottom) so you can screw them right to a stud, but what I did was mount a 2x6 to the wall that spans two studs and mounted three racks side by side to save even more space.

I work the next two days, but if you want a picture, PM me and I will send you one.

Good Luck,

Jay

This site is hilarious - people should check it just to see the videos....

[Rob Diz]

How about this? Did this with some left over plywood scraps, and it since has double in size/quantity.........actually clamps have probably tripled.

http://www.planesnsuch.com/Woodworking/shop/clamp_rack_1.jpg

I made a variation on this theme, still with scrap plywood. I took one piece, probably 3 or 4 inches wide by 2 feet or so, and routed out a slot for a bessey. I spaced the slots so that the heads fit nicely next to each other. Screwed in a piece at 90 degrees, then put in some braces, then screwed the whole thing to some studs.

Scrap ply and some screws. I did not stack the clamps because I wanted to be able to grab whatever I needed.

[Jason White]

That's a very interesting idea! Quick and easy (which is what I like). I suppose a length of steel pipe, elbows and escutcheons would make for a nice, sturdy place to hang just about any type of clamp (sort of like a closet rod), whether you hang your clamps from behind or in front of the pipe.

Would love to see those pictures!

Thanks.

Jason


We have solid wood boards screwed to the wall vertically x" apart with conduit spanning the gap at x" intervals depending on clamp. Clamps either clamp onto the rack or the handles hang behind the conduit. Works great, accommodates a wide variety of clamps, pretty high density. I'll get some pics next I'm in the shop.

-kg

[Kevin Ladenheim]

I have the common brown pegboard with the larger hole sizes. There are steel pegs that mount in two hole and take up three hole spaces and cost about a dollar and are about 8" long. I was amazed that I could hang 4 of the 40" Woodcraft Bessey knockoffs on one peg with no problem. They have a hang hole opposite the head.

There is aluminum and steel pegboard available for store displays, I can't even imagine the weight that can hold given what this masonite type stuff can do.

[J. Z. Guest]

Not as fancy as many folks' ideas, but I just scoot the pipe clamps under my workbench on the floor, and all other clamps get clamped onto the front of shelves. I don't like to spend my shop time making shop fixtures; I like to make furniture with my precious few hours per week.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...I just scoot the pipe clamps under my workbench on the floor..."

Har. That's where mine end up too! We built a rack but it only gets filled up when we clean the shop at the end of a job. The rest of the time the clamps are all over the place.

[Kevin Groenke]

That's a very interesting idea! Quick and easy (which is what I like). I suppose a length of steel pipe, elbows and escutcheons would make for a nice, sturdy place to hang just about any type of clamp (sort of like a closet rod), whether you hang your clamps from behind or in front of the pipe.

Would love to see those pictures!

Thanks.

Jason

Here ya go Jason.

The towel bar style clamp rack.

I'm going to reconfigure a bit as soon as I decide just how many of the JET cabinet clamps we can afford.

-kg

[Mike Heidrick]

Sorry for the delay in replying. Brian posted the pictures.

Buy the T-Bolts in the contractor packs at Lowes. I think they are about $5 for 40 of them (20 toilet installs?? - checker said they are good for hotel installs). I bought out three different Lowes one day as I was making a trip and stopped in three cities along the route. Should have enough for all the blocks I have. I just went and bought the whole case of them at each store. My T-bolts were slightly shorter than the plans so my recess is a bit deeper - no problems with that either.

I bought a cull pack of 2Xs at lowes for $10 and I bought the T-track from rockler during their $10 sales - worked out as rockler doubled my order by accident so I had 10 4' lengths of T-track plus the hardware for each (got charged shipping though and that was supposed to be free - even trade I think).

The plans do not call for 2X6s - only 2X4 and 2X3s. I have some really large clamps and they all fit on one of the two blocks. Over the course of a year they will loosen a bit so you do have to snug them up once in awhile. They take up a lot of wall space but I love the design. I made about 300 extra blocks so I would never have to do it again. It was pretty simple and I just turned on the radio and made them. I setup stop blocks and everything was repetitive cut and fast. Same on the drill press - I set up a dust collection and just kept going. One table for before and one table for after each step.

Pretty handy setup and it looks great and functions great.

The other day I dadoed some more 1Xs as I need some more rack space. This time I cut extra of it as well. Never enough clamps.