Clamp storage solution

Jeff Horton

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The Heart of Dixie
I have discovered that if a tool has a home I tend to put it up and can usually find it. I still sit things on the table saw or bench when I finished rather than putting it up. However, I do tend to put it in it's place most of the time and I know where to look for it. The more homes for tools the less cluttered my shop tends to be. Stuff that doesn't have a home is always scattered around and hard to find. My clamps desperately needed a home.

While doing a major clean up in the shop one of the top items on my list was a clamp rack. Because I have such a wide variety of clamps I have put this off for a long time. I didn't have a good idea of how to store all these clamps so I kept stalling. While cleaning out the plywood rack sorting out what I needed to keep and what I could toss I pulled out a piece of 3/4" ply left over from some cabinets I had built. This was a left over French cleat and that was the inspiration I needed! Suddenly I knew exactly how to build my rack.

I took the scrap cleat from the bin and after a little measuring and trimming I attached it the wall. Next I started to make the brackets to hold the clamps. I cut pieces of 3/4" plywood to different sizes. I drill holes and insert dowels and glue them in place. Then glue and screw a cleat on the back so I can mount it on the cleat on the wall.

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I made different styles and different sizes according what was going to hang on it. For my old heavy bar clamps I made a angled bracket with slots for the clamps to fit in. After getting it installed I am starting to thing it takes up to much space. I think some 1" dowels and maybe use two pieces of plywood glued together to make a thicker bracket and I could store these sideways like the rest of the clamps and free up some space.

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That great thing about this rack is if you don't like what you have it's simple to make something else. Don't like the way they are arranged? Remove the clamps and move it. The beauty of this is your are not tied into anything and can change it around at any point. This has been one of my best ideas ever!

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I have been using the cleat method for some time and have been really happy with the flexibility and convenience. I think you'll enjoy it.
 

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