John Pollman
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- 1,607
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- Rochester Hills, MI
When you need a 106" piece of 1/2" Baltic Birch, you come to understand the phrase, "you can never have too many clamps."
The clamp thing is true.
- Thread starter John Pollman
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glenn bradley
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- 12,379
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- SoCal
20 years ago I started buying more clamps every time I was doing a glue up and ran out. I favored Bessey K-Body. I know some folks struggle with these and I am not trying to convert anyone, just telling my story. At any rate, any time there was a sale and they were about $1 and inch I would pick up a few more.
Once I finally stopped running out during a glue up, I stopped buying them. Today's clamp prices are pretty wacky but I cannot discount the value of having enough when you need them. When my father passed I inherited all his clamps which means I have about twice as many as I would otherwise . . . it is "just enough". It is the same with electrical outlets; put in twice what you expect to ever need and it may just be enough,
Once I finally stopped running out during a glue up, I stopped buying them. Today's clamp prices are pretty wacky but I cannot discount the value of having enough when you need them. When my father passed I inherited all his clamps which means I have about twice as many as I would otherwise . . . it is "just enough". It is the same with electrical outlets; put in twice what you expect to ever need and it may just be enough,
Toni Ciuraneta
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- Catalunya
I fully agree with you on both subjects, I don’t know if I have enough clamps because so far I don’t do many glue ups at the same time. And I fully agre with the outlets, in my shop I have 18 of them, and I am thinking about having at least one hanging from the ceiling over my bench so that when I use my orbital or belt sander the wire doesn’t interfere at all.
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@Toni,
I too have that electric outlet above my workbench on the shop ceiling, and added a retractable extension cord on a reel package to it, so I can pull it down to reach the bench or anywhere nearby when needed. I also added some large hooks for the vacuum cleaner hose, and a plastic clothes line on a retractable reel to my shop ceiling above the workbench.
Why the clothes line reel? Whenever I'm using a random orbit sander or other hand held sanders, I bundle the power cord, vacuum line together, and add the end of the clothes line at the needed place along this bundle so the vacuum line and power cord bundle is supported above what I'm sanding, with just enough slack in the bundle to hold it above the work piece and yet not be pulling the sander up. The attachment is via one of those Velcro Cable ties that I always leave attached to the plastic fitting on the end of the clothes line and ready to be used again at the perfect place to hold the bundle at the desired height. I had to remove a turn or two of spring tension from the clothes line reel for it to lift the way that I wanted though, as it was too strong for my need without this modification.
This has proven to be the perfect way of sanding flat work for me. My vacuum unit is a reborn whole house central vacuum unit that I saved from a major remodel of the home next door. I replaced the control circuit transformer in it and it works fine again. When I saw the next door home owner carrying it to the dumpster I asked if I could have it, and he brought it over to me. Over the next few days, the hose and attachments also arrived. Another day, and all of the house PVC vacuum lines and wall inlets arrived too. After repairing it I installed it in my shop with the unit itself installed up in the shop's attic (no room in my small shop). I added a Dust Deputy centrifugal separator in the vacuum line just ahead of the vacuum, with a 24 gallon steel drum under the Dust Deputy to catch the big stuff. The vacuum exhaust was routed out through the shop's roof soffit, so nothing, even the finest of saw dust ever gets back into my shop or my lungs.
My shop is too small for the big woodworking dust/chip collectors, but this repurposed central vacuum house unit has been ideal for the drill presses, bench sanders, band saw, scroll saws, and ROS sanders, which make most of the "dangerous to breathe" saw dust. My table saw and jointer have collection space in their cabinets and I shovel them out frequently. Big chips aren't a health hazard either. My DeWalt 735 planer always gets used outside in the driveway, with a collection hose and a 55 gallon collection drum. The drum cover is fabric with a bag style cord tie to hold it onto the drum, and it works well, if this cover does not come loose. If it does (did 1 time) I get to clean the chips out of my neighbor's swimming pool.
One of these central vacuum units is ideal for a small shop, if you add a Dust Deputy or similar separator in the vacuum line ahead of it. They pull significant vacuum, enough to quickly collapse a 5 gallon plastic collection drum very quickly. I was using one at first, and collapsed it almost instantly. While looking for the steel drum, I ended up stacking three of the plastic drums tightly together for 3X the wall thickness and this worked well until I could find the small steel drum. Trucking service facilities buy grease in these
,with a plastic bag liner, so no significant amount of grease to remove. Asking around might get you one for free, or maybe a 6 pack of his favorite beer. I made the round top out of two layers of void free 3/4" Birch cabinet plywood, one that fit snugly inside the barrel and one about 1-2" larger in diameter to the barrel. I used caulking compound to glue them together, and cut the center hole and mounting bolt holes for the dust Deputy. I used 1" wide closed cell foam plastic Weather strip attached around the smaller diameter piece but on the larger diameter piece, so it seals to the top rolled edge of the steel drum/barrel. Perfect seal on the first try. On a year when I was doing significant woodworking, I only managed to 1/2 fill this steel drum. The collection place in the bottom of the central vacuum only had a trace of saw dust on it's walls and nothing in the cloth filter. I ended up completely removing the cloth filter after that first year and now get a bit better vacuum. It wasn't collecting anything anyway, so why leave it there. The Dust Deputy does a great job.
Charley
I too have that electric outlet above my workbench on the shop ceiling, and added a retractable extension cord on a reel package to it, so I can pull it down to reach the bench or anywhere nearby when needed. I also added some large hooks for the vacuum cleaner hose, and a plastic clothes line on a retractable reel to my shop ceiling above the workbench.
Why the clothes line reel? Whenever I'm using a random orbit sander or other hand held sanders, I bundle the power cord, vacuum line together, and add the end of the clothes line at the needed place along this bundle so the vacuum line and power cord bundle is supported above what I'm sanding, with just enough slack in the bundle to hold it above the work piece and yet not be pulling the sander up. The attachment is via one of those Velcro Cable ties that I always leave attached to the plastic fitting on the end of the clothes line and ready to be used again at the perfect place to hold the bundle at the desired height. I had to remove a turn or two of spring tension from the clothes line reel for it to lift the way that I wanted though, as it was too strong for my need without this modification.
This has proven to be the perfect way of sanding flat work for me. My vacuum unit is a reborn whole house central vacuum unit that I saved from a major remodel of the home next door. I replaced the control circuit transformer in it and it works fine again. When I saw the next door home owner carrying it to the dumpster I asked if I could have it, and he brought it over to me. Over the next few days, the hose and attachments also arrived. Another day, and all of the house PVC vacuum lines and wall inlets arrived too. After repairing it I installed it in my shop with the unit itself installed up in the shop's attic (no room in my small shop). I added a Dust Deputy centrifugal separator in the vacuum line just ahead of the vacuum, with a 24 gallon steel drum under the Dust Deputy to catch the big stuff. The vacuum exhaust was routed out through the shop's roof soffit, so nothing, even the finest of saw dust ever gets back into my shop or my lungs.
My shop is too small for the big woodworking dust/chip collectors, but this repurposed central vacuum house unit has been ideal for the drill presses, bench sanders, band saw, scroll saws, and ROS sanders, which make most of the "dangerous to breathe" saw dust. My table saw and jointer have collection space in their cabinets and I shovel them out frequently. Big chips aren't a health hazard either. My DeWalt 735 planer always gets used outside in the driveway, with a collection hose and a 55 gallon collection drum. The drum cover is fabric with a bag style cord tie to hold it onto the drum, and it works well, if this cover does not come loose. If it does (did 1 time) I get to clean the chips out of my neighbor's swimming pool.
One of these central vacuum units is ideal for a small shop, if you add a Dust Deputy or similar separator in the vacuum line ahead of it. They pull significant vacuum, enough to quickly collapse a 5 gallon plastic collection drum very quickly. I was using one at first, and collapsed it almost instantly. While looking for the steel drum, I ended up stacking three of the plastic drums tightly together for 3X the wall thickness and this worked well until I could find the small steel drum. Trucking service facilities buy grease in these
,with a plastic bag liner, so no significant amount of grease to remove. Asking around might get you one for free, or maybe a 6 pack of his favorite beer. I made the round top out of two layers of void free 3/4" Birch cabinet plywood, one that fit snugly inside the barrel and one about 1-2" larger in diameter to the barrel. I used caulking compound to glue them together, and cut the center hole and mounting bolt holes for the dust Deputy. I used 1" wide closed cell foam plastic Weather strip attached around the smaller diameter piece but on the larger diameter piece, so it seals to the top rolled edge of the steel drum/barrel. Perfect seal on the first try. On a year when I was doing significant woodworking, I only managed to 1/2 fill this steel drum. The collection place in the bottom of the central vacuum only had a trace of saw dust on it's walls and nothing in the cloth filter. I ended up completely removing the cloth filter after that first year and now get a bit better vacuum. It wasn't collecting anything anyway, so why leave it there. The Dust Deputy does a great job.
Charley
Toni Ciuraneta
Member
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- 5,820
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- Catalunya
I buy your idea of the railing to hold the vacuum hose + the sander cable, I might even put a hook on the ceiling to hang the vacuum whic is a normal shop vacuum so the hose is pretty short unless I buy a two or three meters of that transparent flexible all purpose pipe. Thank for your thorough explanation.
allen levine
Member
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- 13,672
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- new york city burbs
i have some really long jet clamps, maybe 8 footers, which I only used for a large cabinet. if I need really long, I hang pipe connectors for half inch pipes so I can get up to 18 feet if needed double I think within 2 or 3 years I will start sellihg most of them off, I dont use anything these days besides maybe some 3 footers. gotta downsize and distribute the money into more exotic woods.
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- 1,118
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- Central North Carolina
@Toni,
I left out a detail. The sanders that I use have an odd shaped oval connector for the vacuum hose. I found a 60 or 72" hose that fit the sanders, and it's about 1 1/4" diameter. Yet another adapter made the end of it fit the 25' long fitting on the end of the whole house vacuum line. I don't remember the dimensions, but it was difficult to find an adapter that worked. The end of the central vacuum hose is metal and slightly bent as it is where you would hold it while vacuuming the house, with straight sections and appliances to attach. These seem to be standardized dimensions, as I can connect brushes, floor nozzles, etc. from other brands of home vacuums easily. The other end of this 25' vacuum hose is a special connector that plugs into the wall inlet plates when the unit is installed in a home. I'm using these, and the PVC pipe intended for use in the walls of the homes between the wall inlet fittings and the Dust Deputy, then from the Dust Deputy to the inlet of the central vacuum.
I re-used much of the pipe that was brought to me with the vacuum unit, to pipe it around in my shop, but did need to buy a couple of lengths more of it from a store that sold central vacuums. I have an inlet for the vacuum near my scroll saws, one near my drill presses, one about center on the back wall of my shop, one outside the passage door of my shop (so I can vacuum my cars and truck), and one upstairs in my shop next to the central vacuum unit, so I can use the vacuum for cleaning the shop floors easily, both up and down. I just need to make certain that no chips get picked up and only saw dust. If a chip does get in, it usually stops in the elbow just behind the wall inlet port and though some fussing is required, it isn't very hard to get out. A sudden significant loss of flow tells me when this happens.
The most significant improvement was the addition of the plastic clothes line and self windup reel. It holds the working slack of the vacuum hose and power cable bundle a few inches above the work, so it doesn't catch on the end of the workbench or the workpiece. Using the sanders then becomes completely free in movement as you work with it.
Although a different model than what I have, this is what I am using -
Charley
I left out a detail. The sanders that I use have an odd shaped oval connector for the vacuum hose. I found a 60 or 72" hose that fit the sanders, and it's about 1 1/4" diameter. Yet another adapter made the end of it fit the 25' long fitting on the end of the whole house vacuum line. I don't remember the dimensions, but it was difficult to find an adapter that worked. The end of the central vacuum hose is metal and slightly bent as it is where you would hold it while vacuuming the house, with straight sections and appliances to attach. These seem to be standardized dimensions, as I can connect brushes, floor nozzles, etc. from other brands of home vacuums easily. The other end of this 25' vacuum hose is a special connector that plugs into the wall inlet plates when the unit is installed in a home. I'm using these, and the PVC pipe intended for use in the walls of the homes between the wall inlet fittings and the Dust Deputy, then from the Dust Deputy to the inlet of the central vacuum.
I re-used much of the pipe that was brought to me with the vacuum unit, to pipe it around in my shop, but did need to buy a couple of lengths more of it from a store that sold central vacuums. I have an inlet for the vacuum near my scroll saws, one near my drill presses, one about center on the back wall of my shop, one outside the passage door of my shop (so I can vacuum my cars and truck), and one upstairs in my shop next to the central vacuum unit, so I can use the vacuum for cleaning the shop floors easily, both up and down. I just need to make certain that no chips get picked up and only saw dust. If a chip does get in, it usually stops in the elbow just behind the wall inlet port and though some fussing is required, it isn't very hard to get out. A sudden significant loss of flow tells me when this happens.
The most significant improvement was the addition of the plastic clothes line and self windup reel. It holds the working slack of the vacuum hose and power cable bundle a few inches above the work, so it doesn't catch on the end of the workbench or the workpiece. Using the sanders then becomes completely free in movement as you work with it.
Although a different model than what I have, this is what I am using -
Charley
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