Four Way Clamp Trial Run

glenn bradley

Member
Messages
11,516
Location
SoCal
I picked a few of these up on sale at Rockler back awhile. Made the rails for them out of some painted scrap oak. I'm not sold that they are any faster than a few Bessey's. They do make gathering and aligning the panels easier. They do not put enough pressure on the boards to make them align if they are a bit errant. These boards were as they're just milled scrap I'm using for a proto-type of a table top I'm playing with. The F-clamps on the end take care of that just as they do with other bar clamps in this configuration.

I think I got them for about $15 a pair which is OK. They are awkward to store; mine live over the rafters near the lumber rack. I wouldn't pay full-pop for them (or the Planos for that matter) but they do work well for what they are designed to do. Final opinion: got 'em cheap and have room to store them so I say; thumbs up. If I was tighter on storage space and had a rack of Bessey's already; I'd pass.
 

Attachments

  • ns-proto-top-glueup.jpg
    ns-proto-top-glueup.jpg
    105.3 KB · Views: 139
Last edited:
I'm glad you posted this Glenn, because I've always wanted to try those out, (and still may some time), but had not seen any user post anywhere before. On the weakness tendency to press the edges into alignment, I wonder if you made the rails with a slight curve to them (similar to a bowclamp), that they would put a more even pressure against the faces of the glue up and improve the alignment. That was always a nagging thought I've had from just looking at the pictures in the ads that although they pull across the glue up with good force, they look like they would be exerting downward pressure more at the ends of the rails than in the middle. What'cha think?:dunno:

I also wonder that in addition to the curved rails, if the rails were somewhat thicker so the angle between the connection to the rail and the end screwjack was steeper, that it might give more downward pressure to assist the alignment of the edges. Just tomething to mull over I guess.
 
Last edited:
I hear you on the storage issue. I've had 3 of them for about 10 years and used them maybe twice. They do work decently but since getting parallel jaw clamps I just haven't used them. Finally disassembled them and bagged up all the parts a few months ago just to free up some space.
 
Top