The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Home made skin clamps

I got the idea for these from The 12-Port News. I modified the design a little. They are for aligning patch panels for welding.

This view shows the parts and dimensions. I cut 3/8" all thread into 2" pieces, then hacksawed a slot for the thin sheetmetal tab and welded them together. The tube is 1/2" electrical conduit. Add a washer, a wingnut and a nail.

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee12/cletis_photos/skinclamp1.jpg

This image shows it put together. You align your panels, put the thin tab between them, put the nail through the hole and tighten.

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee12/cletis_photos/skinclamp2.jpg

good post cletis, I'll use that idea.

I started to do the same thing when I discovered I didn't have any all thread or wing nuts. Ok so I head for the hardware store, and Harbor Freight is having a sale. I go inside and am looking in the welding isle and find a set of panel clamps. A set of 8 for $4.99. Ok they are cheap and kinda cheesey, but they work, and I don't plan on doing a lot of panel welding.

Hi Cletis
This is my approach to making welding jigs that were not invented by me. I just love the challenge of making stuff myself. They work really well. The combination of the heat sink & skin clamps work very well when used together.The copper bar I used is from an old electrical panel buss bar from a scrap yard for $3.00. Perhaps our Ideas could be used as Tech Tips? Not sure. Anyhow hope everyones projects are going well & this can help fellow bolters.
Check it out


http://s150.photobucket.com/albums/s107/vickraft/weldingjigs/

i like the idea of making it yourself, even if you can buy it cheap and it takes hours. if you feel guilty about doing it for saving 50 cents per hour, do it in the middle of the night so you can tell yourself the stores are all closed and you can't buy it if you want.

Cletis, now you need to invent me a clamp that I can use on a patch panel for back of the cab about floor level in the middle of the cab. My arms ain't long enough to reach inside and out. Maybe I need a radio antenna instead of a nail. I like to make stuff too so I can use it when I'm in the mood. If I order a tool, I'm out of the mood by the time it arrives.

I don’t get where you all figure that “they are cheap and kinda cheesey”, I know its kind of unusual but they look like they are perfectly adequate for the task at hand, one of the few decent things that HF offers.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/115561829/large
At .62 cents each I don’t see how you can possibly beat them. In fact I think I’ll pick up another set next time I’m in the area.
DG

Denny,

When did you buy those clamps. I cannot find them now on HB's site but I know they used to sell them. Last year, I had to resort to buying the clamps off eBay (I bought three sets for one shipping charge & no tax).

The .040 clamps were much less expensive than the .035" clamps - why?

Tim

http://cgi.ebay.com/BUTT-WELDING-CL...=item2ea6b19426&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Bought them yesterday Tim here in Aurora, Illinois HF, 8/$4.99 no shipping, add a few cents for tax.
Those that you have linked to on ebay are a rip off, four for $11.00 including the shipping and they are probably just the HF package split in half and sold on his ebay site.
Don't know what you mean about the .035" clamps??? both of these use a .040" web giving you a .040" gap. The .005" that your asking about is only the thickness of a heavy hair.
And to any newbies out there taht are using these for the first time, their just for positioning and tacking the panel in place, DON'T leave them in when you start to stitch the panel or you will never get them out.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I just found these site says store has them in stock.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/...0_200381757_200381757&issearch=62886

Brad

Denny, you really got a deal on those HF clamps. I had to pay 67 cents a piece for mine- of course the extra nickel goes to Arnold. I am very careful what I buy at Harbor Freight but these clamps really are a bargain. I enjoy making a lot of my own tools, jigs, etc. but these are nicer than what I would have thrown together and for well under a buck a piece my time is better spent doing other things.
Chuck

Yep, this one is a no brainer Chuck.
DG

i got me a set from my local harbor freight too. cheap enough, and they actually look like they will hold up for a while, and if not, at that price, who cares right ?

leonard