How to securely press two parts when there are no clamps? The masterful clothespin, described back in the 80s in the DIY magazine

  • Dec 15, 2021

No craftsman who works with wood or metal can do without clamps and vices. After all, these are integral tools that help fix parts in various types of processing, be it plumbing, carpentry or professions related to metal processing.

But, there are times when you need to securely clamp two parts, for example, when gluing, and there are no clamps or vices at hand ...

"How can a master have such a thing?" - you ask. Maybe! Otherwise, experienced craftsmen would not say that there are never too many clamps! For example, the entire tool may simply be busy on a project, but while there is time, other work needs to be done. But it also happens that the parts to be glued are soft and there is a risk of leaving an imprint on them.

It is then that long-forgotten knowledge comes to the rescue! There is a wonderful method, described in the old Soviet magazine "Do it yourself", this method is called "pin". In this method, the wedge-shaped block plays a key role, which is made on site:

How to securely press two parts when there are no clamps? The masterful clothespin, described back in the 80s in the DIY magazine
How to securely press two parts when there are no clamps? The masterful clothespin, described back in the 80s in the DIY magazine
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In this article, I will describe this method using the example of two parts to be glued, but of course it can be used for other tasks.

So, we glue two blanks:

How to securely press two parts when there are no clamps? The masterful clothespin, described back in the 80s in the DIY magazine

We press both parts to each other and put them on a pre-prepared piece of board:

How to securely press two parts when there are no clamps? The masterful clothespin, described back in the 80s in the DIY magazine

After that, cover them with a second piece of the same board. We wrap both boards with soft wire, rope or fix with a strong nylon tie. It is important that when pulling the rope, both boards are located as parallel as possible so that there is a maximum contact area between the parts to be glued and the boards.

How to securely press two parts when there are no clamps? The masterful clothespin, described back in the 80s in the DIY magazine

On the one hand, workpieces are clamped between the boards, and on the other hand, we need to drive our prepared wedge. The sharper its angle, the more friction is created, and, accordingly, the less likely it will slip out.

How to securely press two parts when there are no clamps? The masterful clothespin, described back in the 80s in the DIY magazine

We insert the wedge all the way and hammer it a little. Ready! We leave the parts in a clamped position until the next day ...

The clamping force is very strong, as can be seen from the curved plywood strip, which presses the workpieces against the thicker plywood:

How to securely press two parts when there are no clamps? The masterful clothespin, described back in the 80s in the DIY magazine

The method is very effective, but it has one drawback - it is not possible to fix parts with a large total thickness, since then the device becomes very cumbersome.

How to securely press two parts when there are no clamps? The masterful clothespin, described back in the 80s in the DIY magazine

And for small parts up to 20 cm in size, it is very suitable and even helped me out several times in unforeseen situations.

I am sure that knowledge of the described fixation method will not be superfluous!

Thank you for your time!

How to securely press two parts when there are no clamps? The masterful clothespin, described back in the 80s in the DIY magazine

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