Sheet metal clamps

I've been wanting a set of these for a while but wasn't going to shell out $70 for a set of 4 (what a bloody rip off), so last night I decided to start making a set of my own...



I took a section of 35mm RHS, drilled a hole in the top and took a slice out of the bottom with a hacksaw blade. Cut a 5/16 bolt to length. Took a small piece of 0.8mm panel steel (I later ground down a section of it to roughly 0.6 to set the panel gaps) and cut a slot it in, and finally a small offcut of alluminium for the 'tail piece'



I welding the small piece of panel steel to the nut and this is what I got...



All that for a few pieces of scrap and a bit of time. Then I thought about taking it another step forward, why not integrate it with a 'heat sink' on the back side of the panel to make welding thin sheets (0.8mm panel steel can be a bitch) easier. I took a bigger offcut of alluminium, notched it out and now we have this...



And now for the test...





Easy, simple and it works....

Edited by nzstato, 24 August 2010 - 06:36 AM.

Nice job. I have some of those clamps too, but to be honest I hardly ever use them. The places that I'd use them are usually places where you can't get your hand in behind to put the square rod in.
I did use them when putting new lower quarters on the bonneville, but even then they were a bit of a pain to get out after tacking it together.





Have fun with them though

I too was wondering how much I would use them (thought they would come in handy for repairing lower door skins and guards) hence another reason not to spend $70 on a set. Also thought that I could make some small tail pieces out of 2.5mm alluminium and bend them to a radius, this should allow for joining curved regions. Still there will be times when you cant get to the back of the panel....

Yeah, plus it's always fun making new things anyway : )

I didn't realise they were normally that dear. I got mine (set of 8) for $10 on ebay. Gotta love the unpopular auctions : )

I buy a fair bit of tools etc from " the eastwood company" in the states. When the dollar is good , by the time you add freight and conversion, it's still cheaper than buying anything here

http://www.eastwood....s-set-of-4.html

To be honest it was another good excuse to go play in the shed . I thought $20 should be a fairer price for them, but its economy of scale, NZ is a small country and stuff like this gets inflated in price when it needs to be imported. Cheers for that, I think when it comes time to deck the shed out in a heap of metal work gear (shrinker/stretcher) I'll just buy a heap from the states to save on the postage. Had another go at them last night, got 4 now....

Nice!