Shop made Bar clamps

This post goes along with my Clamps and the question of how many clamps should one have in their shop? I mentioned that I was building my own Bar clamps as well as purchasing them from the store. Well here is the videos of where I got my Idea as well as the plans to both a Bar/Pipe clamp and a Parallel clamp. They were only two dollars each and well worth it in my opinion. You can purchase these plans from his Website. This is not necessarily a tutorial but its showing that anyone can build these. I am not completely done with them but I am very close. 

Shop made Bar/Pipe clamp

Shop made Parallel clamp 

Here is a picture of some of the tools that I used. I also used a Drill, Drill Press, Table saw, Miter Saw, Combination sander and Band saw. 

I spent some time trying to find the pipe to use for my clamps. I ended up finding it at Menards for around $10.00. The outer diameter is roughly 29/32.

Every store but 1 that I went too was out of this threaded rod. I found it at Sutherland's for $17.00

The hardest parts for me to get were these little brackets and I have yet to get the grips for the handles. Luckily I had a co-worker who has a metal shop at his house. I only needed 4 but I had him cut me a total of 12 so I can eventually build some more clamps. As for the grips which you can see in his video, I have not purchased yet.

You will need lock nuts and standard nuts. The washers I purchased at first were a bit small so I purchased more that were a bit bigger in the outer diameter.

Workbench and the question whether to build or buy.

Have you found yourself contemplating on whether you should build a work bench or buy one from a store? For the longest time I have asked myself that same question. At my old house we had a detached two car garage. It was 24' x 24' and I had a lot of room. However I had a few thrown together benches. They were made of old cabinets for the base with an old counter top for the top. So at the time I really did not need to either build or buy another one because I was not doing much to need another one. However I really did want a bench that I could pull in and out of the garage depending on the weather.

After our moving into our new home I was limited on space as the new garage was a tad bit smaller yet it was a two car garage. There was a single work bench that on the back wall and was very small. It was used by the previous owner for working on his multiple cars. For what I needed it for it was way too small. So I shopped around looking for a bench or some ideas. After looking at various benches and searching the internet I decided to build my own. So after deciding to build my own I thought how I was going to build it. I have seen people build their benches around their tools that they have. I saw one where the guy built his small table saw into the bench. I thought this was a very good idea but I was also thinking ahead that if I decide to buy a professional table saw then this would not work. If I was going to spend any money I would want it to where I would not have to change anything in the future or have to build a separate bench.

So it was around my birthday (August 20th) that my wife asked what I wanted for my birthday. I told her not to buy anything that if I could, buy the material to build myself a workbench. She said yeah since that is what I wanted and needed.

So off to Home Depot I went with my tape measure. As I am looking I am building the bench in my head. That’s right I did not do any planning or drawing of the bench beforehand. I decide to build a very solid bench top by taking 2x4’s and screwing them together on the wide side. I then decided how big I want it. I went with a 3 foot by 6 foot top. So I measured it out and I would need 24 – 2x4’s to make it 3 foot wide. For the outer box I went with a 2x8. So for the top I needed 22 – 2x4’s and 2 – 2x8’s. I wanted the legs to be heavy duty so instead of the 4x4’s I used 4x6’s. I was hesitant on what type of wood and since they only had 4x6 treated I went with that. While thinking of the legs I wanted it to be mobile so I purchased casters and went with 4 – swivel 250 lb rated casters. To mount the casters I used 4 inch lag bolts. I also purchased other 2x4’s for the bottom braces and bought 3 inch coated star bit deck screws for assembling the bench.

Assembling to a few days because of work and other activities. I ripped 3/16 of inch off of each 2x4 to give it a flat top then proceeded to assemble everything. What took the longest was the bench top. Ripping each board down and screwing them together was roughly a few hours. I had to make sure each board was flush before screwing it down. After I was done I forgot about the bottom shelf. So my plan was to go buy a sheet of plywood the following weekend for the bottom. Well the weekend came and I decided to use the paneling that we pulled out of a hallway. I had cut it up in 2’x4’ pieces to put in the trash. I figured why not use this as the bottom and save myself some money and I would also be recycling.  

All of the materials besides the bottom shelf was $203.00 with tax. The casters were $45.00, Deck screws were $35.00 and the wood was the remainder. I do not have any other pictures of the bench prior to putting everything on it. 

I have added some extras to the bench over the past few months. Things That I have added were a File holder, Beer holder, Pencil holder, Power strip, Dowel rod holder. I also added screws to hang my Squares, Hammer, Drill, Push block, Miter gauge for Band Saw and Tool pouch. I am sure over time this bench will be changed with accessories, but for now I am happy with what I have accomplished. 

Accessories to bench

So for those of you who are deciding whether to build or buy. I would suggest to build it as you have the ability to build it the way you want and you the get the satisfaction of the overall outcome. 

Clamps and the question of how many clamps should one have in their shop?

Recently I have started to become more immersed into wood working. In the past with any project that I have done whether small or big, I have used only screws and on the occasion I have used glue. I only had 2 clamps to work with and both were Pistol Grip Clamps (12 inch and 6 inch). They have done their fair share of work and were used for other applications other then being used to glue pieces of wood together. With the projects that I have been doing lately I have found myself needing more clamps.

Harbor Freight Bar Clamp

About a month ago I started the path of my clamp collection. I purchased plans for both Bar and Parallel Clamps. After buying the plans my wife and I set out to purchase all of the hardware to build these clamps. Even though I am not done building them, I have enjoyed the process of building them when I have the time. Here is what they look like as of now.

Top is a 24" Bar Clamp, Bottom is a DIY 42" Bar Clamp Made from Oak

So you can see that both are completely different they are both similar in design. I purchased the plan for $2.00. The material I purchased for $64.00 will make a total of 13 clamps. I only bought one 10' piece or tubing. Granted I could of built these quicker but I enjoy spending a little time here and there instead of just building to get them done. In the future I will most likely build them quicker but for now I am fine with the way they are progressing. I do plan on having quite a few of these in my garage along with prefabricated clamps I purchase at the store.

About 2 weeks ago I started another project for Locker shelves for our lockers at work. My locker neighbor had a shelf built and after seeing his I wanted one of my own. So right now I am building 4 locker shelves, one for myself and the others are for my fellow associates who are going to purchase these for $20.00 a piece. 

So after deciding to take on this new project I quickly realized that I needed clamps and fast. Lucky me Harbor Freight was having a sale and I could purchase Bar Clamps with 50% off the entire order. I know what your are thinking, REALLY HARBOR FREIGHT. I know that the quality from Harbor Freight can be less then Par but when you are on a budget at the time anything is better then nothing. Plus you can find some really great deals at Harbor Freight. So I purchased two 6", two 12" and four 24" bar clamps for $36.00.

Shortly after receiving the clamps I started the cutting and assembling of the locker shelves to find myself stuck on each step. The reason I was stuck on each step is because I don't have the quantity of clamps to work on several assemblies at once. Here is a picture of just the Drawer for one of the locker shelves.

10 clamps to glue one drawer

So now the question for myself and all of you is how many clamps should one have? My answer is at least 40-50 and that is basing it on what I am doing and plan on doing in the future. I know that number will grow as I move forward with my bigger projects. So if you are at the store and have a few extra bucks in your pocket, why not pick up a clamp or two. In the end you will eventually have enough clamps to where you can have multiple projects going instead of twiddling your thumbs waiting on whatever you are doing to dry. Also lets face it everyone would rather purchase multiple items over a course of time rather then having to buy them all at once. 

In the future I will be building a organizer for all my clamps which will be a mixture of ones that I have built and others that I have purchased from the store.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to post a comment. I would love to hear from you.

Ridgid Model MS1290LZA 12" Sliding Compound Dual Bevel Miter Saw with Adjustable Laser

I purchased a Ridgid 12" Sliding Compound Dual Bevel Miter Saw with Adjustable Laser online from HomeDepot for 399.00. I was on the fence with buying the 10 inch or the 12 inch. I went with the 12 inch because I could do a lot more with it then the smaller saw.

Ridgid Model MS1290LZA 12" Sliding Compound Dual Bevel Miter Saw with Adjustable Laser 

I was so excited when it arrived. The reason I was so excited was that I had a Craftsman 10 inch single bevel compound saw for about 3 years and could barely cut anything bigger then a 2x4 a 90 degrees. Now don't get me wrong the Craftsman did do a lot of work but I was very limited on what I could do. I know a lot of people use a table saw to make cross cuts and I could too but my table saw is a 10 inch saw with only a 12 inch table and I was very limited on that saw as well. I love the convenience of a miter saw and was in need of a serious upgrade. 

So after getting the saw I realized that my stand for my other saw was too small and with the limited space I have at the moment I needed a fairly inexpensive but decent stand. I will eventually build a miter saw stand after I build our new storage shed to free up the garage So that day I went to HomeDepot and purchased the Ridged Model # AC9945 Mobile Miter Saw Stand. It was worth the 149.00 that I payed for it. Eventually I will mount something else when the miter saw stand is made but for now its used only for the miter saw. You don't need the stand if you feel like lugging around this behemoth but I would advise making a stand or purchasing this one.

Ridged Model # AC9945 Mobile Miter Saw Stand

I have only been using it for about a month as a chop saw to make a few cuts here and there. Last week I was setting up to cut a few pieces of plywood that were 9 ½ x 20 inches and when i made my sliding cut I realized it cut at an angle. I checked it again and got the same cut. I checked to make sure the blade was square to the fence while it was fully extended and it was. I then slide it back to the fence and noticed as the saw slid forward to the fence it was moving away from the square. I resulted to my owner’s manual and checked online and could not find out if there was something that I could adjust that was not in the owners manual. Here is what it was doing.

Defect in the Cylinder

I thought the saw had a defect so I returned it to The HomeDepot here in Topeka and exchanged it for a new one. Once I got home I opened up the new saw and before mounting it to my stand I checked to make sure the new saw did not have the same problem. To my surprise it was doing the same thing. Im asking myself what could be wrong with this? What is there that I could do to correct this issue? I scoured the internet. I read forums, reviews, Tutorials on how to square up a blade and barely found anything that could help me. Now this is Sunday night and I don't have to be at work until Monday night since I was working the night shift that week. I probably spent a total of 13 hours working on the saw and searching on the internet. I finally came across a forum where someone was having the same problem and he ended up going through 4 saws before getting one that was problem free.

I waited till 7am when Ridgid opened up and gave them a call. I was connected with one of their Tech reps and I think his name was Dave. I explained to him the problem and that I was now on my second saw. He immediately knew what was wrong with it and said that it was a known problem but only with a few saws. I happened to be one of the Lucky ones to get 2 saws with the same problem. I was relieved to here that it was a known issue because it makes it easier to exchange items. The problem is in the cylinder on the right side. There is a slight angle in the cast causing the the saw to drift to the right. 

I returned the 2nd saw on Friday evening and before leaving the store I made sure the next saw was defect free and it was but I was anticipating on going through all 6 of their saws they had in stock (HAHA).

The new saw is working like a champ and I am very pleased with the all around service that I received from both Ridgid and Home Depot.