DustOffUH1

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Sorry, this is going to sound like a stupid question, but what kind of clamps? I'm thinking the regular "C" clamp wouldn't be the right thing. Or is it all different sizes of all different types? Any suggestions, pictures, and/or links would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks very much!

blvdbuzzard

I have used lots of blue masking tape, rubber bands, cloths pins that have been cut and sanded to have different tips, magnets with a metal building board, "T" pins, hot glue, sand bags, fishing weights, steel bar stock, and just about every other thing you can dream up. I have use a hot glue gun to tack the parts together until the wood glue dries. You would be amazed at how well blue tape holds things together.

Dru.

the-plumber

In a word, yes.

"C" clamps have their uses - even on balsa : you can put hard wood backer boards either side of a balsa joint, presuming you can get the backers in place, and a "C" clamp works nicely.

Large bar clamps can be used in some situations, mostly on hardwoods. Smaller bar clamps like the one in the photo are my favorite, along with plier-type spring clamps.

Pick spring clamps which don't need two hands to operate, otherwise you'll be in the same predicament as with "C" clamps.

The main thing to realize is that you need to build up your clamp collection over time, and I found that prowling the hardware section in any store was worth doing on the odd chance that I'd find some small clamping gizmo that I could use as is or could adapt.

There are a few situations where you need to make a clamp, and after making two or three you realize how you could have made it so it could be used for various sizes of wood joints, not just the specific joint you were working on at the time. Ya gotts to be inventive sometimes, but it's worth the effort.

Here's a sub-set of my clamp collection, and there is a close view of the small bar clamps on my web site in photo albums under 'Strange tools'.

EDIT : The last photo is from the web, and I made a similar rig but don't have a photo of my version.

the-plumber

You can get that stuff in bulk packs in various widths at The BORG, y'know . . .

DustOffUH1

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Buzzard & Plumber:
Thanks very much for the replies & pics!! Gives me an idea of what I need. I guess its use what ya have to the best of your minds abilities. I used t-pins as clamps to hold the longerons and braces for my Elder tonight. I guess I'll start "collecting" clamps each time I go to the hardware store. So in the future I'll be using a lot less CA and more "wood" glue, and epoxy. Epoxy doesn't seem to bother me at all yet. When I do have to use CA, I'll use a fan blowing over my building board. My wife is nice enough to let me build in the living room. Plus that about the only room where I have enough room for my building table (which she got for me). In there we do have a ceiling fan which is always going. And I do have a fan sucking out the air on the back porch (which is just too cold in the winter to do anything back there). But it does help create a draft to the outside. Anyway, thanks in advance for the reduced migraines
PS: I'm sure my cats thank you also. I am worried about the CA fumes for them too.

the-plumber

If your wife got you a building table, make nice with her, ok ?

Understanding wives . . . um . . . wives that understand are hard to come by. Understanding wives is a lost art . . .

As for the cats, I read in another CA thread where some modeler had to explain to his wife why her cat was glued to the floor . . . wouldn't care to have been in his predicament.

DustOffUH1

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She is the best! And very understanding of this hobby. Its a Steel Case brand table(36" * 48" ). Very flat, very sturdy & very heavy. She even helped me carry it up the stairs. I build on a board that's 80" * 24" * 1", and I used to put that on top of 2 TV tray tables. So she told me you really need a table, and found me the steel case table. She got it used but in very good shape. My building board does hang over a bit, but the table is a lot more sturdy than the 2 shaky tv trays

4*60

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Visit your local dollar store rather than a hardware store. Those 6 or 12 inch bar clamps have become available at some dollar stores for $1.49 . They're not the same quality as the hardware store $12 item but they will last me a lifetime of clamping models.

I'm a much less enthusiastic builder now, since discovering the 2 week flu every time I breathed CA fumes. Wood glue still takes more patience than CA'ing things.
Good luck! The hot glue avenue sounds like a good substitute for clamps. I'll have to try it.

goboto

When I was building the first half of the wing for my Kadet Seniorita I tried CA. This was my first build and I didn't know about the fumes and allergy issues surrounding CA glue. What I found immediately was that I definitely did not like the fumes, and was somewhat overcome by them and really hated the stuff. I had a window open and had a fan going, but it just wasn't enough ventilation. The house rules here are; that I can't make any permanent modifications to the window or house.

The solution I came up with is simple and works very well. I got an in-line duct booster fan unit, the largest I could find was a 9 inch unit with an 8 inch fan inside. I fabricated a 1/4 inch plywood window insert with a sliding locking section at the top afixed by a couple of wing-nuts that fits the window without any hardware and mounted the fan unit to the insert with a couple angle brackets. I then attached a 90 degree elbow duct to the fan unit. When I'm not using it, it lives under my building table and the window can be closed. No modification to the window frame and no hardware is needed.

I then suspended one section of 9 inch aluminum flexible duct by cutting some straight solid ducting into strips to make straps to suspend the flexible duct from chains. The chains are held to the above floor joists with a couple of wood screws. Light, simple and easy to adjust. The duct opens over top of my building table about 1 foot above the surface.

When I want to use it, I prop the window open, insert the fan panel, and join the fan unit to the suspended ducting which closely lines up. Plug it in. The fan is very quiet when running and draws very well. There is enough draw to spin the prop you see there in the balancer. (No, I didn't try to balance the prop like that, I wanted the paint on the prop tips to dry.)

So now, when I use CA, I can apply the gule, and put the parts under the duct and ALL the fumes are drawn out of the house. I get very little up to my face and nose. It also works very well when I use dope or anything else that smells.

JAkridge

GOBOTO, very nice fan setup.[sm=thumbup.gif] I bet it pulls the fumes away nicely. I know I'm a little spoiled by the C.A.'s and zipkickers. It speeds the building up for sure. I didn't have this stuff in the mid 60's when I started building U-control. I guess I could go back to having some more patiences.

DustOffUH1

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That is a really great idea! Thanks for the tip! And for the great explination.