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Anybody have any luck making your own cam clamps? Would they have to be made out of hard maple or how about oak? How about pine? Anyone have any experience
I checked the archives and didn't see too much talk about it other than some say it's just as cheap to buy them. At twenty bucks apiece I'd think a feller could make them cheaper.
I bought a couple of the Stew-Mac Mini clamps and really liked them.

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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

I've made some but it was close to 30 years ago and I don't remember details.

I doubt pine would be strong enough. Oak should be fine.

It's touchy to get them to work smoothly. The shape of the cam, the pivot point, and the amount of play in the lower jaw all need to be just right. I would recommned making prototypes to dial that stuff in before setting up to make a big run.

If your time is worth much, $20 ain't a bad price.

I just got a couple from Grizzly and would not recommend them.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

Hey Chuck,
I made about a dozen cam clamps a while back. Tried oak, but it's way to flexible (which I should of thought about BEFORE I made 4 clamps outta it), and I wouldn't recommend it. Pine is also no good. Hard Maple is very good, as is beech. Mild steel bar stock is best for the bars.
Construction is very straightforward, just be sure do make 'em wide enough to be stiff and stong, the arms take a lot of stress. You can model them after the ones you have, or there are also plans floating around the internet. It's best to make a whole stack of em at once.

I made some out of hard maple. I might add ash to the list. I made mine 6" and I wish I would have made some 8" or 10". I attached a photo but the file for building the clamps is too large. If you want pm me and I can send it to you.
Peter

I made about two dozen a couple of years ago. I used scraps of maple, cherry and oak. They all work well, actually you want the wood to be a little flexible. Black walnut would work too, as well as mahogany or sapele. Pine is too soft.
I like cherry the best because it is light, yet strong enough. I recommend using .250" x .1" aluminum rectangle stock for the bars. Steel is too heavy.
I use hard maple for the all the cams, the harder the better.
Grizzly (ShopFox) cam clamps are awful and not well made. Whatever hardwood is used (Chinese beech?) splits and cracks.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

I just made 30 of them. Haven't even made my first guitar yet. I had some scrap maple laying around and just did it up.

Got the roll pins from Grainger.com.
Make sure the cam's are fit perfectly into the nose.
The cam has to be designed so that the curved end reaches 90 degrees once the curve reaches the back 'spine' of the cam.
I used bar aluminum.
I used gel Cyano and activator to attach the cork and finished em up on the sander


I spent 70 dollars making 30 of these things.

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Thanks guys, I thought it could be done.

Peter, you have over three hundred bucks worth of clamps there, I'd say that would be worth you time making them. I also found some plans a few months ago somewhere on the internet, so making these has always been on my mind.
One question though, how did you mortise the holes for the rods? Drill bit

Laurent, I did buy one inch aluminum flat bars just the other day. Bought several roll pins too from Ace Hardware too.

Wow Sniggly, those are some nice looking cam clamps. Resemble the Mini Cam Clamps from Stew Mac. Nice Job

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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

I made about 40 of them a couple of years ago out of some scrap oak I had laying around. The cost me about $2 each to make, which is mostly the cost of the aluminum bar. The only other cost was the steel pins. Once I got set up to make the first one, I just ran all of them through the table saw. It took me a couple of afternoons to make them, but well worth the time spent. They arent pretty, but they work and should last a lifetime.

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Reguards,

Ken H

I tried to upload the PDF for Cam Clamp plans that I had found a few months ago, but the file was too large. I have not made these yet, but this should help....http://www.woodshoptips.com/tip ... /index.htm

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Ken Bremer
Madison, Wisconsin
http://www.bremerguitar.blogspot.com

Unless you have a multi-router or similar mortising machine, the easiest way is to dado a slot on a table saw and glue a spline back in to close it.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

I made a bunch out of oak and they work fine. I also recommend the 1/4" X 1" aluminum bars. That is what I used and they work well.

If you like the store bought ones you have, just copy those.

Funny thing.... when I made mine I had never actually seen one in person. I just went by pictures I had seen. Years later I attended a guitar building class and discovered that I had put all of my cam/levers in backwards !!

Mark

I made a few out of silver Beach and they work great but Maple is easier to get and is a great choice. Oak along with Ash doesn’t machine as well and IMO isn’t worth the effort but if you like the wood go for it. If you make the arms using a 3 pc lamination, I would use maple on the outside and walnut or cherry for the center pc. By the way using a lamination eliminates mortising out a square hole for the bar and in most cases yields better results.

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Rich S

"The inconvenience of poor quality will linger long after the thrill of a bargain has been forgotten"

http://www.woodshoptips.com/tips/050304/index.htm is a correction on the previous post...... sorry, should have checked it first. Rookie...

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Ken Bremer
Madison, Wisconsin
http://www.bremerguitar.blogspot.com

Hi Chuck,

I haven't made these yet but I came across this web site a while ago. Looks pretty straight forward and the instructions provided are pretty clear. Hope it helps!

http://woodworkstuff.net/HoweClamp.html

Cheers!
Rick

Just in case you are wondering why I need 40 cam clamps.....

This is the way I like to do it

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Reguards,

Ken H

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Reguards,

Ken H

Cam Clamps, my absolute favorite tool.

I'm a German Klemmsia kind of guy and got them at Highland Hardware in Atlanta GA, they occasionally have a sale. Plus, they have some edge clamps etc that go with the Klemmsia's.

For UK folks I'd like to recommend using Hornbeam. And applaud the idea of maple and birch, great choices too. Snigg's maple above shows how a tool can be beautiful and functional at the same time.

Cam Clamps are our friends. I use them all the time. Favorite uses: Holding tops while carving braces, usually with a piece of cardboard under the top to protect it from the workbench. The other use I'm quite fond of is gluing on fretboards using them. When I do this operation, it reminds me I'm close to finishing a guitar, which hasn't happened since late last Fall, arghhhh!

Many remember an OLFer who offered his services building these, wish I'd bought a few from him and gotten his signature!

I'm pretty happy with 12 short and four longer ones, but then, I too use a go-bar for clamping bodies, after all: best tool for the job, right?

Great thread!

PS I've lost 12 pounds by not eating popcorn and since Jan 7!



Isn't this beautiful work, and photography! U Rule Todd!

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I made a couple hundred cam clamps last year. I made them all from maple. It is not as simple as it looks and is very time consuming. I used an overhead router to route out for the bars. The routes need to be just about the right size for them to operate smoothly. Another critical element is the spacing of the spring pins. They don't work well if there is too much slop. You can purchase most of the metal parts from McMaster Carr. I would recommend aluminum for the bar stock as opposed to spring steel. You won't be using a lot of pressure and the aluminum is much lighter. You can PM me if you want more details

John Ressler

I made 30 of them a few years ago and they have done me right. I used all wood, no metal at all. used oak from lowes. bought 3/4" for the top and bottom "jaw", 1/4" for the strut that connects the two and the clamping lever, and 1/4" dowel rod to fix the clamp lever and the bottom jaw half. used a drill press, saber saw, and a large flat file (for fine tuning of the sliding jaw), lined the jaws with sheet cork from office depot. I had more time than money, and it took alot of time to build them. Believe I got the plans from mimf.

Best cam clamps I have are Woolsons. The cam design gives more force than any other. Next are Garrett-Wade, then Klemmsia. I tried bargain hunting with Shop Fox from Griz and it was money thrown away; you'd think they could just copy one that works well, but they didn't.

Hey, it OT, but I keep getting frustrated by the crappy swivels on my Bessey sliding bar clamps; they want to walk around when being tightened. Anyone have a way to improve them? They are nice clamps otherwise.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Howard, before the days of plastic clamp pads, my father glued leather pads onto his clamps. Might be worth trying to decrease the sliding around. For flat glue jobs, I am a fan of the smaller Bessey parallel jaw "K" clamps, which solve most of the problem.

Brook

I agree on the Woolson's I have 12 of his in 8", 10" and 12" The last batch he made are my favorites. clamp like a steel trap. and adust clamp pressure in between very well. If anyone is in touch with Paul and he gets a wild hair to make some again let me know
On the Bessey I cut a piece of 5/16 ply 1x1 round the corners and glue cork to one side now epoxy this to swivel pad on the adjusting screw end and glue cork to the other clamping edge of the bar. This worked for me.

The problem is not the pad, it's the swivel. Too much friction, doesn't swivel. Turns the pad instead. The pads are crappy, too, but that's not what I was referring to.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Chuck

I used my drill press and a 1/4" bit to set the ends and then used a 3HP plunge router and a 1/4" bit worked pretty well, I'm sure there are other ways.
Peter

Or build up the body from three laminates with the center laminate a few thousands wider than your bar stock and located to set the depth of the bar slot. Then use the excess of the center laminate to close the notch. This saves having to cut the notch in any form.