Band clamp / truck tie down

I've been thinking... a band clamp is essentially a ratcheting truck tie down with blocks to hold the corners, right? So is there anything special to the band clamp that would preclude the use of a tie down as a band clamp? (Besides the blocks, but they're easily made.)

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper
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Nothing other than size/bulkiness. Some are pretty unhandy, some reasonably decently designed for the use.

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Reply to
dpb

Beyond this, will only add one more caution:

Truck tie downs can generate a lot of pressure (the good ones). A lot more than a wooddorkers band clamp. Be gentle and only use a modicum of pressure.

P D Q

Reply to
PDQ

Yes you can use them and they will provide the same pressure provided you do not get the pull to tighten style. You want the ratchet style.

Reply to
Leon

I have used the truck tie downs for band clamps many times. I use them with cauls when gluing/repairing odd shaped pieces. Not my idea... I read about it somewhere a while back.

Then I got the idea of using the ratchet style tie downs to glue bigger things. Doors, gluing long trims to surfaces, indoor/outdoor furniture repairs, etc. Anything I couldn't quite get easily with my current clamps. For me, the ratcheting tie downs turned out to be much more handy as clamps than they did tie downs.

See if you can find the small ones that don't have the hooks on them. I had some with 1" wide light weight straps (500# work load / 750# break) and they were flexible enough to work great.

One of the first things I glued back together with was an oversized door. I didn't have by big clamps with me and this was a custom made entry door that was 40 inches wide or some such. As the main entry it was beat to hell and the bottom rail/kick panel was loose and coming off.

With the door laying flat on the horses, I glued up the joint, and put a straight piece of 2x4 that spanned stile to stile on edge on both sides (loose, I had a helper). The 2x4 on each side was there to make sure I didn't bow or cup the door, or make a crooked joint. That's why it was on both sides spanning the stiles.

I put the nylon ribbon of the clamp on the edge of the 2x4 on both sides. Clamped it up with the ratchet, then ran a couple of 3 1/2" deck screws from the bottom of the kick panel into the stiles and left it overnight.

It didn't flex or move a bit. The 2X4 spines did the trick.

The best thing about these little ratchet clamps as opposed to something they sell to wood workers is the price. I paid something like $4 a piece in a four pack at a hardware store. If the same clamp, a "multipurpose flexible band style clamp for fine woodworking" is sold to the woodworking community, they would surely be $20 a piece.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Check out the gap in the joint in pic above.

I love how pictures in ads for tools always show poor results or technique and/or egregious safety no-no's.

May favorite was a guy using a table saw with thick cotton gloves and a long flannel shirt sleeves down to his wrists.

Reply to
-MIKE-

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Reply to
Upscale

While I don't advocate wearing either while operating any power tool. The lathe, drill press and such tools are far more dangerous to wear loose clothing and or gloves around than a TS. The TS blade will actually cut though the cotton with no exciting results. This conversation went around about 8 years ago and I conducted an experiment with a cotton and leather glove. I pushed the glove into a spinning TS blade with a stick. The blade left a 1/8" wide kerf in a finger. The finger did not bounce, flutter, or get dragged into the blade. The glove stopped proceeding and sat with the blade spinning through the finger when I stopped pushing.

Again I don't recommend the use of gloves with a TS, there are several other things that could happen.

Reply to
Leon

There was a dude who was pushing the stock behind the blade, his sleeve got between the wood and the anti-kickback claw, lifting the claw off the wood, while at the same time the sleeve got caught in the wood.

Take a guess what happened next. :-)

Reply to
-MIKE-

He can no longer count to ten?

Just my guess, Rich

Reply to
Rich

YEAH! That is one of those "several other things" that could happen.

Reply to
Leon

"-MIKE-" wrote

Is this the guy who got abducted by aliens?

Or attacked by a band of rabid drummers?

Or the table saw chewed his entire arm off with its safety equiment?

Or....... ?

Reply to
Lee Michaels

Yes, it is a tie down not a clamp.

Next thing you'll be saying is: You don't need to use gold-plated Monster cables for your AV equipment. or You can use SS screws from a hardware store on your boat instead of the ones sold at the marine supply house. or ...

Then cats will start sleeping with dogs...

Reply to
Limp Arbor

Gettin' a chuckle out of that one....

I usually try to work zombies in somewhere myself ;^)

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

LMAO!

Reply to
-MIKE-

Dude, you went through this whole schpeal about how it's not dangerous, then you say it's dangerous. :-p

Reply to
-MIKE-

Those are the EXACT clamps.... uh... er.... tie downs that I have, even down to the cadmium plating.

Add shipping into the price and I wasn't off too much on the price, either!

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Reread all of what I originally posted concerning the glove and saw experiment. I just repeated what I said.

Reply to
Leon

" snipped-for-privacy@aol.com" wrote in news:4271afab- snipped-for-privacy@d19g2000prh.googlegroups.com:

Thanks Robert. The hooks would seem to be a bit of an issue, but a few well placed cauls would take care of that.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

Limp Arbor wrote in news:6452602d-575d-4f4c-b796- snipped-for-privacy@37g2000yqp.googlegroups.com:

*snip*

And we'll see the 300' tall StayPuft Marshmallow Man! (That /was/ a Ghostbusters reference, wasn't it?)

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

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