#miter/frame clamping jig

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

steady dawn
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Determining how I'm going to clamp these mitered picture frames for glue up and came up with the jig below. I've seen some other frame clamping jigs but many seem needlessly complicated. Checking if anyone can anticipate a problem that maybe I'm missing.

The idea here is that I use a large sheet of plywood with a wall on the bottom and left side that are square to one another. The bottom and left sides of the frame are pressed up against the walls with cauls focusing pressure around the joints. The opposite sides of the frame work similarly with "walls" and cauls but those walls are wedged into place against pegs.

I'm hoping that this can be a simple two handed operation of aligning and then just sliding the wedges into place, not needing to super duper clamp things and that this will be enough pressure for a good glue joint.

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crystal canopy
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How do pegs that size sticking out of a flat sheet generate the torque needed to resist that wedge? As you hammer in the wedge, what keeps it from just tipping over the peg?

Even the end of your "wall" away from the corner is unsupported and I would imagine it could twist away from the pressure of the frame. Maybe you clamp the "walls" down to a sturdy workbench surface?

steady dawn
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The plywood sheet in mind is half an inch thick, but I could go thicker. The wedges need not be hammered in, just finger tight (low angle shims like you get at the home store). A few pounds of pressure at most. Moreover, the pegs could be angled towards the frame and height cut to about half the frames thickness.

Yes the walls could deflect if thin, so I will make them thick with lots of glue area underneath so they do not. I could also just "complete the box" so there are four walls that support each other. Clamping the whole thing down just so the sheet itself doesn't flex is a good point too.

humble meteor
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I've seen some other frame clamping jigs but many seem needlessly complicated

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Reminded a bit of this 😂

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String and blocks are an excellent way to clamp mitered frames or boxes with minimal fuss.

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You can ignore the spring clamps, they're just holding it flat against a backer board. The basic idea is tie a loop that's just slightly bigger than the frame, wrap it around, then slide in the blocks and move them towards the corners. This adds tension and also directs it at the joints

steady dawn
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Aha, now we're talking! That's very simple indeed, and will be much quicker to make 😄

humble meteor
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I actually just tie the loop a bit loose and then throw a stick in to act as a turnbuckle to tighten it

steady dawn
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Nice. Yeah I thought of that too but ended up not needing it. I went with this method and glued up the frame today

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humble meteor
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That looks great! Grain lines up lovely