Clamping & Layout Worktop

"Can you just hold this a moment" was a classic question to my wife.

Many of you now nodding in understanding...

but I just don't have enough arms to hold everything in place whilst clamping up my woodworking projects!

So this is a 'worktop' specifically to aid supporting, clamping, gluing, screwing, nailing for your projects.

Its not super exciting - just very practical!

Plywood (in my case 18mm scrap light weight ply) - 18mm,15mm or 12mm

Base board - Ply (MDF maybe)

Glue (PVA and I used Superglue to add speed)

Saw (hand saw, circular or table saw - whatever you have)

Square

Clamps

I have a work bench - usually its a bit cluttered, but it does sometimes get used for holding/clamping purposes. But its not ideal as I can't place clamps exactly where I want them. I needed a surface that would cover these points:

• allow clamping from all sides
• raises the whole unit up to fit clamp heads underneath
• the surface is finished with something that is non stick with PVA glues
• guides to allow 90deg angle clamping

Luckily I have Autodesk Revit, so designs can be quickly knocked up and easily amended.

Overall my design was dictated by the size of the ply I had but in theory you can make it whatever size you wish. Initially I thought of large holes as with various assembly tables but that was quickly amended to a slot system. My clamp heads are approx.70mm (clamp face to rear) maximum so the support spacers needed to be 70mmW. The clamp heads are 40mmW so the gap between each top slat needs to be 40mm minimum. This means I can place a clamp directly from above without it fouling or insert it from the side.

I also looked at the design to allow my long sash clamps to fit in length ways so the support spacers now have 20mm gaps. This will sort of work but only if the item being clamped is longer than the top (unless you put 'blocks' in).

The other aspect was to allow clamping up to an edge. Now its easy enough to just clamp a wooden strip in place to act as a straight edge, but that sucks up your clamps so better to have a bolt down piece. You can do 2 pieces like this so you can bolt down to create a 90deg angle to clamp up against.

I have another design proposal ...but I'm not sure its viable yet so that may well get inserted towards the end.

My base board is 15mm birch ply (500x700).

The other ply was light weight 18mm scrap in weird cone shapes.

This was recut to create the top slats (500x108) and the support spacers(420x70mm deep). Now this is where it started to deviate...

I didn't have enough lengths to do the spacers. I was also concerned about the rigidity of the top slats, so I used all the small offcuts to create segmented spacers. Basically use what you've got!

So.... not completely sure if this was going to work in the way I wanted, but for some of my projects I need to glue up pieces of wood at angles. So I need support bars to clamp up against.

If you just need the basics - you can get some wood - any size - approx.30x50x500 , 2 pieces and either screw them to the board or bolt them on or clamp them. Quick and easy. If thats all you want jump to the next step...

I just went a bit further...

I thought if I use the reverse of the worktop - the base board, and cut an arc slot in it I could then place 2 wood supports, 1 in a more fixed position parallel to the side and the other pivoting at one end and the other end moving along the arc slot. I could also print off a protractor or draw one up and also stick that to the top.

The concern is I don't want to make the arc slot too long to compromise the board strength.

I already have slotted ply that I use for other jigs that have a wider slot on the underside. This can use M5 and M6 bolts and threaded rod with wider heads to use hold down clamps. This allowed me to just check how I wanted the guides to work - dimensions and positioning.

From there I used my 'thin strip jig' and cut 6mm wide hardwood strips (ply will do) and then cut this into 'spacer' widths of 15mm and 50mm+. The end spacers are definitely required, the mid ones aren't but I didn't want the support bars to deviate too much if clamped up. So these were laid out, glued up and trimmed down on height (44mm). I then cut 15mm ply to 62mm, in lengths that match the base board lengths - 500 and 700mm.

The slotted section was then sandwiched between the ply, recessed by 9mm, glued and clamped. This was then trimmed down to 60mm so it was all square and then a 45deg angle was cut off one end.

The whole point of this is to create support bars with a recessed slot to bolt down to the worktop or run a bolt from the underside to deal with clamping pieces from above. By creating it in this way I don't need to router a long slot or use 'T' track. It also means I can use them on other jigs I have made.

The base board needs to be on a flat rigid surface. I then marked it all up to aid gluing the spacers. From the photo you can see its done in such a way to make each slat that gets fixed on top as stable as possible. Maybe a little bit over the top though! So this allowed 40mm spacing for the top clamps and if required 20mm spacing for sash clamps long ways.

The top slats were then glued on top. So as you can see - not screws or nails just glue.

The slats were then drilled at appropriate points to either allow the threaded inserts or to allow bolts so that the support bars can be fixed down when required.

• My support bars use 6mm spacers - I wish they were 7mm or maybe 8mm. Allows a little 'float' to help with alignment or getting 90deg angle. This was partially resolved by allowing the holes in the top slats to be 8mm instead, when using a 6mm bolt.
• Less support spacers would have been fine.
• The reverse side - the base board with the slotted arc. That could also be accomplished by 2 or 3 routed slots length ways, therefore allowing a multitude of support bar placements

The below numerical order is related to the attached photo's:

1 - Using the 2 guides to create a 90deg angle and clamp up against to allow drilling and screws

2,3 & 4 - Clamping up several pieces across with clamps above and below. Also using the guide as downward bar to keep the wood flat

5 & 6 - With the worktop flipped over and the guides in use at angles, to clamp wood against whilst fixing. Allows space at the joint if drilling required.

7,8 & 9 - With the additional downward clamp this allows a clamping force from above - not just from the side.

Eventually the base (with the slotted arc) is to have set angles marked into it for quicker set up, but all of the above can also be done on the top slatted side as well.

On the whole it does exactly what I need it to do. Its a tool, a work aid, something that isn't too precious. So I can always make others and incorporate my amendments.

Also it means I don't have to shout to my wife to help out so much, she'll be glad about that!

Thanks for reading