# Board glue-up jig...am I overdoing it again?



## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

So, as is typical, I got all excited and interested in a new project, and then about 1/4 of the way through I think "Hey, I should build a jig to make this next step easier and repeatable"...and so now I'm spending much more time making the jig than it would have taken to do the original task several times. Oh well....I am a complete sucker for a new jig.

I'm shooting for a jig to help make board glueups quicker, easier, and flatter. I'm using this woodcraft article for inspiration, since I otherwise hardly ever use my pipe clamps. This jig will help make them useful.

The article uses just a wooden frame, and then I think he says he clamps it down to the top of his table saw to make sure it gets flat.

While I could do that, it would then shutdown my tablesaw while waiting for glue to dry. So thought instead...what if I used a 2ft X 4ft piece of MDF and put my pipe clamp frames on that. The MDF should be pretty flat and sturdy, and thus I can use almost any surface while it's drying.

Here's what I have so far, with the 2 oak siderails on the MDF, and 1 pipe in position (I've only drilled 1 set of holes so far). 









Fortunately, I tried this out before I actually glued anything together, because a problem becomes clear. His frame jig specifically is raised up so that you can use a set of F-clamps to hold a caul on the top side of the board, holding it down onto the pipe and keeping the board flat. Unfortunately in my setup, that won't work...there's no place to clamp onto.

So then I thought...well, maybe I need to place strips across the bottom side of the MDF. If the strips are 1 1/2" tall, then I would have enough room to place the clamp head. In the picture, you can see the MDF is resting on a piece of wood 1" tall...I was using that as a test to see if it would work for placing clamps to hold cauls, and it will work (though it needs to be more than 1").

But now my concern is that this thing is going to weigh a TON. It's honestly hard enough to lug around the piece of MDF, but now add the 2 rails (1" thick, by 3" tall) and then 1 1/2" thick strips along the bottom....this thing will be a monster. Maybe that's good...? Keeps it stable?

My other thought was that I could either drill or dado out a 1 1/2" tall hole on the other side of the oak rail, opposite of the pipe clamp. So, the F-clamp head will slide into a space between the MDF and the oak rail. I was just kind of concerned about having a 1 1/2" opening on one side of the rail and an almost 1/2" opening on the other side....so my 3" oak rail comes down to 1" thickness right there. I guess if it's glued to the MDF, it's sure not going anywhere, and the pressures all kind of equalize because the F-clamp would be pulling the pipe clamp down....so they'd just be squeezing either side of that 1" strip. (Does any of that make sense??)









Anyway...should I just go for my original idea of using MDF and put 1 1/2" spacers across the bottom of it....or cut a 1 1/2" hole along the bottom side of the rail....or skip the MDF altogether and build the open frame like the article suggests, but have to clamp it down on some flat surface to keep panels flat?


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

I assume that you are edge glueing the boards.

That is not a very complicated job.

George


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## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

Yes, sorry...I should have mentioned that. This jig is specifically to edge-glue boards. I do that quite a bit, and it's true, it's not terribly hard, but it's not terribly convenient or easily repeatable either. I like the idea of having something essentially ready to go instead of having to do so much setup. And my current system does not do anything to ensure the completed board is flat. I use cauls, but that just makes sure the boards stay lined up with each other...the whole panel could still end up with some twist.

So, I've done a lot of edge glueups, but I'm still wanting to make a jig to improve the results some.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

I have made many boards, both long and short.

I have not been successful in clamping all the components together in one operation.

I have seen steel clamping racks which can do this, but I never wanted to spend the money or consume the space.

I clamp two or max three components together. I normally use a flat surface. The length dictates my options. Short boards I use a granite slab. Long boards I use the 2x4 stock which is flattest.

I agree you do not want to have the table saw blocked. Too easy for "Murphy" to then require that you need to do something on the saw.

I purchased this clamp set for my future long board glue ups. To be honest I have not needed to use them yet. I am lucky to have several parallel clamps up to 30 in in length. So this will only be needed if I find the need to keep the boards in line.

I frequently use dowels as my preferred method to achieve alignment. More time, but I get better results.

http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2000321/1858/woodriver-clamping-system.aspx

I have lots of pipe clamps, but they do tend to cause the boards to bow. Hence the article proposing a solution.

If you continue with the pipe clamps and MDF, cover the pipe with tape and the MDF with plastic to avoid issues from the glue squeeze out. Cut garbage bags open if you do not have plastic sheet in stock.


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## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

Ya, I saw those woodriver clamp things too, but I wanted more flexibility in width and length, without having to spend a lot.

Most glueups I do are around 1 ft square, but my latest project requires more like 2 ft long, 1 1/2 ft wide. So I wanted a setup that could relatively easily do both.

At this point I'm leaning towards just cutting a 1 1/2" hole on the bottom side of the rails. That gives a perfect spot for the f clamp to hold, and makes the jig lighter in the process!


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

If your project is only 2ft long by 1 1/2ft wide, then to your original question "am I overdoing it", I would say creating a jig for this dimension is overdoing.

I would look at the dry fit, and if two components needed to be aligned in the centre, I would use a couple of dowels.

Before I got my parallel clamps, I would use alternate pipe clamps on opposite sides of the boards to try and equal out the tendancy for the pipe clamps to make the board bow.

My normal glue up flat surface is a granite slab from Grizzly, 18in x 12in. I would find this adequate for a 2ft x 1 1/2 ft board assembly. As I mentioned earlier, I would normally glue two pieces at a time.

My board have several strips, so I make sub-assemblies of two at a time and then glue the sub-assemblies together.

I also use the granite slab as a sanding block. I have PSA paper on the slab. This is really handy for cleaning up edges.

I cover the abrasive with paper for glue up use.


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## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

Well, that just happens to be what I'm doing now. I'm trying to build a jig that can accomodate a lot of different sizes so that when I suddenly need to build up a bigger panel, it will be just as useful. I plan to put the holes to hold the clamps every 8" so that no matter what size of panel I need, I should be able to find a nice arrangement of clamps to give equal pressure. I want it to be versatile.


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## Jory (Feb 19, 2012)

*board glue ups*

My glue up issues were solved with a trip to a local metal yard. I bought some rectangular steel tubing 1" x 2" with 1/8" thick walls. It is not expensive and it is straight. I did have to clean it up a bit but now after a little wax have had no trouble with it rusting. Pieces are placed under the boards to be glued with clamps holding the boards down to the steel tubing. (I put wax paper in between the wood and the steel.) The tubing is big enough for me to put the fixed end of the clamp in the tubes so they don’t have to extend beyond the edges of my assembly table. I don’t clamp the wood down hard to the steel until the two wood pieces are spread with glue and clamped together. Then, alternating between the clamps I get the wood hard to the steel and firmly clamped together. If there is any bowing other pieces of the tubing placed on top of the wood solves the problem easily. 
One 6' piece I have reserved as a long auxiliary rip fence for my table saw. I drilled two holes in it and use Rocklers rip fence clamps to temporarily attach it. It gives me an extra foot or more of fence in front of the saw blade which is great when guiding in sheet stock. I have also used it cut a straight edge on boards that don’t have a good reference side to work with.


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## Bonka (Mar 24, 2011)

*Glue Up*

I have used home made clamping cauls for up to 24" wide panels and never had a problem.
I use hide glue so there is no creep.


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## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

Well, it's done and in use, and is working very well. Even if all it REALLY does is hold some pipe clamps for me, it does it really well, and so it's one less thing to have to fiddle with, especially while the glue is getting put on the panel edges.

















If I acquire more pipe clamps, I can use the other end of it to glue up 2 panels at a time, which is great, or 1 long panel.

The 2 rails are fixed to the sides, and I have 2 extra rails that I can put under the pipe clamps to support them so they don't sag, since I put pressure down on them from the cauls.


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