Imagine yourself starting on making a heavy-duty table and finally gluing the large pieces together. As you try to clamp them together, your once trusted tool slipped and ruined all your hard work! Frustrating, right? In this article, you will learn the basics of a bar clamp, its parts, and its kinds. Not only that, but you will also learn how to fix slipping bar clamp jaws so that you can finish a beautiful piece of furniture! Read on.
What Is a Bar Clamp?
Before dealing with slipping bar clamp jaws and fixing that problem, you need to know first what a bar clamp is. This tool is a long steel bar that can withstand the pressure of holding heavy workpieces. It can strongly clamp almost anything without damaging it. It is ideal for making furniture pieces like cabinets, doors, and tabletops.
Parts of a Bar Clamp
The first step in fixing your bar clamp is to know its parts. How to fix a slipping bar clamp if you cannot even differentiate the part or parts you need to fix? Here are the parts of a bar clamp that need your scrutiny:
Bar
This part of the bar clamp is the long metal component that is either steel or aluminum. The bar gives support to the other bar clamp parts. It can come in different shapes, depending on the type—it can be flat or round.
Handle
This part controls the screw of the bar clamp—if you rotate the handle, the screw will turn with it. The handle can either be a crank handle or a sliding-pin handle.
Jaws
Pretty much works like the human jaw; this part of the clamp are two square edges that rest on the bar. These two are called the head jaw and the back jaw. The screw controls the head jaw, while the back jaw is the one that slides along the bar and is locked into place. This part is usually where the need for fixing happens.
Screw
As mentioned, the screw of the bar clamp adjusts the head jaw.
Quick-Release Lever
Other bar clamps have this kind of lock for the back jaw. When you press this lever, you can easily and quickly move and reposition the back jaw.
Pin and Holes
A recent development because of bar clamps’ sliding problem, this part or feature of a bar clamp allows you to secure the back jaw in place by inserting a pin into the nearest hole on the bar.
Kinds of Bar Clamp
Another factor we need to deal with before answering the question: “How to fix slipping bar clamp?” is to know what kind of bar clamp you are going to fix. Let us check the different kinds of bar clamp one by one:
Sash Clamp
This clamp is the most popular kind. The sash clamp is a long, thin steel bar that has two small adjustable jaws. The bar has small perforations where you can insert a peg to keep the jaws in place when you clamp your workpiece.
T-Bar Clamp
This clamp is a bit similar to a sash clamp, but, as its name suggests, it looks like a “T.” The head section is wide and flat and great for support in making doors or frames.
F-Bar Clamp
As its name suggests, this bar clamp looks like an “F” and features two horizontal bars that come with large screws for locking. Most artisans and carpenters use this for large-scale objects.
Pipe Clamp
The pipe clamp is unique because its bar is round and shaped like, as you guess, a pipe. It is short and is perfect for small-scale woodworking tasks, such as gluing wood pieces together.
Quick-Release Bar Clamp
More known as a trigger clamp, quick-release bar clamps have quick-release levers to quickly and easily open and close its jaws.
When to Use It
Furniture makers, wood artisans, and carpenters use bar clamps always to make sure that their projects turn out in excellent condition! These bar clamps are great in making sure that glued pieces of wood, whether large or small, stay glued together and in the right shape or position. Bar clamps are highly effective wood workshop tools to create the lovely and beautiful furniture you have in your home.
Fixing Your Slipping Bar Clamp
Now that these bar clamp details are out of the way, it is time to answer this question: “How to fix slipping bar clamp?” You can clean the bar clamp from any oil residues using denatured alcohol or other kinds of oil remover. If that does not work, the second thing you can choose to do is make grooves on your bar’s sides or edges. The indentation depends on you; mark them using a ruler and a sharpie pen. You can use a chisel and an anvil. Just stabilize the clamp on the anvil using another clamp or magnets. Of course, buying a new one is the last resort. If any of those two did not help, it is time to say goodbye to your malfunctioning bar clamp. Here’s how to learn more about bar clamps.
Conclusion
Now you know how to fix slipping bar clamp jaws! Pretty simple, right? Remember that bar clamps have different kinds and different parts—knowing these two details will make fixing easier. The only thing you need to do is apply what you have learned in this article so that you can use your bar clamp in finishing beautiful furniture! Familiarize yourself with the terms and guidelines to fix a slipping bar clamp to prevent any more delays or even damage to your work. After all, a bar clamp is an essential tool, especially in woodworks.