Warped products will be eliminated thanks to the right methods of work and fixtures.

You only have a few minutes to assemble the project pieces, line up the edges and tighten the clamps. By the way, are you sure that all the corners are right? With the right tools and fixtures, and a few helpful tips, you can achieve perfect results every time without too much fuss.

The accuracy of the assembly depends on the squareness of the parts, so before you start processing the parts, make sure that your equipment (sawing, planing, thicknessing and other machines) is set up correctly. Then prepare a flat and clean work surface for assembly. To succeed, learn one or more of the tried-and-tested tricks to avoid misalignment.

One piece aligns another

Dry-assemble the box and rock it from side to side to make sure that the bottom inserted into the tongues ensures the assembly is square.

If all the parts of your project initially had right angles, they will align each other when assembled, provided that the clamps are installed correctly. As shown in top photo, Precisely cut at right angles, the crossbeam hangers automatically align the frame. The trick is to direct the compression force of the clamps perpendicular to the edges of the parts. If you place the clamp at an angle, the pressure can cause it to skew.

Another way to make the assembly self-leveling is for the plywood bottom or back wall to fit snugly into the tongues or folds to keep the box or cabinet square. (photo A).

Need gaps around the bottom or infill to compensate for seasonal humidity fluctuations?

To assemble a box with a bottom, insert the assembly template into it and fix it with clamps. Clamp pressure is distributed by clamping bars installed next to the joints, and not on top of them.

Make a simple assembly template that fits snugly into the drawer opening (photo B), and make cutouts on its corners so that it does not stick to the details.

When assembling drawers where the straight spikes protrude slightly at the corners, use spacers or hold down bars as shown. (photo B), so that the jaws of the clamps do not touch the joints. This method is also useful when assembling dovetail joints.

As per template

For precise alignment and fixation of simple butt joints, it is convenient to use a metal mounting bracket (photo C), which holds the parts at right angles to each other and prevents them from moving. If you prefer DIY fixtures, make your own mounting brackets in any size. (PhotoD). Brief advice! No mounting brackets? There is a way to ensure the immobility of the butt joint parts when gluing. First, apply glue to the end of one piece, then join both pieces, rubbing them together to spread the glue. Separate them for 10-15 seconds, let the glue dry a little and become more viscous and sticky, and then rub the parts together again. Increasing the viscosity of the adhesive will help to avoid shifting parts when installing clamps.

This mounting bracket, thanks to the rounded outer corner, fits snugly on both parts to be glued.

When determining the dimensions of a homemade mounting bracket, make cutouts in it that correspond to the jaws of the clamps you have.

Other do-it-yourself leveling devices are clamping bars or strips of arbitrary sizes with cutouts that hold the parts in position and at the same time distribute the pressure of the clamps (photo E). Prism bars with V-grooves will help to tightly tighten the details of the corner joints on the mustache.

Cutouts in the pressure bars prevent parts from shifting, and prism bars, clamped diagonally with clamps, compress the parts together.

The steel band of this clip distributes pressure to all four corners, tightly tightening the joints of the barbed parts.

Some clamping devices, due to the design features, help to ensure the squareness of the gluing. For example, a band clamp with four corner blocks (PhotoF) and four-sided screw clamp for frame assembly (PhotoG) allow you to align all four corners at the same time.

Four-sided screw clamps, commonly used for gluing frames, can be used in pairs to assemble drawers. Metal corner pieces help to achieve squareness.

Compare lengths of diagonals without measuring them with a tape measure

Even if you don't have a square to trust, you can check the squareness of an assembly by comparing the distances between opposite corners. If the diagonals are equal (and opposite parts are also the same length), you can be sure that all corners are right. If clamps interfere with measuring with a tape measure, or if you are gluing several of the same products, try another method. Saw out two thin slats from scraps. The length of each of them must be more than half the length of the diagonals. Then cut one end of each batten at an angle of about 30°. Pressing the bevels against opposite inside corners of the assembly, fold the slats together and secure them with a clip. Then, with the same straightedge, measure the other diagonal to make sure the assembly is square. To correct skew, use a long clamp to carefully tighten opposite corners along the longer diagonal.

This device allows you to securely fix wooden bars after spreading with glue.

To make a clamp, I needed:

• 10mm plywood,
• studs M10 and 1 meter long,
• wing nuts,
• washers,
• glue "Moment-joiner".

Clamp manufacturing

First, I made four corners out of plywood. I sawed out 12 squares measuring 100 X 100 mm. For eight squares, I made a cut 60 X 60 mm, and then glued three pieces, 2 sawn with one whole.

Then I drilled two holes in each corner:
The first through with a diameter of 10 mm. In order to prevent the drill from pulling to the side during drilling, I drilled from both sides.
The second is deaf at 60 mm with a diameter of 8.5 mm. I made a thread in it with an M10 tap, and then screwed the pin with glue. It turned out that in each corner one hairpin passes through, and the second is fixed tightly.

Making a clamp for gluing photo frames with your own hands.

Initially, I wanted to saw the studs, because the design turned out to be cumbersome, but then I decided to leave it, all of a sudden I need to make a frame measuring meter X meter.

Clamp tests and modifications

Tests have shown that the frames stick together normally, but there is one flaw: when dried, excess glue remains at the bottom of the corners. Therefore, the frames were skewed. To eliminate this shortcoming, I made holes on the underside of each corner with a Forstner drill to remove glue residue.

Refinement of the clamp for gluing photo frames using a Forstner drill.

As a result, I eliminated the distortion of the frames, and the results were good.

Do-it-yourself angle clamps.
Special clips for gluing the corners of picture or photo frames can be bought at the store. At the same time, many craftsmen still invent and make their own devices for gluing corners. The fact is that products from the store are not always suitable for non-standard frame sizes. In addition, if you make frames from time to time, it makes no sense to buy pieces of iron that will wallow and rust most of the time.

Frames can be glued using three conventional clamps. But for this you need to make a very simple device. This device consists of two small parts in the form of corner stops.

The base of the stop is a strip of hardboard or MDF, you can also use 6 mm plywood. . The length and width of the strip is selected depending on the thickness of the frame bars. In most cases, a width of 25-30 mm is sufficient. and lengths 200-250 mm. . From dense wood, beech, oak or birch, we cut out two corners. We glue each corner onto our MDF strip closer to one end of the part, this can be seen in Figure No. 1.

When gluing the frame, each block is pressed with a clamp to the outer edge of the frame part. A bar for frames with a selected profile is called a "baguette", well, that's it, for information. I myself often use the usual carpentry terms, blank, bar, detail, and so on. In order not to have to clamp the clamps too hard, it is good to stick a strip of sandpaper on the smooth surface of the hardboard facing the part. The very process of compressing the corner when gluing, I think, is clear when looking at picture No. 2.

Some more points: When gluing, make sure that the bars are in the same plane. Remove the glue that has come out immediately after clamping, the easiest way to do this is with a soft cloth. The corner is dry-fitted, even before gluing. When tightening the clamps, the parts will simply fall into place, if you try to change the angle at the same time, high-quality gluing of the frame will not work.

Frame bonding.

Corner clamps, that is, a device for gluing corners, can be made in a slightly different way.

Strengthening the corner of the frame with a flat plug-in spike.

Corner joints on dowels, or flat plug-in spikes, can also be glued in this way. Although it is possible to glue each corner of the frame separately, it looks too irrational. Usually all the same, the entire frame is glued together.

Device in the form of wooden blocks, the details are made with an inner quarter and an outer corner cut to stop the main clamp.

Gluing the frame with conventional clamps.

This is what we are talking about, a simple device that is described in the article just serves as the basis for gluing the entire frame at once. To do this, we need two more long clamps to press the two remaining parts.

Here, instead of hard material plates, an entire solid block of hard wood is used. The principle of operation is the same, it just takes more time to make such blocks.

Any frame - large or small - is a "strict" design: it makes serious demands on the squareness of the corners and their careful execution and connection. To simplify production and get high-quality frames with less labor, the French magazine System D offers two simple and convenient devices that you can make yourself: a tablet for sawing bars or a baguette and a press for gluing blanks.

Angle is out of sight

When making frame blanks, the most difficult thing is to cut them strictly at an angle of 45 °. In scrap, the tablet is designed to help, which will serve as a good addition to a small circular saw or electric jigsaw and replace the traditional fixture - a miter box, which is used when working with a hand saw.

The tablet consists of a small wooden shield - the base and two persistent rails, installed strictly at an angle of 90 ° with respect to each other. The base of the tablet is a hardwood board 25 mm thick and approximately 400 × 250 mm in size. Instead, a furniture shield or chipboard can also be used.

On one side of the base, a small cut is made - a slot into which a saw blade or jigsaw blade will pass. On both sides of the cut, indented to its width, two thrust bars are attached, the opposite ends of which are sawn off strictly at an angle of 45 °. That's the whole tablet device. It is convenient to use it on a saw table, on which two parallel grooves are milled for this, and two guides that respond to them are attached to the bottom of the tablet. Thanks to them, the tablet can slide with slight friction along the guide grooves, strictly maintaining the direction of its feed.

1 - base; 2 - guides; 3 - propyl; 4 - persistent bars; 5 - screws

1 - coupler with holes; 2 - angle-lock; 3 - protective gasket

The picture shows how the plate with the frame blank is installed and how it is fed for sawing when the plate moves along the guide grooves towards the saw.

In order to cut a baguette on one of the sides of the frame, you need to mark its internal dimensions with a pencil. Then the baguette is pressed (outside) against the corresponding stop bar so that the length mark is against the slot. Now, when moving the tablet towards the saw blade, the baguette is cut at an angle of 45° automatically. In the same way, the ends of all other rails that form the frame are cut off.

Gluing press

However, preparing parts of the frame is still half the battle. The next task is to securely glue them together. A very simple press for assembling them will help out here. It consists of four screeds - wooden slats made of hardwood with a section of 30 × 30 mm, with holes drilled in them with a diameter of 4 mm. The ties are connected in pairs with each other using a loop - a connecting bar with dimensions of 100x30x30 mm and bolts with nuts (solid). In addition to the ties, four fixing brackets are made. They are cut from hardwood blocks with a thickness of 30 mm. Each latch has a spike at the bottom - a screwed screw with a diameter of 4 mm, with a cut head.

1 - ties (perforated slats); 2 - connecting loop; 3 - squares-clamps; 4 - clamp

In order to actuate the press, the ties are laid on a flat surface (table) in the form of the letter X. Depending on the size of the frame, clamps are inserted into the corresponding holes in the ties. It remains to apply glue to the joints of the baguette rails to be connected "on the mustache" and lay them in the clamps. Now you need one single clamp. With its help, the connecting bars of the screeds are pulled together, and hence the baguette ends in the clamps, ensuring their tight connection and holding them in the desired position until the glue seizes.

With this device, you can glue boards made of wood of different sizes. The clamp itself is easy to use and has a fairly simple design. With the right materials, making such a clamp for a home workshop will not be difficult.

For the manufacture of home-made clamps (they are also called clamps), you will need a stud with M10 nuts, a 20 mm steel strip and two rectangular shaped pipes with sides of 40x20 mm, 80 cm long. These materials can be bought inexpensively at a hardware store.

Clamps for gluing shields: stages of work

On profile pipes we make markings and drill through holes every 15 cm, using a conventional or stepped drill for this. We cut the steel strip with a grinder into segments 150 mm long. In these plates, we drill two holes of the desired diameter.

Profile pipes are connected to each other using plates. You will also need stops - movable square and fixed T-shaped, welded from a profile with side dimensions of 20x20 mm. We screw a hairpin of a suitable length into the movable clamp.

Features of using a clamp

It is good because, when gluing wooden shields, it clamps the workpiece on four sides in two planes. Thus, the gluing is of very high quality. By rearranging the T-shaped fixed stop, you can adjust the length. See the video on our website for the assembly process of the clamp for gluing wooden shields.