This may be a bad post Or it may help someone in a pinch... I have some intergrip or buttwelding clamps from HF,like these: they seem to be ok for some buttwelding but they suck when the seam is hard to reach and u cant get a clamp or a magnet etc.... Im always dropping/losing the square rod,the tiny butterly nuts or lock washer. This is what i came up with...easy, cheap and u can mess with how much tension u can apply by how big u make the wedge... The small relieve cut i made with my porta band saw and I cut the strap with sheet metal shears.. Bent the strap with my vice.. You can even add a little handle to the bottom strap so its easy to grab . I can make as many as i want and it only took about 2 mins per clamp... The strap is free,its the one the use to strap pallets together.. I still gotta file sharp edges so i dont cut my fingers... Ok bye now
I designed these long ago and still use them. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/tools-sheetmetal-clamps-for-holding-patch-panels.11673/
Hey Bubba lykes 'dat Them's slicker than snot on a door knob Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
If all you're doing is tacking between the temporary fasteners, it shouldn't be a problem at all. If you weld from spring to spring, that's a big weld to put on such light weight material and you might concentrate enough heat on the spring to damage it. Maybe?
Very similar to the link above, but how about the bottom cross is made of some thick welding rod? You drill a hole in the upright strip instead of cutting a slot. Then the welding rod could either be a short piece that you don't mind losing on the floor, or a longer piece bent with a handle so you can grab it. The handle end could be two feet long if need be for a tight reach insertion.
Yes...his clamps gave me the idea to use welding rod and im working on some that dont have the spring exposed... I like the welding rod idea because its less likely to go in your tire as a nail would... Thanks guys.
I'm thinking that is a whole lot simpler to line those slots up when you are working blind rather than trying to hit a hole in the metal, at least it would be for me. I've got about 3 packs of the HF ones out on my welding cart and as Iwanaflttie said fiddle fumbling with those square pins is the big pain in the butt. cost wise the springs are going to cost as much or more than the HF units. which are 6.99 for a pack of 8 right now SKU 60545 for someone who needs the HF number. Now if we may ask, what is the size and source for the springs? At the local Ace they are going to be about a buck fifty or more each. The banding is easy to find if you look around where someone has been cutting it off and you local lumber yard probably has plenty that they cut off loads of lumber.
I can get numbers when i get home but they were about 60c each at my Hardware store maybe cheapee on line
The source of the springs could be something as simple as a handful of old used valve springs. Heck, I've got about 50 or 60 that I've taken out of rusty flatheads and saved in a coffee can for some reason. Maybe this is it?
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