Best place to buy cheap clamps for gluing a top?

[ragamuffin]

Soon enough it will be time to glue the top onto the body for the build that I'm working on. The problem is I own a grand total of... like four clamps.

Where's the best place to buy a bunch of small clamps for relatively cheap? I'm considering getting a bunch of these 6" bar clamps from Harbor Freight https://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-bar-clamp-96210.html

Any other ideas/options?

 

[PhilHill]

Soon enough it will be time to glue the top onto the body for the build that I'm working on. The problem is I own a grand total of... like four clamps.

Where's the best place to buy a bunch of small clamps for relatively cheap? I'm considering getting a bunch of these 6" bar clamps from Harbor Freight https://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-bar-clamp-96210.html

Any other ideas/options?

If your not using really thick cauls, I've had good luck with these:
https://www.amazon.com/Bessey-CM34DR-3-Inch-2-Inch-Malleable/dp/B0006694G4/ref=pd_bxgy_2/141-5585771-8043419?pd_rd_w=fgr7c&pf_rd_p=c64372fa-c41c-422e-990d-9e034f73989b&pf_rd_r=BWV5B82XP86HW36TBKHG&pd_rd_r=87e350e5-4600-4b7e-bcba-4c8958d2c9e5&pd_rd_wg=qEoET&pd_rd_i=B0006694G4&psc=1

Bessey also makes bar clamps of various lengths. I've got a dozen of their 24in ones......... :headbang:

 

[SeattleScotty]

Those HF ones you linked look pretty good. Just stay away from their regular black/orange ones - the little pin the mechanism hinges upon is a flimsy little piece of plastic and breaks under the slightest bit of pressure. It's always been frustrating that they could replace that tiny little pin with metal and it would make their clamps 1000x better.  :dontknow:

 

[Seamas]

I am not sure if surgical tubing would be appropriate for gluing a top, but I see it used quite often in gluing up acoustic guitars.

Also very common are spool clams which could be purchased cheap--or made yourself with spare wood, a hole saw, some cord and nuts and bolts.

 

[Cagey]

I'm not sure what you'd have into it once you're done, but vacuum bag clamping is relatively inexpensive (assuming you have an air compressor) and remarkably effective. It's the preferred method for applying veneers, etc. There's a bit of an article here you might want to review before investing in a boatload of more traditional clamps. That said, you can never have too many clamps  :icon_biggrin:

Here's how it works. At sea level, atmospheric pressure pushes down with a force of about 14.7psi. In vacuum clamping we are using this weight to clamp our project. This may not sound like much but if you have a workpiece 12" square in your vacuum bag, when all the air is sucked out you would have roughly 2116 pounds of pressure on your project. Your average bar clamp can produce 300 pounds of clamping force so you would need 7 clamps on that 12" square to get roughly the same amount of force.

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Plus, it's an even pressure, as opposed to the variously placed bar clamps that may distort a thinner piece and create built-in stresses that might let go later.