Thingiverse has the occasional laser cut project and this one was “nick of time” as I needed to substitute all the masking tape holding my tabbed boxes while they cured.
My wife asked me why I needed so many (grin). It’s a matter of production levels. I won’t have to wait for the first box to cure and can move on to the next one, of course.
I’ve created a re-make of the original, also posted to Thingiverse. My remake uses the same 5 mm bamboo skewers with press-fit holes to keep all the tiny pieces in alignment while the glue cures. The original used a single screw from each side to pivot the locking lever, which I’ve replaced with a skewer segment as well.
The sets in this photo are not skewer-aligned and the tiny pieces are barely aligned. They’ll work, but they look ugly to me. The next production will be much better and the press-fit aspect of the bamboo skewers means it’s almost self clamping.
It’s recommended to perform test holes to make your skewers match your laser kerf. The pivot hole in the clamp lever is 4.95 mm and the side holes (and all the others) are 4.9 mm for press fit. If your kerf is smaller or larger, you’ll want to adjust the numbers.
All pieces have two tabs and the two L segments have tons of tabs. It makes it easier to keep them in the main sheet for post-cutting sanding. It’s critical to sand the long side of the L to ensure the clamp will slide properly.
wooden-bar-clamp_w_alignment_holes.lbrn (2.1 MB)
Note that I don’t have automated air assist and your power and speed should be adjusted for your specific laser.
UPDATE: the attached file below removes the skewer alignment holes and replaces them with splines cut from the same sheet. This makes assembly far easier and requires only the one skewer segment for the pivot as before. Again, testing should be performed to check for kerf clearance. I found that a 15 mm long hole requires a 15.25 mm long spline. If the wood is sanded, the 3.0 mm spline hole will be too fat, but if not sanded, it’s still not a snug fit, but with glue applied will fill nicely.
Unfortunately, the recent modifications prevent all four sets from fitting on one sheet of plywood (600 mm x 300 mm) and one single piece has to be cut from scrap. Not too bad, overall.
wooden-bar-clamp_w_alignment_splines.lbrn (1.9 MB)
Version 2 has a slight modification for the cap on the movable bar.
wooden-bar-clamp_w_alignment_splines_v2.lbrn (2.0 MB)
