Official Luthiers Forum!

Need cam clamps and a sander that chucks in my Delta drill press. Any recommendations? Know of a place that has a good deal?

Right now I'm considering the mini cam clamps from Stew/Mac (5 3/8" depth and 6 3/4" opening) which have a radiused lower arm allowing cloamping over a brace. They are $11.96 if you buy 3 or more. Thoughts?

Stew/Mac also has the Robo Sander for the drill press. The diameters are 2" and 3". Any reason you would recommend one of these diameters over the other? More grits available in 2" diameter. If you know a better value, I'm all ears.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Hey Darryl,
Grizzly offers cam clamps at a significantly lower price than Ste/Mac, although they don't carry the "mini cam clamp". Not sure about the quality as I don't own any, just been shopping the market to get the essentials before my first attempt.

Lee Valley or Highland Hardware usually have the best prices for the Klemmsia brand cam clamps - I've always been very happy with mine.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

I made my own cam clamps based on a design I found online. I made them beefier than the manufactured ones, saved a bunch of money, and it was a pretty fun project. Like using a well made jig, there's a certain satisfaction gotten from using a tool you've made yourself.

Ken

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

I doubt I will build clamps at this stage......too many other jigs and things I need to work on.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Please forgive the momentary interruption I just want to welcome AJ to the OLF.

Welcome AJ!!

The SM mini cam clamps are not powerful enough for most jobs, I returned the few I ordered when they came out.
Avoid the Grizzly cam clamps, quality is awful: they break (Grizzly will replace those…), the action is all over the map, some do not even lock properly etc.
Buy either the Klemmsia or other good quality cam clamps.
They're easy to make though, so is a sander for the drill press.
You may want to consider a few Irwin quickgrip bar clamps, they can be operated with one hand, some are reversible and are really handy to have in the shop.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

You might want to check out the large/long spindle sander from Stockroom supply here in Canada .. it mounts in the drill press, and has a bottom shoe that helps take the force off the drill press bearings.

BTW ..this is also the place I get my thickness sander paper from - Klingspor 80 grit stearated, 4.5 wide, velcro backed (although I no longer actualy use velcro to hold it on)

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I dont know if anyone else likes these or not, but i got into the "camless" clamps from stewmac. I like them quite a bit, they could also be made in your shop without too much trouble.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY