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WatsonDIY


Feb 23, 2016 - Building a Pair of Clamp Racks

I recently built a Small Parts Cabinet to keep all of my little odds and ends in one place. Since the cabinet is located where my old clamp rack had been, I needed to build two new racks to store my clamps.

Pipe Clamp Rack

I tend to use my Jet 24 inch Parallel Clamps for most projects, so I figured I would mount my 48 inch pipe clamps higher up on the wall. They are out of the way, but still easy to reach when I need them.

To keep things fairly consistent, I sized the pipe clamp rack so it was roughly the same width as the existing bar clamp rack below. The eight pipe clamps are fairly heavy so I wanted to make sure the rack was strong enough to support their weight. I designed the rack with a back and a lower support bar so the clamps would never touch the drywall. I also added a small lip on the front edge so the clamps would not fall off the wall with vibration from the nearby door.

I built my rack using plywood scraps I had laying around the shop. I measured the slots for the clamps and drilled them out on the drill press. Then I used my bandsaw to cut out the slots that I could reach, and cut the rest with a handsaw. Unfortunately, I was not paying attention and flipped the board the wrong direction when I was cutting slots on the bandsaw. So, rather than waste the work I had already done, I just cut the board in half and added a center vertical divider. It was an unplanned detail, but it actually added a little strength to the rack. After some sanding and a couple coats of polyurethane, I mounted it to the wall with 3 inch screws into the studs.

Small Clamp Rack

For years I have simply slipped my small clamps onto my previous pipe clamp rack. It has always worked well for me, so I figured I would stick with the same simple design for a dedicated rack. Basically, it is just a board to set the clamps on, and a lower board to keep them hanging vertically and not damage the drywall. It is a simple box with a ledger strip on the back to mount it to the wall. Again, I just used some scrap pine boards and a couple coats of poly that I had in the shop already.