Heavy Duty Corner Clamps
Introduction: Heavy Duty Corner Clamps
Hello makers, welcome to this page. In this Instructables, I am going to show you how I build heavy-duty welding clamps. This build is inspired by <PERSON> from the Fireball Tools YouTube channel, and I am a huge fan of that guy and his wisdom. The only difference in my clamps is that I made them with angle iron and those he made are cast iron. Now, these welding clamps are absolutely easy to make and I call it a beginner welding project too because the wall thickness is quite thick enough that you are easily able to avoid blowholes. Since angles are hot rolled steel and because of that there is definitely you need to compensate in the accuracy but one thing which you are able to do is to keep the pieces in the square so that whenever you are going to take the reference from the sides you are easily able to make a square frame. To hold the job at its position I also decided to add tabs if I am working in mid-air. This build required very basic welding tools and the clamps themselves are extremely usable. So if you like this project and often do fabrication work then definitely give a shot to this project. If you have any suggestions to improve it then definitely feel free to post your feedback.
Supplies
Tools used
1. Angle grinder
2. Drill machine
3. Drill bit
4. M8 thread tap
5. Grinding wheel
6. Flap wheel cutting wheel
7. Clamps to hold the job at its place
Material used
1. 50X50 mm angle iron
2. 50mm X 6mm strip
. 787
25mm X 12mm strip
4. M8 Allen head bolt
5. Primer
6. Paint
Step 1: Material Cutting
The first and foremost thing to do in this project is to cut down the material to the required length. Now my materials have been placed outside for more than a year that's why a rust removal process needs to be carried out. I use a grinder with a wire brush and remove the rust from the angle. Then made a mark around 10" and cut the angle piece it's absolutely necessary to mark both sides to get an accurate cut. Since I am going to build 4 of these clamps for 4 corners I need to cut 8 pieces of 10" in length.
Now for a right-angle triangle, we have two sides already and one thing left is the hypotenuse which we need to measure first before cutting. So what I did for accurate measuring was I place the angle piece onto the table and made them square or you can find it from the <PERSON> theorem.
√L²+B²= H
√10²+10²= 14.14" or 359 mm for accurate marking
From thereafter I measure the two opposite corners and to maintain higher accuracy I measured it into mm. Once that's is marked I cut down the piece into the required length.
Step 2: ​Making Mitre Cuts
Since the longer length of the angle needs to connect with two shorter pieces that's why the corner needs to be cut at 45°. For that, I made a mark with a combination square and transfer it onto the edges, and then made a cut. To refine the cut I used a grinding wheel to do that. Once the cutting is done I placed all the three-piece in the position to make the two sides square and then proceed for the next process.
Step 3: ​Welding Three Pieces Together
Once three sides has been prepared for the welding I placed them over a flat surface. I clamped all three sides with c clamps and then measure the squareness. In this build, it is absolutely mandatory to do the measurements because once it's secured with welding and it went a little bit off then that might end up giving you an out-of-square clamp which we do not want. Then I made tack weld onto all the sides and allow them to cool and once they cools down remove the clamps. Then I flip the piece upside down so that I am able to weld onto the backside also. But before starting the welding it is absolutely necessary to keep the faces in line with each other and for that, I used a ruler and place them over the joints. Some are flat but some need to place down a little bit and to do that I used clamps and then made tack weld. Since in first glance at this stage the fixture looks a bit weaker in the middle section and that's why to secure them I cut a piece from a 50mm wide strip and made miter cut to it and made a tack weld by holding it with clamps then I flip the piece and felt that whether the piece is flush with the surface or not and it was flush and then start the full weld. 220