Anyone who spends much time in a workshop building things with cardboard, plastic, wood, and other materials quickly comes to appreciate having clamps around. Lots of clamps. There's never enough clamps.

C-clamps, spring clamps, bar clamps, vises and vise grips — they’re all life savers.

In situations like glueing your deck down onto your SUP you'll need lots of clamps, so this little hack will definitely come in handy.

Glueing the deck on the Wombat with a combination of DIY spring clamps made from PVC pipe and store bought clamps.

 

Step 1.

Simply cut a 2 inch wide (50mm) ring from a length of 3 inch (75mm) plastic pipe: PVC drain pipe, ABS pipe, whatever’s available.

Step 2 .

Cut a slit in one side of the pipe, and voilà, you have a handy spring clamp!

 

 

To add more clamping power, just cut a thicker ring or double up the clamps.

You can also add heavy duty rubber bands to introduce more tension, or if you want variable pressure, cut a hole in the “C,” top and bottom, and use a threaded rod, washers, and wing nuts to create an adjustable clamp. These are no substitute for commercial clamps, but they can come in super handy if you suddenly have a need for more light-duty clamping tech than you have on hand in your shop.

Written by Aaron de Ruiter

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