Good Corner Clamp.

[ozzymanii]

For the past few weeks I have been making frames in my shop. Specficly, 2' x 4' frames out of 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch boards cut down from 2x4's.

These frames get filled with either chicken wire or hardware cloth for a variety of purposes, (chicken house, rabbit hutch, potting table, etc).

I need to make a *LOT* more of these for projects I'm working on and I need a better/ faster way of doing it.

Right now, I cut a 2x4 in half, miter the edges at 45 deg. And then saw it into 4, 3/4" strips. This gives me the long edges for two frames. I do pretty much the same thing again to get the short edges for those two frames.

I don't think I can speed that up any, and it works well, but assmbly is agonizingly slow.

I put one long edge and one short edge in my 90 framing vise, clamp one side down, spray it with water, smear gorilla glue on the other one, clamp them together, and hammer in two small finish nails.

I lay that over on the table to dry and keep doing it until I run out of stock. Then, after a few hours of drying, I lay two of the "L"'s down on my table saw, clamp one down, sprits with water, glue the other, clamp it down, hammer in two nails, and go repeat on the other edge.

It works, but it is slow as molasses. I thought about getting a large strap clamp, but then I would not be able to hammer in the nails and the clamp would have to stay on until it dries.

Anybody got a good idea for a clamp or jig or something that would make this less of a chore?

If I only had to make three or four I'd tough it out, but I have already made 12, and I need to make at least that many more.

Ideas?

Help?

James

[sapwood]

James, several folks sell these . . . but they ain't cheap!

And Rockler has Clamp-its of several types the may help. Of course, once you see the idea, it might be possible to "roll your own" for substantially less money.

HTH,
Sapwood

[hannah01]

Since you are using nails and it seems like these frames don't really have to be too "pretty," why not use screws and then you wouldn't have wait for the glue to dry? Glue up and screw each corner in turn and you're ready to go.

[Travis Porter]

If they are all the same size, couldn't you make a "frame" on ply to hold it all in place and screw them as suggested?

[DaveO]

Pneumatic finish nailer and plywood jig like Travis recommends. Don't have a nail gun, then this is a great excuse to get a very handy new tool
Dave