I want to invent a clamping jig this year for burners and bars resto


 
J

JimV

TVWBB All-Star
So I was gunna surprise you guys with my genius jig for doing resto work on burners and bars. I have the idea in my head but cant seem to get the mechanical end figured out yet. I know Bruce uses a megatron 2000 super clamper or something like that but I am talking about simple and cheap. Lets use burner tubes as an example. We should be able to remove them and walk them over to our simple jig and clamp them in place to be cleaned up. I want this jig to rotate on a locking sprocket like a bicycle sprocket so we can turn the tubes in small increments an the tube wont move in each position.
So far my little brain just visualizes this jig being clamped to one of my work tables. I have those squeeze trigger woodworking clamps that will easily hold a jig. I have pictured many things ......but you can imagine a burner tube has a flat end to it so on one side of the jig it just needs to be a rotating wheel with a slit in it to receive the end of a burner tube. The other side of the jig will be the business side.......it should adjust in and out to accommodate diff size tubes and it has to rotate and lock........
My boat trailer has a manual winch that turns and holds its place......that might be a good start for the business side.....

Looking for ideas......maybe we can get this figured out before Spring......let me know
 
I have that HF Franklin. Works totally fine and seems well built. It is eligible for Harbor Freight's many coupons, so with one of those you can get it pretty cheap - maybe cheap enough to forgo doing a home-made solution.

Harbor Freight Tools – Quality Tools at Discount Prices Since 1977

Harbor Freight buys their top quality tools from the same factories that supply our competitors. We cut out the middleman and pass the savings to you!
www.harborfreight.com www.harborfreight.com
With 20% off you could get this for $120!

That said, occasionally you can find a steal of a deal on the name brand Rockwell Jawhorse.

Here is a very good deal on one on eBay:

www.ebay.com

Rockwell RK9003 JawHorse Portable Work Support Station Clamping Vice | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Rockwell RK9003 JawHorse Portable Work Support Station Clamping Vice at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
 
Jon Tofte said:
I have that HF Franklin. Works totally fine and seems well built. It is eligible for Harbor Freight's many coupons, so with one of those you can get it pretty cheap - maybe cheap enough to forgo doing a home-made solution.

Harbor Freight Tools – Quality Tools at Discount Prices Since 1977

Harbor Freight buys their top quality tools from the same factories that supply our competitors. We cut out the middleman and pass the savings to you!
www.harborfreight.com www.harborfreight.com
With 20% off you could get this for $120!

That said, occasionally you can find a steal of a deal on the name brand Rockwell Jawhorse.

Here is a very good deal on one on eBay:

www.ebay.com

Rockwell RK9003 JawHorse Portable Work Support Station Clamping Vice | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Rockwell RK9003 JawHorse Portable Work Support Station Clamping Vice at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
Click to expand...
I’d like to see some pictures on how you are using this, I’ve never seen one before. I’ve been a pipe fitter for 26 years and on all my jobs have not seen anyone use one of these.
I could see a pipe vise holding the burner tubes for you.
 
Wow the Rockwell really must have gone up in price or some of us got a riduclous price we had a thread on this in Nov 2018 and Sam Bee posted found the Rockwell tools on Ebay has the Jawhorse RK9003 on sale now for $79.99 with free shipping..., Bruce came up with a 10% coupon I got mine for under $72 bucks shipped. Maybe it was a holiday sale it is an awesome tool.

I use mine for quite a bit of projects including cleaning burner tubes like Bruce's video you do need to be careful was doing some thin walled aluminum round tubing for a project a month ago pushed down a bit too hard on the pedal my round tubing became oblong. Of course if I remember might have had a few cocktails. :oops:
 
Yah, I cracked a couple burner tubes in mine. Of course, they were old and pretty worn out and they crack along a seam down the side. No big deal though. You would be surprised how tight something will clamp in those things. Since you use your foot to clamp down, it is a little tricky to realize just how much clamping force you are using sometimes.
 
For those of us North of the border, King Canada makes a version that can quite often be found on sale for $99 Cdn. I like mine. 🙂


PORTABLE CLAMPING WORKSTATION KING Canada - Power Tools, Woodworking and Metalworking Machines by King Canada

King Canada, metalworking, woodworking, parts, accessories, automotive, products, machines, tools, compressors and air tools, material handling, outdoor, indoor, equipment, generators, log splitters, power, bandsaw, drill press, dust collector
www.kingcanada.com www.kingcanada.com
 
That is very similar to the ones sold down here except that the clamping face on that one is much lower profile than most of the others I have seen.
 
Yeah Bruce, it is not as nice as the Rockwell but at half the price and the amount I use it, it is good enough for me. I use it when building stuff outside too. It is like having that other person to hold the end of a board/post etc when you are by yourself. Handy tool and I would never have bought one if you hadn’t posted about it on here. Thanks! 🙂
 
EXTREMELY handy tool. I got my Rockwell for $99 US which was a great deal. It has been invaluable in grill rehabbing and other projects as well. That is one tool I have absolutely no regrets buying.
 
The Jawhorse works well for a lot of things. For fine tuned things like burner tubes I use the old trusty B&D Workmate where you can finesse how tight things are held in the V-grooves. That was a great video Bruce did, but it faked me out a bit to see green grass before I realized that it wasn't a new video.
 
Dan, I used a B&D workmate for burner tubes and even grinding cook boxes before I got the Jawhorse. Jawhorse is a 9/10 and workmate is a 5/10 in my book for those tasks.

I think I did that video last summer.
 
Hey guys sorry I missed the action here......Maybe a jawhorse is the way to go.....but my creative juices are still flowing............thanks for the input so far.
 
Jim, Let us know what you come up with if you decide to come up with something on your own.
 
Will do......but it will look like a round wheel on both sides......one side will have a manual crank with a sprocket that locks after every click of the sprocket and the other side will just free wheel. This way I wont have to remove the tube at all during the resto.
 
UPDATE ON HARBOR FREIGHT VERSION

I contacted their customer support. Although Harbor Freight is adding a lot more replacement parts to their offerings, the Franklin Workstation is not currently on that list:(. The very polite customer service person told me that she would pass on this request to whomever to look into better supporting it.
 
Jon Tofte said:
UPDATE ON HARBOR FREIGHT VERSION

I contacted their customer support. Although Harbor Freight is adding a lot more replacement parts to their offerings, the Franklin Workstation is not currently on that list:(. The very polite customer service person told me that she would pass on this request to whomever to look into better supporting it.
Click to expand...
Have you broken yours or heard about others breaking theirs?
 
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