Workholding - when you’re short of bench space

Just thought I would share my tip for workholding when you are short of bench space. 

I use this set up for planing bodies and caps and routing operations when there is no space in the workshop. 

The main trick is using the masking tape and superglue fixing technique, but I’ve found that some non slip floor matting and a nice slab of granite worktop makes a superb base that won’t shift on a tabletop even under heavy planing work or routing. 

The granite off cut was free and the non slip mat was about a quid from a household discount shop

its really solid and makes planing tops etc perfectly level a breeze with the long Plane 

I use a good straightedge to find and high spots, Mark them with pencil, the plane away - across, beck and forth and on the diagonal to get a true flat surface.  

Hope its helpful for anyone stuck for bench space/ clamping options. 





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Comments

  • SteveRobinsonSteveRobinson Frets: 6914
    tFB Trader
    NEC standard double-sided tape is great for holding flat pieces like this, and for routing templates. It resists slipping and peels really easily.

    I think @GSPBASSES ;uses it, as does Mark Bailey.
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  • GSPBASSESGSPBASSES Frets: 2335
    tFB Trader

    @SteveRobinson, you might have seen NEC double sided tape in some of the photos on my bench in some of my post, but I don't use it. I don't want to be controversial about this, but it's the biggest load of rubbish I've ever used in terms of double sided tape. It's expensive to buy, you have to use loads more of it compared do any other carpet tape, just doesn't do the job I needed it to do. It's nowhere near sticky enough, it's prone to letting go, the jigs can and  move sideways and that can be very an expensive mistake.

    My preferred double sided tape is one that has a hassium or fibreglass-reinforced tape carrier for the adhesive, this allows it to stick jigs onto roughish wood with no problem, there's never any sideways slip. It's also very cheap, not just in the cost of buying the rolls but the fact that it's such a good adhesive you only need small amounts to hold the wood to the jigs. The type I'm using now I buy from Amazon, I've only been using it for a few weeks, as my normal supplier unfortunately went out of business through the Covid madness.

    This type of tape can be aggressive and take chunks out of your MDF jigs, that's quite a minor cost in the whole scheme of things, a new jig only cost a few quid to replace. If you're making a Les Paul with a 5A Flame cap and the tape let's go that can be a few £100 in the bin.  It can leave a glue residue after you've peeled it off, but at this stage of making a guitar the wood is going to be cleaned up anyway so it doesn't really matter

    My advice would be do not use NEC tape for guitar making.

    I’m using this tape, not the best I’ve ever used but a 100 times better then NEC.

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fixman-198134-Strong-Double-Sided-Carpet/dp/B00F80K5OS/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Fixman+198134+Strong+Double-Sided+Carpet+Tape+50mm+x+33m&qid=1609625216&s=automotive&sr=1-1



    You can see from the pictures above I only need three small pieces of tape to hold the Fingerboard to the fret slotting jig, whereas with the NEC type I would have to have a piece as long as the fret board, even then you have to be very careful that it doesn't slip.



    One of the other problems with the NEC tape it doesn't release from its backing very easy. So not only does it not release easy, when you pull in the backing off it will quite often lift tape off as you go, see the photos above.

    Sorry @PeteC didn't mean to take over your post, but I thought the information above may help you in the future.

    Your life will improve when you realise it’s better to be alone than chase people who do not really care about you. Saying YES to happiness means learning to say NO to things and people that stress you out.

    https://www.facebook.com/grahame.pollard.39/

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  • PeteCPeteC Frets: 409
    no problem at all - its all very useful information tbh.    

    I bought some of the  NEC flooring tape a few months ago after getting fed up with removing glue residues using other D/S tape - but overall I prefer the masking tape and superglue approach.  The NEC tape is quite expensive. 

    The main reason for posting was really about using the granite slab and non slip floor matting - these make work holding on a table a breeze and I thought that might help out someone without a workshop bench etc.
     
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