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Regular woodworkers will know the frustrations often
associated with clamping 90 degree corners, or holding shelves or
tops/bottoms onto cabinet carcasses for mechanical fixing or gluing.
Without good assembly jigs or assembly tables, this task can be tricky,
especially if you are working on your own. There are many corner clamps on
the market, in one form or another, but since I do a lot of pocket hole
joinery, I decided to grab a couple of Kreg's new corner clamps to give
them a go. But let it be known know that these clamps can be used equally
as well whether you use pocket hole joinery or any other form of 90-degree
joint construction. Kreg 90 Degree Corner
Clamps
As the name suggests, these clamps can pretty much only be used to
clamp degree joints. This might include 90 degree picture frame joints,
drawer construction, box construction, shelving or even T-joints. The
clamp itself is similar in function to many other locking clamps and other
clamps from the Kreg tool line. The clamp body is constructed of heat
treated steel with a nickel plated finish for durability and strength. The
spring loaded locking mechanism is adjustable for clamp force, and the new
adjustment nut makes it quicker and easier to make these adjustments. The
blue rubber coated clamp release lever allows the clamp to be releases
easily and without excessive force. The clamp is able to be set for
varying material thickness up to 1-1/4", making it suitable for most
woodworking and cabinet-making tasks. Moving on
to the clamping head, there is one fixed 90-degree steel clamp reference
surface, which is painted blue with ground 90 degree faces for accuracy.
I
checked these clamp heads for accurate 90 degree angle and they came up
trumps using my Incra "Guaranteed" 90-degree metal square. The unique
design of the fixed clamp head allows it to be used on T-joints along the
middle of a board (say for shelf fixing) or installation of drawer
dividers or in box/pigeon-hole construction. The clamp surfaces are about
2 inches long by 1 inch wide, which provide a good wide surface which
helps prevent marking or marring work pieces, particularly when soft woods
are used. The other mating clamp piece offers the same 90 degree angle but
is set on a screw swivel head which allows the clamp to produce a
self-squaring joint when applied which is an accurate 90 degree angle (as
best as I can test with my squares anyway).
90 degree clamps shown in traditional end joinery and T-joint
clamping. In
Use
The clamps are easily to apply and remove, and can be done with one
hand. When clamping corner joints the clamps actually flush both pieces
too which makes it very easy to set the clamp and drive your fasteners or
hold the joint securely and flush while glue sets up. For T-joints the
fixed clamp head design allows these to be positioned anywhere along a
mating face as needed and two Kreg corner clamps will hold the piece
firmly and at 90 degrees, just like a second pair of hands at the assembly
table. Kreg do make a clamp for this specific task where one clamp end
fits into an existing drilled pocket hole, but as mentioned above, these
clamps can be used whether you use pocket hole joinery or not. They are
equally handy when setting shelves into dados and toenailing as the clamps
will hold the joint at 90 degrees while you drive the nails (so you can
move your clamps onto the next dado or joint etc). The clamps can be used
for holding together 90 degree picture frame joints as the clamps can be
easily stood up to sit on a flat surface.
Essentially, anywhere a 90 degree joint needs to be held, using material
less than 1-1/4" thick, the Kreg 90 degree corner clamps will probably
come in handy. They make great extra hands in the workshop if working
alone, and are very handy to have around the shop. I currently only have
two of the clamps, but will soon be investing in a couple more pairs.
Recommended!
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Kreg Corner Clamp Photos
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The Kreg 90-Degree Corner Clamp
Fixed and Swivel head clamps
Pre-set 90-degree clamp angle ensures accurate joint
fixing
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