Thought I had a plan to weld these 2 panels together trying to keep the warpage at a minimum. Now it seems it's a real fight to get the clamps out, what gives? And to answer your first question they are not welded in by accident!
Weld shrinkage tightened the gap and is holding the plate that goes through very tightly. If you had kept the weld just a little further away from each clamp (smaller weld s***ches) they would be a little easier to pull out. Unfortunately you've got the welding done so you will have to really fight to get them out and hopefully not distort the panels. Maybe try some heating and /or cooling of the different components and maybe you can get the gap to open up a little bit to pull out the clamp slides?
As mentioned the gap shrunk when the welds cooled. The idea is to take the clamps out as you proceed down the panel not weld in between them. You might try knocking down the welds if you can access them and then hammer each weld on dolly to stretch them out enough to loosen the clamps. If you can't grind you could still hammer them I just wouldn't use a nice hammer and dolly as you will mar the surface of both. Sent from my SM-G950W using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Here is my rendering of what the panel clamps look like. I bought the same things from Eastwood. If you saw the back side you would see a thin flat slide that the square key slides through. You loosen the wing nut and then pull out the square peg then the clamp should slide out the front.
Yep shrinkage, the weld's cooling pulled the gap tighter. You could hammer each weld and that will stretch the welds and open up the gap if they are stuck in there
You could try to take the wing nut off. Use a socket (or something similar to back the panel on the clamp side and tap the slides out with a small light hammer. I would us something that fits over the "U shaped" clamp so you don't distort the clamps as you tap out the slide. I guess what I'm saying is use a socket to support the panel and not the clamp.
I've never used those clamps but I can say you accomplished you're objective. Looks plenty flat to me. You might try slightly heating each area near the weld where the clamps are attached (not the clamps though)and tapping them out. Heating the clamps will expand them and make it harder to remove.
I tryed those clamps once......i prefer not to use them, i like a nice tight fit, and penetrate my welds, seems to minimize shrinkage for me, and the hot welds seems to be more workable and less prone to crack.
Sorry I didn't show a pic or describe that the clamp is fully dis***embled and still won't pull out. Give me some credit! Maybe I'll throw it out in the snow bank to shrink up a bit?
Can't hurt- leave it out there for a while, and then heat up the panel around one clamp and see if you can get it out- one clamp at a time.
Sorry for your problems. I thought I learned a new piece of jargon with those being called "clams" until I realized it was a silly spelling error which I should have. LOL
Yep, Sat. morn on my second flavored Coke when I wrote that, corrected it just for you! Another hour out in the snow, will see what happens, might be a 2 part process, chill and hammer!
Get a can of 'canned air" keyboard cleaner. Turn it upside-down and spray the **** outa the clamp & surrounding area, one at a time. Slide 'em out with a pair of pliers. Might work...
I'd go with setting the threaded end in a deep socket and tapping gently on the other end with a small hammer. Probably the smallest diameter socket that will comfortably fit over the flat. OR: you might try putting the piece back on and a flat washer or two and tightening the nut down and see if they pull out that way.
I would remove the square clamp bar if possible & replace the wing nut with a nut & washer. Gently warm the metal up around then use a 1/4 drive socket & tighten the screw to pull the metal blade up wards through the clamp frame. Second way would be to put a 3/4" piece of plywood against the bare clamp blade with the nut & washer then use a pry bar under the nut to see if it will draw the blade through the metal. The welding has shrunk the metal to where it has become a tight mechanical shrink fit. Heating the metal will expand the slots some and may ease the release. Chilling the metal will only tighten the grip. Machinists in our plant would pack a shaft in dry ice for hours. The took the part with the hub and heat with steam under an insulation blanket. The two pieces would quickly be driven together and as the temperatures normalize the shrink fit is as strong as a weld bond.
I fight these damn things all the time. I have to rock them side to side sometimes with the hammer even though I keep trying to leave some shrinkage space. I suppose I may get the hang of it if I used them daily or hell, monthly. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
First thanks to all that responded! There's so many How To Threads on the HAMB, I should change my heading to How Not To Do Something. It will be a long time before I do it this way again, it was one of those situations where it snowballed out of control. Finally got all the clamps out by the hammer and dolly method. After removal I finished welding the damn thing up and did a little grinding, it looks better in the pic's than it does in person. Flop has nothing to worry about................................... The panel is 54" long, 8" high. How long should it have taken to get to this stage?
10 minutes to bend up the panel with an 8' brake (and no welding). Glad you got your work back from the grip of the tooling. What's the part for?
I went through the same learning curve with those clamps, but I still use them : I set the clamps, then weld no more than a 1/4" tack between each pair of clamps(keeping each tac as flat as possible), then use a back-up bar, hit each tac-weld with an ordinary hammer to slightly expand the joint, & then remove the clamps(repeating the hammer/dolly as needed), then proceed with skip-welding the seam. Sometimes I get lucky & don't distort too much, but I'm improving as I do more seams. LOL!!
"Glad you got your work back from the grip of the tooling. What's the part for?" These 2 panels were in a bed kit from Last Refuge, they weren't clear on where to mount them so I welded the 2 together and used it for the panel behind and lower of the tail gate. The tail gate hinge will mount to it. I just thought that they took the down & dirty cheap way out and sent 2 separate pieces that should have been bent as one.............................
I try not to use that type of clamp I like metal joint tight but if I do use them I file a relief on both pieces of metal so clamp fits but metal joint is tight file the relief a little larger and clamp will come rite out then weld up holes left hope this makes sense I can try to post pic if necessary
no wonder they are out of stock . you really only need a couple of these as you move down the panel. oh well thats how you learn!
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