York Professional Panel Press

The beams are thick walled, box section steel, 60 x 30mm, linked by an ingeniously designed screw press mechanism, when tightened the workpiece or panel is compressed on all four sides simultaneously, guaranteeing that when the glue is dry and the panel removed it will be as flat as possible; cutting down on the amount of any further planing or sanding. One set comprises four beams, two tailpieces, two heads and one winding handle, making up two clamps. The heads and tailpieces are connected to the lower beam with 14mm diameter bolts, the work is loaded onto the lower beam and then the top beam slid into place and the clamp tightened. The press will accommodate panels from 600mm to 1200mm wide (for narrower than 600mm use whatever packing pieces are necessary) and between 25mm to 50mm thick (for less than 25mm thick a batten slightly shorter than the panel is wide can be used as a spacer). Two things struck us about these clamps, one their great suitability when clamping a door, where the addition of a third clamp across the middle of the door not only ensures all the joints are clamped correctly, it also ensures (providing the bench or table underneath is flat) that the door stays absolutely flat whilst the glue is drying, thus minimising the possibility of twist. Secondly, is the press's great potential for production work; the head and tailpieces are designed so that additional work pieces and beams can be stacked, so allowing for the possibility of several panels being pressed and dried at the same time. A third clamp would require the addition of two beams, and one head, tail & handle; for an additional layer each clamp needs one beam and one head, tail and handle.