What Is a Belt Clamp?
A belt clamp is a device used for tightening a window frame, for example, to ensure it maintains its shape after being bonded to the wood.
A belt clamp is used to make a square frame by holding the four corners with corner pads and tightening the belt. They can also be used for various purposes without the corner pads.
The belt clamp consists of a tightening belt, corner pads for securing the four corners, and a handle equipped with a ratchet mechanism.
Uses for Belt Clamps
Belt clamps are very useful when working on crafts, and are used to hold the outer frame of a rectangular workpiece, such as a door or a box.
Belt clamps, with their ratchet-tightening feature, allow for easy and precise fastening, suitable for securing four corners simultaneously. Other clamps secure the workpiece from the top and bottom, enabling only two-point tightening, and are less ideal for rectangular frames.
Furthermore, when the corner pads are removed, the clamp can be used for clamping cylindrical workpieces such as tubs.
Principle of Belt Clamps
Belt clamps are tightened by wrapping the belt around the workpiece, and applying pressure evenly across the entire belt. This differs from the mechanism of ordinary clamps.
Common clamps like vices or C-Clamps are tightened gradually from the top and bottom by screws, suitable for two-point applications such as bonding two parts together.
However, belt clamps are less effective for focusing pressure on only two points, as the belt wrapped around the workpiece tends to disperse clamping pressure. Therefore, they are most effective for applications where the belt evenly distributes pressure across the front of the workpiece.