How do I make this clamp?

[capncarl]

Scratch the idea of welding aluminum to steel, can't be done on our budget. I made a hold it up jig out of a couple of boards and screwed it to the wall above the siding for each plank of siding. One group of installers in my neighborhood drove in 2" finishing nails to set the next course of siding on, then pulled the nails out and put a dab of caulk in the hole. That seemed to work the best of all because the had a string level on the nails.
capncarl

[JimD]

this would only work for steel pieces but I braze pieces like this together with a mapp gas torch. I use the same torch for soldering copper pipe in plumbing projects and other things. Brazing is not as strong as welding but probably plenty good for this.

[jking]

Can you solve this with a set of story sticks? I would think all you'd need to do is determine the dimension you want from the bottom of one piece of siding to the next. You'd mark out and place a couple of nails (you could probably do multiple rows. The bottom nail would index off the bottom row of siding, slide the next piece of siding in and it rests on the next row of nails. You'd have to nail the story stick to the wall to hold it in place, so, you'd probably need help to set the last piece of siding; you couldn't use the story stick.