Mill clamps and fixtures

[Smokedaddy]

I was wondering if anyone has some “can’t do without” or “must have” clamps, or clamping system, for holding down “things” on a mill or maybe even a lathes' faceplate. Being a novice to machining, I simply want to keep an eye out for such things, or maybe even make something. Notice I said "must have" above.

-SD:

[darryl]

I made myself a t-square that references to the front side of the table and can be bolted down using two of the slots. Invaluable for setting up, or even for clamping something to for machining. Couldn't do without that now. It's 1x2 channel, with the reference surface machined after it was placed and bolted down. Building it again, I would use 1x1 solid bar for the cross piece instead of the channel.

[ibewgypsie]

The bridgeport American made hold down kit I bought off ebay.. I don't remember the namebrand..

It is used more than anything else now with the mill..

It is a dozen or so tnuts, studs of varied lengths, slotted hold downs with fulcrums..

I have it on the wall, put everything back in it's hole each time it is used, I respect it. Treat it like gold.

David

------------------
David Cofer, Of:
Tunnel Hill, North Georgia

[SGW]

Get a clamp kit of the size to fit your T-slots. You can cobble up substitutes, but the savings in aggravation when you have a decent set of T-nuts, studs, step blocks, clamps, etc. all organized and ready to hand make it well worth the money.

I keep thinking I want to buy a set of the My-Tee-Bite toe clamps, or whatever they're called, but I notice I haven't done it yet and I don't seem to be suffering much.

I started with one clamp set, then added another, now I am making hold down bars and soft jaws for the clamp sets as needed. Plus I bought an extra 12 T Nuts, they come in handy.

Jerry

[JRouche]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by darryl:
I made myself a t-square that references to the front side of the table and can be bolted down using two of the slots. Invaluable for setting up, or even for clamping something to for machining. Couldn't do without that now. It's 1x2 channel, with the reference surface machined after it was placed and bolted down. Building it again, I would use 1x1 solid bar for the cross piece instead of the channel. </font>

Very nice. I like that tool. How accurate is it? Can you just place it against the edge of the table and clamp it solid with accuracy. My mill has an aluminum fixture plate that I run studs into. I think it would make for some quicker setups. Pictures/drawings? Please. JRouche

[Gary Westfall]

I use a lot of the Mitee-Bite stuff for tough to hold items. Mostly I use vise softjaws.

[ZINOM]

I used my screwless vise for just about everything until just recently....then I started clamping a lot of things directly to the table just for the fun of it....I feel like I can take more agressive cuts on my mill drill.

Plus, it makes me feel more like a machinist hehe.

I went through my back issues of HSM and MW and looked over the jigs and fixtures articles....useful stuff.

John

[darryl]

Here's a rough drawing (and I mean rough) of the square. With a little imagination, you can make out the mill table under the jig. The jig itself has a piece of angle iron which butts up against the front edge of the table. Two holes allow the use of t-nuts to hold it against that front surface. I cleaned up the two outer sides of that piece before mounting it. That t-slot is what's normally used for the table end stops. Still can use them. Then the channel is bolted to the angle with one bolt, centrally, surrounded by four roll pins. There might just be enough detail in the drawing to make out a representation of that. I bolted the angle in place, bolted the channel to it, and lined it up across the table using a regular square. Then I got it a tad better using a rod in the chuck, and traversing the table in y. Then I carefully clamped the pieces, drilled and pressed in four roll pins surrounding the bolt, then tightened the central bolt. You might be able to see the two holes in the bottom of the channel that allow studs and t-nuts to clamp it to the table. Taking the t-nuts out of the front slot, I raised the channel using a thin scrap of something, carefully realigned it to the front of the table, and clamped it down to the table to take a pass across the edge of the channel to clean it up and make it fully 90 degrees to the long axis.
Often I just hold this square up to the table and align a workpiece to it's edge, then remove the square to finish clamping the work.
Most times that I mount this thing, I don't use the bolts on the front, just the top two through the channel. Basically I use that if I'm working on a smaller piece and want to dress the edge, I'll clamp it directly to the edge of the channel. Of course, as most of us would know, the sides of the channel aren't an even thickness, they're tapered somewhat, so clamps don't want to work all that well, though I can always clamp across the width of the channel. 1 inch bar would be a better piece since it's sides would be parallel (and you can machine them in place for better accuracy) and it won't flex as the channel would if clamping across the width of it. For me, 1 inch high makes sense because a lot of what I do isn't much wider than that, and to clamp the piece to this cross piece means I don't have to set up and align a vise, and then try getting the part clamped accurately in it.

[J Tiers]

You MUST HAVE a means of holding work to teh table. Vice, clamps & step block, etc.

You pretty much must have some easy means of holding a part at 90 to the table and along the table.


I made a plate that has two pegs to fit the table slot, with the side perpendicular to the slot. Has a hole in it to clear the hold-down stud/bolt. Very handy.

Also made a "table strip"...piece that fits the t-slot and is several inches long with sides exactly parallel to table. Also handy.

Made and aquired a bunch of clamps. I'd say you need step blocks, regular clamps, clamps with a notch in the nose so they are lower profile.
Also clamps with a round snout...fit irregular things, also fit in holes in teh side of things you will mill the entire top of.
Angle plate...one with lots o slots for holding.

To go with those, you need t-nuts and studs and hardened nuts with integral washers. All lengths of stud. if you can get a clamp kit, you will get a lot of the common stuff mentioned. (My T-slot is 3/8, and the clamp kit for that size is double the price of the common sizes...I made stuff for it if it didn't come with my used mill.)

I am in the process of making a "low-boy" vice that uses the table slot as a reference and slide-way. (That is where the "HR steel" thread came from....) If I ever get it done I will like that.

A year or so back I turned down a low-boy swiveling vise that would be pretty handy instead, but I had to figure the price was too high....haven't seen another one like it since.

[This message has been edited by J Tiers (edited 11-01-2004).]