# Kant Twist Clamp



## Switch & Lever

Hello all machinists! I'm a recent user, but I've been looking through the projects and threads here and found quite a bit of info here in the past, so I thought it would be about time to share what I've been working on, and possibly get some input as well. I'm by no means an expert, but alongside my education in industrial and interaction design I've spent the last five or so years avidly using and learning as much as I could about the workshop we have access to here at school. 

The way I document is through video, not through photos and text. I hope you enjoy the video, and those to come. Some are meant more for those with some experience, whereas others can be done by pure beginners with limited tooling as well. I try to show what goes wrong, and how to fix it, as well as what goes as intended. I won't spam the forum with my videos, but post one now and then, depending on how they're received.

Anyhow, the first project I wanted to share with you here is the making of a Kant twist clamp. I live in Sweden, and those clamps are completely unheard of over here, but I've come to like them quite much since I first got in touch with them when I lived in San Francisco for a few months last year, so why not make your own? This was also inspired heavily by John Heisz's creation of a wooden Kant twist clamp which he describes in his video linke here.

So anyway, onto the first video, how to make a Kant twist clamp. Enjoy!

[video=youtube;rlvLUS2Lixc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlvLUS2Lixc[/video]

The plans the clamp was based on can be downloaded here: http://switchandlever.com/plans/kant_twist_clamp_plans.pdf (adjust the measurements to fit your application) 

Cheers!


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## Uglydog

Welcome to the site!
And thank you for your participation. 
I've thought about purchasing a "Kant Twist" so that I could disassemble and copy.
I've not seen plans before.

I need to ensure that my wife doesn't find out we got a Swedish member. She has friends and relatives in Sweden who she talks with regularly. In fact, some will be staying here in July. My fear is that if she learns that you are here she will attempt to leverage a tour of your shop. That of course means I'd have to travel....

Did you see the posting for the machine scraping class in your neighborhood?

Thanks for the prints!

Daryl
MN


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## stevecmo

Well done!  Excellent video and plans.  Thanks for sharing and I look forward to your other videos.


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## burtonbr

Really nice video, thanks for posting it. Great tips in there to help. 
Kant twist clamps are the best, I only have 1 pair of 6" but always wished I had more, might have to get off my butt and make a couple this size, I know I'll find a use for them.


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## xalky

Welcome to the forum. Great video tutorial! )

Marcel


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## LJP

Welcome to the forum. I am one of your YouTube subscribers. I would encourage you to start another thread and post your video of the small square you made. It will be well received!
Larry


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## Switch & Lever

*Uglydog*, yeah, it took me quite some time to find the plans. I ended up finding the online course material for a 3d modeling course which had the clamp as a required model for an assignment. Good score I'd say, though no idea if they're "official" plans in any sense of the word.

Hmm, no, haven't seen anything about machine scraping around here.

Wish I could say this was my shop, but alas it belongs to the Umeå Institute of Design where I'm doing my masters. I'd kill to have a shop like this. Three metal lathes, three milling machines, a full wood workshop of machinery as well, bandsaws, MIG and TIG welder, the list goes on and on. Though, one can always dream I guess 

*stevecmo*, thank you, glad you liked it!

*burtonbr*, heck, even if you don't find a use for them they're a nice addition to any workshop! 

*xalky*, thank you!

*LJP*, for sure, I will share the other videos with apropriate theme to fit this forum as well. Though, I think I'll leak them out once a week or so so I don't feel like I'm spamming the place. Cheers!


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## Ian Bee

Well, blown away!

Such a top shelf presentation, which in its own right, would have taken an inordinate amount of your time, both recording, and post.

Your skills are awesome as well, as well as your thinking of design, and problem solving.

I certainly hope you find an avenue to continue your great work, as well as sharing with us folks here.

Thank you, and do hope you manage to keep the videos of your projects coming!

Ian


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## Jeff in Pa

Well done both in design and explaining how to manufacture it.
  Jeff


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## thomas s

Well done thank you for posting


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## Smudgemo

Hello from San Francisco.  Well, the other side of the bay, actually.  This is good stuff.  Thanks for sharing.
-Ryan


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## Switch & Lever

*Ian Bee*, I've spent quite some time doing video editing, so doing these things doesn't require that much time. Probably what's the most painful is to record the narration. I'm very comfortable in English, but actually recording your voice is something completely different. 

Glad you liked them though, there will be more to come for sure, though by July I will have lost access to the workshop so it's likely that the videos will veer towards a non-workshop theme until I can get back to it.

Cheers!

*Jeff, thomas*, thank you 

*Smudgemo*, you're out in Oakland? I really want to get back to the bay area if I have the chance. Fell in love with it when I lived there, sad I had to leave.


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## Marco Bernardini

I was just planning to make some small Kant Twists, not for my shop, but just to use as unusual tablecloth holders in my garden.
The idea of the small screw keeping the tip of the shaft is pretty neat: I will copy it ;-)


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## markknx

I bought a pair of these clamps to try them at Work (I'm an Ironworker) Some times C clamps won't work do to the angle of the screw These clamps give a different angle to work with. I like them alot The only draw back is throat depth, I have been thinking of trying to make some with a deeper throat. Your video will sever a great help to me on this task (if I can get started) Thanks for your great post. Well presented and thought out Mark


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## Bill Gruby

Welcome aboard. Thank you so much for this post. I have made the patterns already for this project. I will make 6 to start.

 "Billy G"


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## twstoerzinger

I really liked the "play back" speed of the video. The video moves right along without becoming tedious, yet the speed is still such that the average machinist / metal worker can easily follow the tasks being performed.
Well done.
Terry S, Minnesota


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## brasssmanget

Thoroughly enjoyable and very informative video. I had no problem following and understanding as it went along. Great job!


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## architard

I must have subscribed to your YouTube channel because I saw the video before I saw this post. I think I found your channel from Tom Lipton's channel. I love the tiny hammer. Great work, like everyone else said, really good video editing. 

What is the Masters that you are pursuing?


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## mattthemuppet2

that was a really cool video, thanks! You make it look so simple and I love the fact that it only took 12min to make one


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## Switch & Lever

*Marco*, it's all in the original plans  Cheers!

*markknx*, they do make some Kant twist clamps which have a deeper throat though, maybe you could look into those? Or of course, making custom ones are much more rewarding 

*Bill Gruby*, cool, I would love to see how you get along with them!

*Terry*, that's what I was trying to do. I know we all like seeing chips flying, but it's hard to keep a narrative in a video when it becomes hours in length. I think the video material that I shoved down into 12 minutes was around 3 hours in total.

*brasssmanget*, cheers!

*architard*, aye, Tom has been a great inspiration through my videoing adventures, learned a lot from watching his videos (and many others' too of course).

*mattthemuppet*, I guess I could knock one out in 12 minutes, after a hundred cups of coffee or so


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## melsdad

Another great project! My list of shop projects keeps growing larger by the week!


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## george wilson

Your English is great. You have excellent mastery of technical terms. Although my father was a full blooded Swede,Swedish is the most foreign sounding language to me!! Guess My genes did not help me!!.

Great videos,though. Speeding them up is an excellent way to keep long processes from becoming tedious to watch.


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## Barnesrickw

I'll bet your English is much better than my Swedish.  Bu I do drive a Saab 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Switch & Lever

*melsdad*, though that's not exactly a problem, is it? 

*george wilson*, thank you! Since both my education is in English, and my significant other is non-Swedish, English has become my main language of communication for the last few years. Still have some distance to go in terms of pronounciation, but it's getting there.

If you think Swedish sounds foreign, you should hear Finnish 

*B**arnesrickw*, Swedish isn't hard. It's just a matter of watching enough Muppets until you understand what the Swedish Chef is actually saying.


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## Rick Leslie

Thank you for the video. It was informative, entertaining and pleasant while packing a lot of info into a short space. I'll just echo the comments above, but we appreciate the time and effort that goes into making a good video, not to mention the quality of your project. I look forward to your other videos.

BTW; the Swedish Chef was (is) my favorite Muppet.


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## MetalMuncher

Very nice video! I have some of these clamps, and they are quite handy. Never thought about trying to make one!

)


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