# Mill work stop



## janders1957 (May 23, 2013)

Here's a table mounted work stop I made about 18 years ago. At the time I was working alongside a couple mold makers, one of whom made many of his own tools, and they were works of art. His work inspired me to come up with this design.

The base is obvious, a big block of steel, counterbored hole for a 1/2" cap screw to secure to the table. The vertical rod fits into the base and is secured by the two cap screws on the side.

The block holding the 1/4" rod is two parts mirror imaged vertically, but for one being counterbored, the other threaded. Both are a very close fit on the vertical rod, and feature a half round groove for the 1/4" rod. Between the rod and the vertical cap screw, the two are relieved slightly creating a slight gap. When this screw is tightened, the two pieces pivot on the rod something like a clothespin, and thus wedge themselves on the vertical rod.

This has proven very solid and repeatable, and is quick and easy to adjust. It's a bit of overkill really, but I wanted to create something that looked nice and different, in addition to being functional.


----------



## Monk (May 23, 2013)

:whiteflag:Really nice tool! exactly what I need, and a good description. Thanks!

Monk


----------



## BKtoys (May 23, 2013)

janders1957 said:


> Here's a table mounted work stop I made about 18 years ago. At the time I was working alongside a couple mold makers, one of whom made many of his own tools, and they were works of art. His work inspired me to come up with this design.
> 
> The base is obvious, a big block of steel, counterbored hole for a 1/2" cap screw to secure to the table. The vertical rod fits into the base and is secured by the two cap screws on the side.
> 
> ...


i really do like the work on such a simple project ,it is beautiful and your description is as good. i do plan on building one myself.:thumbsup::thumbsup:thanks for sharing


----------



## itsme_Bernie (May 23, 2013)

Beautiful!!  Nice pic!  Do you remember how you matched the parts so well?  Like your sequence of operations?  Wow, that is a piece of art.

Bernie


----------



## janders1957 (May 24, 2013)

Thank you for the kind comments! Everything was ground, but not hardened. For the upper clamp halves, I inserted a short piece of 1/4" stock, clamped to the vertical rod, and ground the side surfaces and back radius with the rod mounted in a spin indexer. 

I must confess, I don't always aspire to such a high standard. I try to make custom tools/tooling look nice, but generally worry more about mere function over looks...

Jon


----------



## itsme_Bernie (May 24, 2013)

I think I come from the same place as you, but have not achieved the same success as you here!  Wow


Bernie


----------



## janders1957 (May 24, 2013)

I'm sure glad I took this picture, as a couple years ago, working late at night and very tired, I forget to reset the power feed stop when I changed a setup, and ran an insert mill into the clamp. She no look as nice today...


----------



## Rick Leslie (May 26, 2013)

I made the same type tool about 20 years ago when working in the job shop. Mine isn't nearly as elegant as yours, but has proven to be a valuable addition to the tool chest over the last two decades. I think every machinist's box should contain one of these gems. Mine gets used very regularly.


----------



## janders1957 (May 27, 2013)

I made this mill stop without any drawings. Got to wondering just now, if I'd ever drawn it up, and yes, I did!
It's a Cadkey99 .PRT file,which probably not many folks can read. If I export as a .DXF, Cadkey will lump all entities on all levels into one level.
It'll be a while before I have time to mess with it, but when I do, I'll make up real prints and a description of how I'd approach making it. 
Anyone running CK99, I can send the file to directly upon request.

Jon


----------



## Mid Day Machining (Jun 13, 2013)

Nice part. I'm impressed. I have never heard of CadKey software. I am a GibbsCam used.


----------



## janders1957 (Jun 14, 2013)

Cadkey went a couple versions past CK99, think the last version as Cadkey, was 22, or something like that. Was bought out by Kubotek USA and subsequently became known as KeyCreator. I wish I could afford an upgrade. CK99 will do solids, but nowhere near as complex as what can be done with modern CAD packages.

Jon


----------

