Drill Press Table Clamp

[Canuck75]

Thought a table clamp for my 1975 Jet drill press would be useful.
The design is nothing fancy and just evolved as the parts were made. The beam is anchored by a clamping bracket and pivot pin behind the left rear corner of the table. The movable jaw has a vee in both directions and also has a spring loaded indexing pin with 1/2" increments for a range of 12". The beam is 1/4" x 1" and all material is CRS. Jaws are 1' x 3".
Have made other mods for my drill press over time to include a quill lock, a quick nut depth stop and a third pulley to get extra speeds range. I also cut the original table casting back to the centre webs and then put a 3/8" plate on top which gives a much easier way to use clamps at the front and both sides.

 

[FOMOGO]

Great job on the clamp, and I really like the idea of the plate. Cheers, Mike

 

[rwm]

That is a really beautiful tool! Nice job shaping those jaws. How did you get the contours?
Robert

 

[Canuck75]

Robert, thanks for the comments, used a 1/2" ball end mill.

Mike, yes the original table casting had a 2" deep rim around it and was a real pain to use clamps. Cut it back to the supporting centre ribs and added the 10" deep x 12" wide plate. A dream to use C clamps now.

 

[Mini Cooper S]

Nice work and an elegant design. I took the easy route, a guy moving to a new shop was throwing these out along with 5 others! They came home with me. The one with the double handles is for use on a band saw.

Richard

 

[Canuck75]

Richard, now that was a stroke of luck. Those are beautiful clamps.
Could you explain the method of movement on the clamps? Looks like threaded keys are used on the band saw clamp and some kind of a quick-nut is used on the other one. Would appreciate any information as well as photos of those mechanisms.
Had dreams of using a concentric mechanism but couldn't think of a way to do it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mini Cooper S]

You are exactly right about the band saw clamp, it works like a turnbuckle with LH and RH threads. The drill press vise jaw, on the right, only has about 3/4" adjustment with the crank handle on the end. The left hand jaw gives adjustment by pulling out the loop and sliding the jaw on the bar. The loop engages and locks into the notches in the bar.

I used these at the shop where I served my apprenticeship, and really missed them when I moved on. When I happened upon these, I thought that I died and went to Heaven!

Richard

 

[Canuck75]

Richard,-

Thanks for the reply and great photo. Takes the mystery out of how they work.

Finished mine up with a toggle on the clamp instead of the SHCS. I just do hobby stuff so will have to do me.

Thanks again


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