Wood Handles for my Wood T-Track Clamps

 

Star Handle

I made a few new wood clamps for my X/Y drill press table, and needed handles for them. This star shaped handle is based on an old design that used an imbedded hex nut for the threads. 

Old Design

The new handles use T-nuts I had on hand for the threads.  These were a bit more complex to make, but they work as intended.

Insert T-nut

With the threads starting at  the bottom of the handle they can be used with short T-bolts.  The old design with the nut on top barely found threads to screw onto short bolts.

My CNC cut the bottom details, including the recessed outer area, the recess for the t-nut, the holes for the t-nut shaft and 5/15-18 bolt, the slots for the t-nut barbs, and the outer profile. The tiny slots for the barbs were cut with a 1.5mm diameter spiral end mill. 

Render from Aspire

Details

Once off the CNC I used my bandsaw to cut them apart, my trim router with a flush cut bit to flush cut the edges, then rounded off the top edges at my other trim router table.   The t-nuts were pressed into the handles using my bench vise. 

This was another quick CNC project, made from a small scrap of birch hardwood.  It took more time to draw up the file and create toolpaths than it did to cut them out.   The nice thing about using my CNC to make them is that I can use the same file to make more if/when I need them. 

My clamp design.   

4D

 

Drill Press X/Y Table

I previously made and used an X/Y table on my Delta floor standing drill press.  I've since sold that tool and replaced it with a Nova Voyager direct drive drill press. 

This post is about making a new (and improved) X/Y table for the new drill press. 

Nova Voyager Press

The previous table slid on 1/4" thick metal plate guides that slid in slots cut into plywood. With the leverage of threaded rods it worked well enough, but there is plenty of room for improvement. This version runs on linear slides salvaged from an old CNC project. 

A little sketching helped me visualize the assembly strategy.  There are 3 layers, a top, middle, and a bottom.  

Three Layers

1. The long rails mount on the bottom of the  top layer. 
2. The slides for the long rail mount on the top of the middle layer. 
3. The short rails mount on the bottom of the middle layer.
1. Four rails, 300mm long, were offset and used so the X/Y table could move forward 8.25". The 2nd layer is supported by 4 slides. 
4. The slides for the short rails mount on the top of the bottom layer. 
5. A removable fence mounts on the top rear edge of the top layer.
1. The fence/alignment strategy might mount on pins the drop into holes. 
2. The fence could be an L shape, with a short side and a longer side.
1. It could mount short side forward, or
2. Long side forward, or
3. Thickness edge forward. Perhaps the sides of the L fence are different thicknesses. Either thickness could be the forward edge. 
   
6. The height crank on the drill press needed to be accounted for.  Thus the notch in the rear right corner of the table. 
7. X and Y handles move with the table.  What they thread through is attached to the layer below. 
8. T-Slots running left to right on the top layer provide the best option for clamping parts down. Top layer is a sandwich of 12mm plywood with 5mm plywood between the tracks. The track is embedded into the 12mm layer so only 5mm sticks up. Track is .75" wide and .375" thick.  It works with both 1/4" and 5/16" t-bolts. One 48" long strip was cut in half to make two strips for the 24" wide X/Y table top. 
9. Strips of 1/8" thick plywood sit sandwiched between bottom layer and the drill press table. They account for the heads of the screws that hold the sliders to the other side. 

The bottom/last layer then was mounted to the drill press bed. I needed to screw up from under the bed into the bottom layer. There are square nuts embedded into the bottom layer's top surface.  8mm bolts screw up from below the table to hold the X/Y table in place. 

As I can move the top forward and back I see no reason to make the fence adjustable front to back, but it was  worth making it removable as well as variable in width and height. Fence yet to come. 

For the all-thread I used HDPE to make the blocks. One was drilled and tapped for the steel all-thread.  All were fit into CNC cut pockets for precise positioning and screwed in place. Between the bottom and the middle the all thread is flat on the bottom board.  I cut a shallow groove 1/16" deep below it using a 1/2" ball nosed bit it so it doesn't rub.  The second block is for the middle plate and collets to hold the all-thread in place. It took a bit of work after the CNC was done making it to get it to fit into the pocket made for it. Nylon washers are between the collets and the HDPE blocks. 

Y axis

X axis

Assembly started with the top.  T-track screwed into slots.  Rails screwed to the bottom. Collet block installed and screwed in place.  Middle layer installed by feeding it onto the all thread, and screwing it onto the slides.  Y axis rails screwed to the bottom side of the middle layer.  Bottom layer fed onto the all-thread, then screwed onto the slides.  

Last step was to mount this X/Y table onto the drill press table. 

Bolted down

The handles can slide off and be re-positioned if they bump into boards clamped to the table. The all-thread can also be turned quickly with a socket in my hand drill. 

This X/Y table makes positioning work more precise, and allows spacing a sequence of holes easy by counting turns of the handles. One 360° turn move the table 1/16". A half turn moves it 1/32".  A quarter turn moves it 1/64".   Sixteen turns move it 1". Eight turns move it 1/2". 

4D

My Push Button Quick Adjust Hand Screw Clamp

I'm a big advocate of push button releases on machines and hand tools.  The push button depth stop on my bench drill makes setting the depth simple and quick. The push button release on my CNC bed vises make opening/closing the jaws quick over 19 inches of jaw travel. 

Push Button Adjust Clamp

I have a couple of classic hand screw clamps, inherited from an Uncle. Both are rather slow to open or close the jaws for what needs to be clamped.  This project is my quest to make my own version that uses push buttons to release the 3/8"-16tpi threaded shafts for quick opening or closing. The jaws are 1" thick, just enough thickness for push buttons and the spring below them. 

Making this work with standard all-thread rather than left/right threads on the shafts was the tricky problem. To control the space between the jaws both screws needed to stay attached to both jaws. The threads can only be in one jaw though. The push button side is the threaded jaw. I needed to trap the thread in the other jaw so it can spin but can't come out. I also needed to allow the trapped ends to pivot.  It passes through a 5/8" HDPE rod that has #6-32 machine screws 90° intersecting the 3/8" hole where the grooves on the shafts are. 

HDPE Inserts and #6-32 Screws

I drilled the 5/8" holes through the jaws using my drill press. I cut the taper to the end on each jaw using my band saw.  My band saw removed most of the wood against the line I drew.  Then my disk sander sanded them down to the line.

I used the rotary axis on my CNC to make the grooves around the threaded shafts.  The bit used was a 1/8" diameter milling bit (4 flutes). I offset the bit by 3/16" and set X, then set Z on the top of the threaded rods, then set Y where I wanted the groove to be.  I turned on the router (set to its lowest speed), stepped Z down .01" then spun the rotary axis 360°.  Stepped down another .01" and repeated the 360 rotation until I was down .19" (a bit below center).  I checked the inner diameter which should have been .25" or a bit less. First try and the groove was a little too shallow   I jogged in .005" and repeated the above steps until the groove was deep enough.   Once I had a good groove on one shaft I repeated the same process on the second shaft. 

Groovy!

Sloped slots for the threaded rods were cut using the fluting toolpath in Aspire.  The shafts can pivot up to 30° either way. 

Sloped Slots

For the push buttons I started with an aluminum rod that was .76" in diameter.  I trimmed the ends square with my metal cutoff saw. Next I clamped the rod vertically in my CNC frame, and then trimmed the rod down to .75"d.  Next step was to mark where the 5/16"d hole needed to be, as well as where the bottom needs to be cut.  Both were done with the rod clamped horizontally in my CNC table vise.  I then removed the vise (with the aluminum rod still clamped tight) and took it to my drill press to drill the 5/16"d hole through the aluminum rod. Then I clamped the vise vertically in my bench vise and used a 3/8-16 tap to cut threads through the rod.  The last step was to open up the intersecting 3/8" hole next to the threaded hole using my CNC and a 1/4" end mill.  The toolpath started in the center of the threaded hole, then moved over to profile around the 3/8" hole.  No plunging into aluminum needed.

Aluminum Buttons and Conical Springs

Once all the details of the buttons were done I cut them off the ends of the aluminum rod. That was done at my cutoff saw. 

All the Parts

With all the parts done I assembled the clamp.  Conical springs in a centered recess below the push buttons keep the threads tight against the 3/8" shafts. Push the buttons down to release the threads and slide the jaws where you want them. Release the buttons to lock the jaws back onto the threads. It sometimes it takes a 1/2 turn of the handles to register the buttons to the threads and get the buttons to pop back up. 

Closed Tight

Wide Open

The sloped slots allow 30° of tilt in either direction. 

Angled Open

Angled Closed

This project was another interesting design challenge. Allowing the threaded shafts to pivot relative to the jaws took a few iterations, some research, and some creative CNC vectors to solve. 

I've already been using this clamp.  It delights me with how quick it is to adjust.  The handles were left overs from my CNC Vise design and may need a few iterations yet.  These work fine but a variation may be needed if I want to use the clamp flat on a table/bench. 

Comments and questions are encouraged and welcome.

4D