Wedge Clamp

[stickman]

Thought I'd post a couple pictures of a simple wedge clamp system that I created to help me put in keyhole plates and route smaller items. I'm going to try this out and see if it will reduce the screw anchor method.


5338

[stickman]

5339

It works pretty slick, just screw it to the table and place the work inside the clamp and tap the wedges in from each end. The MDF take the abuse quite well.

[stevem]

Ingenious

[jay]

Great Idea!

[Brady Watson]

Nice!

I initially thought (in the 1st pic) that it was for holding stock on edge for mortising. Not sure how well that would work....but for what you're doing, that's pretty slick!

-Brady

[scott_smith]

Looks good Jay. Could you use wedges only on the top? That would keep your Y-0 reference the same each part.

This was my solution to the same problem:

5340

The white parts are the project being machined.
The yellow board (on the bottom of the picture) floats between the clamps and the part. I just cut a new width when I need to hold another size part.
The yellow board (in the top of the picture) is attached to the blue bottom board that I clamp to the bed of the machine.

[stickman]

When I use this jig, I've been placing my shopbot to the center of the keyhole location. That is my keyhole program 0,0.

I do have a question, is it possible to write programming as to use my exsisting keyhole program and use it to cut on a 16" O.C.

What I've been doing is moving from lets say 8,4 and then to 24,4. Running the keyhole at each location. I need to spend a little time programming. This is one little program that I am going to use over and over and over again.

Thanks for the complements guys. I enjoy this more and more each day.

[scott_smith]

Yes, I do it a lot.
I think they call it nesting programs.
It works out great that your program is already written at 0,0.
All you need is a master program that looks like this:

J2,8,4
FP,filename, , , , , 2
J2,24,4
FP,filename, , , , , 2

(filename is the name of your keyhole program)

[scott_smith]

You can also replace the 2nd J2 with JX,%(1)+16
This would give you your 16” O.C. if your file ends at 0,0

[stickman]

Scott,

Thanks for the help, I knew it was out there. Actually it was right under my nose on that nice laminated sheet called the COMMAND QUICK REF.

How funny.

Jay

[jay_p]

Scott,
Whatare you machining in this setup?

Jay

[scott_smith]

White delrin.
They're parts for a target on a baseball pitching game that goes in amusement park midways.


5341

[podunk]

Hmm,

Does it get thin at the edges to guarantee nothing but a direct hit to the center will win the prize?

[scott_smith]

Nope, It’s stepped down to lighten the target so that vibration from a missed shot at the catcher’s head doesn’t set of the sensor.

[mrdovey]

I've been using Scott's approach. This last week I came up with a toggle clamp alternative that works much better for me:




Morris

[mrdovey]

Argh! I'll put pix on my website when I have time. Sorry for increasing the forum noise level.

[mrdovey]

I didn't like the toggle clamps as well as I thought I would - so built some screw clamps that work much better. The picture below is the largest image that'd fit into 25k:


5342

Morris

[paco]

Try .JPG format! Would like to see details...

[mrdovey]

Paco...

My jpg size is even worse. I'll have 'em on a web page soon - meanwhile, check your mailbox.

Morris

[daveiannone]

Morris
I'd like to see better pics too...email me please..
Thanks , Dave

[paco]

I got it!

[mrdovey]

Dave...

Check your mailbox! The pix should have arrived by now. If they haven't, I'll re-send.

Morris

[mrdovey]

Finally have some photos on my web site. If you're interested, there are a number of fixture element photos at http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/products.html under "T-Track Clamping Systems".