Hey everyone- two things: 1) Since shooting this, I have used these clamps in some very heavy cuts on steel, and they held up great! Rock solid. So I can recommend this design or a similar one. 2) Some videos result in 100 people asking the same one or two questions and I can’t answer them all. If I delete your question, it is because I have answered it further down and want other people to be able to find the answer easier. Thanks for watching! Update, because the above didn’t stop everyone from asking the same question: The reason I didn’t cut the slots with a slitting saw is that (a) I didn’t have one the right size, and (b) milling these was a lot faster than all the extra setup would have been for the saw. It really didn’t take long- these are tiny slots. My storytelling prose oversold the time spent in the video, I guess.
You borrowed one of AvE's eggcorrns - _"flexture"_ - thereby creating a perfectly cromulent creole word for a fixture that flexes. Always the pedant, I will point out those in the business call this feature a flexure.
@@tnekkc How much money? Lol. Watch Robrenz video titled ULTRA PRECISION REPEAT O METER. He makes several references to the flexure joint. He pronounces it /ˈflekSHər/. Robrenz is the real deal. Another RUclipsr, AvE has made a few videos involving flexures. He always pronounces it /ˈflekSTir/. He's a master malpropist and mondegreen merchant. Keep yer stick on the ice.
@@peteroleary9447 LOL that isn't AvE's word, it isn't robin's word, it is an industry standard word that has been around LOOKING before either one of them. It's crazy how many words get attributed to AvE that he didn't come up with. (Most of the words he uses were around long before he was even born.)
@@xenonramNot sure what you're saying. I'm saying that flexure is a word and flexture is not. Still, language evolves, sometimes overnight. From now henceforth, I declare the word flexure and the non-word flexture to be archaic. The new words shall be fxlzbretu and fztrbekzx respectively.
Your videos are hands down THE MOST concise and informative ones on the net! Your added humor, conscientious edits for brevity, and sharing your thoughts are SPOT ON! Thanks and KUDOS!
I've been in engineering all my life initially in a radiochemical lab producing and repairing small moulds then I moved on to the sales side working for a distributor, supplying tooling, consumables and equipment. I've learnt so much over the years dealing with everything from Railway Wheel turning to Instrument work and special purpose machines. I have to say I've learnt as much detail from your videos as I have over the last 50 years, well done and thanks.
Love the metric call outs! Thanks - I'm just moving from never having a vise to having a vise, but even with always using clamps on all my work, Harold's holders are still on my list and yet to be started
Every week I look forward to Saturday evenings ( UK time) to your entertaining , informative and humorous channel .tonights episode another useful workshop item please keep them coming.
man learned so much in depth tutorial! learned about cutting speed (which no one talks about when cutting steel), learned about bluing and wanted to learn about quill stop.... thanks so much I legit was impressed with this vid!
Since I converted my mill to CNC I use my big low profile clamps even more regulary I build my ones after this old Tony about 1,5 years ago and they work perfect some projects would have been impossible without them. I like the style you shot your videos and the easy going when you talk 😁
The beauty of these is that they are easily scaleable. Everything from 4mm high, using a 3mm grub screw, up to where the mill table groans in protest. Meow and an affectionate caress to Sprocket.
I waited a little bit to watch this. I would not have thought that tools of this type were so handy and useful, but the demonstration at the end proved the point. Fascinating stuff. Many thanks!
Thanks Quinn! So glad you chose this project. I'd love to explore a DIY alternative to the expensive commercial mini-clamps from the "usual suspects." Now I have a solid example as a final project or as something to adapt for whatever needs arise.
I'd like to place an order for 1,000 cases... what a neat idea Quinn, and I could use those right now! Greg Priest of Priest Tools is a really helpful and nice guy. On my LMS mill, over time I've added every accessory he makes and they really transformed my bench mill into a super functional tool. I can't recommend him or his products enough. For those that haven't heard of him, he does upgrade kits for Precision Matthews, LittleMachineShop, Grizzly, and perhaps others as well.
I have a set of 6 “ Mitutoyo Diamond verniers that I bought in 1970. They still are my go to measuring stick when tolerances allow. I have scribed untold number of lines with them and many times without bluing. So I agree with you that this is OK. If they still work after 50 years and many resharpenings, I say to those who protest “get a life!”
I greatly appreciate you listing links to all the products you use on your projects. It makes it so easy to find them to purchase for my hobby machine shop. Thank you, and I enjoy your videos. Don from Oregon
When im slotting blade guards and bolsters ive found its best to drill the ends of the slots and mill to them. Makes that sort of tedious narrow slotting a lot easier....these are REALLY cool! Discovered your channel from TOTs project vid...really clear and wonderful stuff! Thank you for sharing!!
Just found and subbed your channel. Enjoying what I've watched so far and looking forward to seeing your other videos. I have a small general shop with no mechine tool. But have the intrest. Just retired and decided to venture into this. So, for my retirement gift to myself I decided to start small and ordered a mini mill and mini lathe with tooling to make small parts. Can't wait. Now back to learning form your videos and anxiety waiting for a truck in our drive.
I just got some material in to make the low profile clamps. I am also using the Harold Hall design clamps but have chosen one of the other style clamps. Enjoyed your video as usual. Thanks for sharing.
@@Blondihacks I have the book and I am glad that you said something about the copyright. I would have shot a picture of his plan in my video. Never thought about it. Don't need the YT copyright police banking on my front door.
4:31, I have exactly the same mill as you, Quinn, no doubt under a Canadian dealer name though. I’m currently putting in a ball screw 20M/M threaded rod for the vertical mill head movement, to take out the annoying backlash it has. 15:14 mine had a hokey safety shield with a micro switch inside. It kept stopping my machine by itself, so I promptly stopped that. Fantastic, gonna make some for myself soon. Thanks Quinn.
Just wanted to say that this is really cool and the perfect tiny clamping system for my Taig Lathe when set up with a milling slide. As soon as I can get it running again (waiting for some parts) I'm going to make some of these. But, instead of 80+ passes with the small end mill would drilling a hole and then cutting with a slitting saw up to that hole work instead? I've seen Clickspring do something like that.
Just the small note of the little round bar around 3:15ish that's good stuffs. I am thinking of getting a mill in the near future to fiddle with things. Thats a nice little operational tip people might not know! 16:51!!! LOL loving it!
Quinn , I looked up co planar (in the same plane) thought it mite be a "Quinn- isem" I don't know why I doubt you??? ( others are to afraid to question you ) you really raised the bar on this video , 1) word of the day 2) fantastic animation 3) new tools, a chip guard , and quill stop from Preist Tools ,( let us pray and give thanks ) (sorry I could not let that go ) All joking aside Thank you for taking the time to make these very high quality videos , Pete M
I made some slots like this in another project, and also needed a finished slot with rounded back end. However, I found it faster to drill the hole, cut the slot almost to width with bandsaw and then finish with end mill. Quick and clean. Nice clamps !
The cup ends of the set screws are made to 'bite' in. I usually round off the ends of the 'pusher' screws so they are free to slide on the back of the moveable piece.
At 12:46 the Four flute endmill is the right choice because you have already machined the center out which the four flute can’t do. The two flute endmill in that size can be a high risk to use on a milling machine you use when drilling, it simply does not have the stability and it can suddenly stuck or flip the part out of the wise.
Another options for cutting slots like that is to use plunging of the end mill. Move over 1/3D and do it again. Then one final pass in the slot direction to clean up the sides of the slot. I have found that plunging a slot is often faster for me, and it doesn't have a chip clearing problem.
I love those little clamps i hve been needing something like this for sometime now. I use a .750 thick steel plate 16" X 6" with .375 tapped holes to hold long parts in the kurt vise ; these will be perfect for that. The only thing I would have different would be to drill a row of undersize holes for the slot to ease the work of the endmill. Thanks for the design idea.
I really enjoyed this video, if you really wanted to utilize the feed stop couldn’t you have maybe used a drill to creat the end radii? And have the end mill stop short and just hand feed to final destination!? 🤔
Oh, I wish you could see my bedroom-I'm in the doghouse and have had to move all of my tools in there-I have a path from the door to the bed via the wardrobe and that is that!
Harold has some like this in his video. I made some in my metal planer video. I sent some photos to Harold and got a lovely reply via email. They work pretty well! That depth stop is horrible. Lose the threaded rod and put a piece of linear rail on there. Just have a bush with a thumb-screw for a clamp. That's what I have and it is really great because you can use it with gauge blocks to set a known depth.
Ive seen your work on insta and this is the first bh youtube vid, Wow i love that you went through EVERYTHING. lol might get boring after a while but it was really really excellent. well narated and super clear, Thanks
Harold Hall is a well respected and much loved exponent of practical engineering here in the UK. It's good to know that he is well thought of in the US too. With regard to drilling the holes for the grub screws, a slot drill (British terminology, I believe in the US you say two flute end mill) would remove the risk of the drill point contacting the inside of the flexture on breakthrough. You'd still need a depth stop of course. I have a power feed stop switch on one of my mills that is similar to yours. I've fitted the original mechanical stop in such a way that it can still be used with the mechanical stop dogs. I think I'd have done that for milling the slots. It's repeatable and means you can just bash on.
Yah that was my first thought after this job- put the mechanical stops back on. I got good at hitting the number on the DRO, but it would have been less stressful to have the stops for sure.
@@Blondihacks Yes. I don't use my limit switch much but it does have its applications. The mechanical stops, on the other hand, I find far more versatile. Please know that none of my comments of your video were in any way intended to be criticisms; rather I am analytical by nature and when I see something done I tend to try to envisage possible alternative ways to achieve the same result.
I never mind feedback as long as people are respectful and courteous about it, and they aren’t the 500th person to say the same thing. If someone fails those two tests, it means they aren’t really here for community and learning, they just want a platform for their unappreciated genius. My RUclips is not the platform they are looking for.
You may consider a bit more stock on the y axis of the hold down as placed in the test. There is a high likelihood that if it gives, it will be the lack of contact on the table surface due to the lack of surface area. More contact = more holding power. Just a thought. Also, a slightly larger than the slot width hole at the end of the deflection slots will greatly increase the life span of that part of the tool. Finally, making these from a good spring steel that can be hardened and spring tempered will make them something that will last and last. Good stuff and thoughtful design!
I asked Greg Priest about a possible fit for the depth stop on my Precision Matthews mill. I received a response of "I don't know" and "You pay for return shipping". Just thought you should know. Knowledge and customer service are important to me. Best to you.
I have not seen any of your videos before so I may be touching on a subject that has been brought up before but anyhow, here goes. When you cut the slots instead of taking .05 deep vertical moves and traversing horizontally, use the quill of your machine and set a stop on it to allow the endmill to reach just past the bottom of the part. Now starting at the outside edge of the part use the endmill like a drill moving horizontally in .01 thousands increments after each vertical pass. You will cut a perfectly straight slot with no deflection if you just let the endmill cut. Also the endmill will last much longer.
Another wonderfully informative video, From where did that magnetic end stop holder come? My table is aluminum so something like that that uses T-slots would be nice.
@ 9:00, Nachi 135 degree split point stub drills are your friend. High quality and not expensive and don't require as much torque as 118 degree chisel point drills...
"And I'm going to use my calipers in a way......" Been a toolmaker for 35yrs and do this all the time. Tell them to get bent, I have never "Ruined" a pair of calipers doing this. I usually drop them or someone helps me with that. Micrometers also make convenient carry handles for pieces of flat stock, so there!
Don’t listen to the haters complaining about using the caliper for scribing lines. I bought a cheap Chinese one almost twenty years ago just for that purpose, so I wouldn’t ruin my good caliper. I use it almost every day, and the points are just like new yet. I don’t know what kind of steel those school kids use to make them, but they really are holding up nicely. I don’t consider that type of caliper as a precision measuring tool anyway. They are handy and great for reference, but there is usually a more precise and reliable way to measure things. Thanks again for calling a drill a drill instead of a drill bit!
Apparently they are often made of 440C stainless. Hardness probably 52-56 Rockwell C, which is softer than HSS but still pretty hard, comparable to some woodworking tools and kitchen knives.
In my experience 2 flute ems make terrible counterboring tools. They end up wobbling too much. I think you were right to use the 4 flute. Smart about the clearance on the underside. Thanks!
I like Mitee bites, they are relatively cheap and easy to use, I would have made a small aluminium fixture and some miter bites for your next project, added benefit is you can drill through the work.
Nothing beats a twist drill for material removal rate, so to mill a long and deep slot it is well worth the time to drill a row of through-holes first, and then doing the milling operation to join up those drilled holes. (use a drill slightly smaller than your final slot dimension!) The drilled holes are very useful as they greatly aid chip evacuation from the milling cutter and prevent it from clogging and (potentially) snapping as it cuts the deep slot. This allows the milling operation to be completed with far fewer depth-passes than would normally be necessary to ensure good chip evacuation, thereby saving far more time than you spent on the initial drilling operation. PS: When doing the drilling, you can vertically gang several parts to save even more time.
I know all this. I have covered slot milling on my channel. This was faster in this case because the drill would be tiny and require a lot of extra setup.
Hi Quinn, Nice design and machining. If you had an .125" slitting saw, could you drill a hole at the end of the slot and use the slitting saw to remove the rest of material?
Yah, probably! It would have been a lot of extra setup though. The advantage of the way I did it was it was only one setup for all 8 slots so it was pretty quick that way.
Most of the other guys I watch on these programs somehow put me to sleep, I think maybe it's the voice, but I can stay awake listening to you and you all seem to be talking about the same things
Letter drills are ANSI. They differ by 5, 10, or 20 thousands (more as they get bigger). Close but not the same as Imperial wire gauge. Like a lot of people I rarely use them except to find a drill for tapping. But when I do stop and look at them, they are very handy sizes and I should refer to them more often.
Yeah the only thing I use the end stops for is emergency anti-crash protection if I've got a long cut and I'm not quite on the ball to cancel the thing before it hits the end of travel.. My horizontal mill doing miles of keyway or something
Though I am not an active machinist I do feel that through contact between the clamp and the table when parallel to the T-slot is somewhat less than I would feel comfortable with. I love your channel!
When making your slots you should try plunge cutting to full depth to save time. Move in 20%, plunge through, move in, plunge, stop at end point, leave at full depth, clean the slot by feeding out. Try it, you'll like it.
It’s a nice mill you’ve got there, what make is it? You make a good entertaining video. I am old and doing that for a long time but I cannot see the difference using those small clamps over a precise well adjusted vise.
Great job on those clamps, I really like the design. If you wanted an end stop switch that was repeatable would making a machined one yourself be a feasible/fun project? Maybe not worth it if you would never use it though...
A tip for milling deep slots... Drill a series of holes just barely touching each other the length of the slot to rough it out. Drilling not only goes faster, it removes a lot of the material. It makes less work and fewer chips for the finish end mill. You can actually space/drill every other hole, then drill between the spaced holes so there is no connecting web left between the drilled holes.
I frequently use this trick, but i have given up trying to connect the holes on narrow slots, cz I'm having too much breakage of small bits when they flex and snag. The broken piece can be the devil to remove.
Nice. Could this clamp be made in two parts? In that you have used steel bar and bolted that to the body of the slim body; thus the jaw that flexes performs similarly but easier to fabricate. A slitting saw might also work; cutting a groove for all clamps in 2 or 4 passes.
Calipers make the best marking tools. Also wonder if a light spray of water based coolant would help with the smoke factor so someone doesn't think the old devils lettuce is getting burnt up at full blast.
A suggestion from a novice. For cutting the slot for the flex "fingers", what about drilling an appropriate hole at the inner end of the slot ro provide the curved radius end then using the slitting sawto do the bulk of the cutting??
@8:53 you could've used a drill to make a hole to release the stress and then a slitting saw to make a thinner slit. I guess that would be better than having such a wide slot.
@Reinier Torres and @Blondihacks I agree with the Drill + Slitting Saw idea. Either that or a thick slitting saw with radius, but that sounds like a specialty tool.
@@v8Mercury An end mill can drill the bottom end of the hole flat. You can use a drill to drill up most of the hole, then use an end mill to finish the hole. I guess her approach is good enough because as she said at the end of the video, these clamps do not move to much. There is little movement when you tighten the screw and whether the slit is wide or narrow shouldn't have much influence in the clamping force.
@@billmielke7395 True, but you can also chose to bore the hole or use other hardware. The problem is not how to make the hole and use a slitting saw. As Quinn said, she had to make compromises but I think the main reason to use a wider slit is not because of the relief. Less complicated operations are much more relevant in this case. In the end she managed to make a very useful tool that will serve her very well. Actually I may make some exactly as these, they seem relatively easy to make and require less specialized tools and setups.
19:10 - yes designing around the hardware makes sense, as there is much less machining/fiddling/frustration; I designed an Automatic Track gauge for full size trains (Heritage), which grew into a multi-parameter instrument, using parts on hand and, as parts that were bought in had datasheets that were twofold in use: 1. the design fitted the available parts, and 2. the doco used the datasheet diagrams (with some cropping/re-sizing of print-screened parts of the datasheet), as I don't have Fusion or Solidworks. It is amazing what you can do with the simple drawing tool in MS Word. As I could not do everything with this tool, I called my docs "Concept Papers" as, after all, they were proving or disproving the concept with out doing a ;lot of construction. The design ended up using Raspberry Pi SBC's in a networked configuration to reduce pin count and expense with the plugs and sockets. All in all, lot's of fun!
The design with a downward-leaning leaf, that you liked but was turned 90 degrees from how you needed it (1:30 in the video) - could you extend the T-head rectangle at the base into a square shape so it sticks out on all 4 sides, and then put it in the slot in either orientation? Also, I have lots of hobby experience cutting aluminum (CNC injection molds) but not much on steel - I've found it's faster and cleaner to deburr a straight edge by filing along the edge rather than across it. Does that not work for steel? BTW my 4 year old daughter watches these videos with me. Thanks for doing them!
Hey everyone- two things:
1) Since shooting this, I have used these clamps in some very heavy cuts on steel, and they held up great! Rock solid. So I can recommend this design or a similar one.
2) Some videos result in 100 people asking the same one or two questions and I can’t answer them all. If I delete your question, it is because I have answered it further down and want other people to be able to find the answer easier. Thanks for watching!
Update, because the above didn’t stop everyone from asking the same question:
The reason I didn’t cut the slots with a slitting saw is that (a) I didn’t have one the right size, and (b) milling these was a lot faster than all the extra setup would have been for the saw. It really didn’t take long- these are tiny slots. My storytelling prose oversold the time spent in the video, I guess.
You borrowed one of AvE's eggcorrns - _"flexture"_ - thereby creating a perfectly cromulent creole word for a fixture that flexes. Always the pedant, I will point out those in the business call this feature a flexure.
@@peteroleary9447 I would bet money she got flexture from robin renzetti.
@@tnekkc How much money? Lol. Watch Robrenz video titled ULTRA PRECISION REPEAT O METER. He makes several references to the flexure joint. He pronounces it /ˈflekSHər/. Robrenz is the real deal.
Another RUclipsr, AvE has made a few videos involving flexures. He always pronounces it /ˈflekSTir/. He's a master malpropist and mondegreen merchant. Keep yer stick on the ice.
@@peteroleary9447 LOL that isn't AvE's word, it isn't robin's word, it is an industry standard word that has been around LOOKING before either one of them. It's crazy how many words get attributed to AvE that he didn't come up with. (Most of the words he uses were around long before he was even born.)
@@xenonramNot sure what you're saying. I'm saying that flexure is a word and flexture is not. Still, language evolves, sometimes overnight. From now henceforth, I declare the word flexure and the non-word flexture to be archaic. The new words shall be fxlzbretu and fztrbekzx respectively.
Your videos are hands down THE MOST concise and informative ones on the net! Your added humor, conscientious edits for brevity, and sharing your thoughts are SPOT ON! Thanks and KUDOS!
Thanks!
I've been in engineering all my life initially in a radiochemical lab producing and repairing small moulds then I moved on to the sales side working for a distributor, supplying tooling, consumables and equipment. I've learnt so much over the years dealing with everything from Railway Wheel turning to Instrument work and special purpose machines. I have to say I've learnt as much detail from your videos as I have over the last 50 years, well done and thanks.
Love the metric call outs!
Thanks - I'm just moving from never having a vise to having a vise, but even with always using clamps on all my work, Harold's holders are still on my list and yet to be started
Every week I look forward to Saturday evenings ( UK time) to your entertaining , informative and humorous channel .tonights episode another useful workshop item please keep them coming.
Thank you for the kind words! 😃
man learned so much in depth tutorial! learned about cutting speed (which no one talks about when cutting steel), learned about bluing and wanted to learn about quill stop.... thanks so much I legit was impressed with this vid!
Since I converted my mill to CNC I use my big low profile clamps even more regulary I build my ones after this old Tony about 1,5 years ago and they work perfect some projects would have been impossible without them.
I like the style you shot your videos and the easy going when you talk 😁
The beauty of these is that they are easily scaleable. Everything from 4mm high, using a 3mm grub screw, up to where the mill table groans in protest.
Meow and an affectionate caress to Sprocket.
I waited a little bit to watch this. I would not have thought that tools of this type were so handy and useful, but the demonstration at the end proved the point. Fascinating stuff. Many thanks!
Really appreciate the metric reference you give in the video.
Thanks Quinn! So glad you chose this project. I'd love to explore a DIY alternative to the expensive commercial mini-clamps from the "usual suspects." Now I have a solid example as a final project or as something to adapt for whatever needs arise.
I'd like to place an order for 1,000 cases... what a neat idea Quinn, and I could use those right now! Greg Priest of Priest Tools is a really helpful and nice guy. On my LMS mill, over time I've added every accessory he makes and they really transformed my bench mill into a super functional tool. I can't recommend him or his products enough. For those that haven't heard of him, he does upgrade kits for Precision Matthews, LittleMachineShop, Grizzly, and perhaps others as well.
I have a set of 6 “ Mitutoyo Diamond verniers that I bought in 1970. They still are my go to measuring stick when tolerances allow. I have scribed untold number of lines with them and many times without bluing. So I agree with you that this is OK. If they still work after 50 years and many resharpenings, I say to those who protest “get a life!”
I greatly appreciate you listing links to all the products you use on your projects. It makes it so easy to find them to purchase for my hobby machine shop. Thank you, and I enjoy your videos.
Don from Oregon
Thank you for the captions with the metric values!
I love how you explain every step, just awesome.
When im slotting blade guards and bolsters ive found its best to drill the ends of the slots and mill to them. Makes that sort of tedious narrow slotting a lot easier....these are REALLY cool! Discovered your channel from TOTs project vid...really clear and wonderful stuff! Thank you for sharing!!
Man I love Saturdays now. Thanks for the channel Quinn .
Thank you for watching, and for the kind comment! 😀
Just found and subbed your channel. Enjoying what I've watched so far and looking forward to seeing your other videos.
I have a small general shop with no mechine tool. But have the intrest. Just retired and decided to venture into this. So, for my retirement gift to myself I decided to start small and ordered a mini mill and mini lathe with tooling to make small parts.
Can't wait.
Now back to learning form your videos and anxiety waiting for a truck in our drive.
That’s great! Congrats on the new venture and thanks for the sub!
I just got some material in to make the low profile clamps. I am also using the Harold Hall design clamps but have chosen one of the other style clamps. Enjoyed your video as usual. Thanks for sharing.
He’s got a whole bunch of very clever designs. I almost went with a couple of his!
@@Blondihacks I have the book and I am glad that you said something about the copyright. I would have shot a picture of his plan in my video. Never thought about it. Don't need the YT copyright police banking on my front door.
4:31, I have exactly the same mill as you, Quinn, no doubt under a Canadian dealer name though. I’m currently putting in a ball screw 20M/M threaded rod for the vertical mill head movement, to take out the annoying backlash it has.
15:14 mine had a hokey safety shield with a micro switch inside. It kept stopping my machine by itself, so I promptly stopped that.
Fantastic, gonna make some for myself soon. Thanks Quinn.
Just wanted to say that this is really cool and the perfect tiny clamping system for my Taig Lathe when set up with a milling slide. As soon as I can get it running again (waiting for some parts) I'm going to make some of these.
But, instead of 80+ passes with the small end mill would drilling a hole and then cutting with a slitting saw up to that hole work instead? I've seen Clickspring do something like that.
Just the small note of the little round bar around 3:15ish that's good stuffs. I am thinking of getting a mill in the near future to fiddle with things. Thats a nice little operational tip people might not know!
16:51!!! LOL loving it!
Quinn , I looked up co planar (in the same plane) thought it mite be a "Quinn- isem" I don't know why I doubt you??? ( others are to afraid to question you ) you really raised the bar on this video , 1) word of the day 2) fantastic animation 3) new tools, a chip guard , and quill stop from Preist Tools ,( let us pray and give thanks ) (sorry I could not let that go ) All joking aside Thank you for taking the time to make these very high quality videos , Pete M
Useful addition to the shop, great vlog Quinn.
Thanks for sharing and stay safe all.
I made some slots like this in another project, and also needed a finished slot with rounded back end. However, I found it faster to drill the hole, cut the slot almost to width with bandsaw and then finish with end mill. Quick and clean. Nice clamps !
Nice lil build. Love the testing idea of the amount of flex using the screwdriver and indicator
The cup ends of the set screws are made to 'bite' in.
I usually round off the ends of the 'pusher' screws so they are free to slide on the back of the moveable piece.
Wow. Patience is your new side handle ... 10 passes per slot! Ya gotta want them bad ... Great job Quinn.
Beautiful work. Thank you for taking the time to record, edit and share.
Cheers
I an 65 have a son 17 we are learning from you. Ty so much
At 12:46 the Four flute endmill is the right choice because you have already machined the center out which the four flute can’t do. The two flute endmill in that size can be a high risk to use on a milling machine you use when drilling, it simply does not have the stability and it can suddenly stuck or flip the part out of the wise.
Great project with super useful results! Definitely on my to-do list now. Thanks!
Love watching her use that layth. Have learned a lot.
Another options for cutting slots like that is to use plunging of the end mill. Move over 1/3D and do it again. Then one final pass in the slot direction to clean up the sides of the slot. I have found that plunging a slot is often faster for me, and it doesn't have a chip clearing problem.
Loved the pearl about the round bar against the movable jaw against the unmachined side to prevent the vise from holding out of square!
I like these clamps. Looks like a great project for a Sunday afternoon. Thanks Quinn!
Well done Quinn this clamp look awesome, I can see many uses for them thanks for sharing.
Yeah I don't miss HSS tools one bit. Moved to carbide on my CNC and it's been so nice
I love those little clamps i hve been needing something like this for sometime now. I use a .750 thick steel plate 16" X 6" with .375 tapped holes to hold long parts in the kurt vise ; these will be perfect for that. The only thing I would have different would be to drill a row of undersize holes for the slot to ease the work of the endmill. Thanks for the design idea.
U always have a VERY good explanation for why u do things the way you do, good work
I really enjoyed this video, if you really wanted to utilize the feed stop couldn’t you have maybe used a drill to creat the end radii? And have the end mill stop short and just hand feed to final destination!? 🤔
10:50... Look at the MILES of clean unobstructed flat open uncluttered workbench... Don't know that I have ever witnessed that before.
I do try to keep the place clean.
@@Blondihacks how!? You must know some magic
@@brianhaygood183 ah inverse timelord. The workshop is bigger on the outside of the storage
Oh, I wish you could see my bedroom-I'm in the doghouse and have had to move all of my tools in there-I have a path from the door to the bed via the wardrobe and that is that!
Harold has some like this in his video. I made some in my metal planer video. I sent some photos to Harold and got a lovely reply via email. They work pretty well!
That depth stop is horrible. Lose the threaded rod and put a piece of linear rail on there. Just have a bush with a thumb-screw for a clamp. That's what I have and it is really great because you can use it with gauge blocks to set a known depth.
Sweet! I Love the Blued finish.
Ive seen your work on insta and this is the first bh youtube vid, Wow i love that you went through EVERYTHING. lol might get boring after a while but it was really really excellent. well narated and super clear, Thanks
Very nice work and excellent narrative.
Fantastic video. Presentation, and explanation are excellent.
Harold Hall is a well respected and much loved exponent of practical engineering here in the UK. It's good to know that he is well thought of in the US too.
With regard to drilling the holes for the grub screws, a slot drill (British terminology, I believe in the US you say two flute end mill) would remove the risk of the drill point contacting the inside of the flexture on breakthrough. You'd still need a depth stop of course.
I have a power feed stop switch on one of my mills that is similar to yours. I've fitted the original mechanical stop in such a way that it can still be used with the mechanical stop dogs. I think I'd have done that for milling the slots. It's repeatable and means you can just bash on.
Yah that was my first thought after this job- put the mechanical stops back on. I got good at hitting the number on the DRO, but it would have been less stressful to have the stops for sure.
@@Blondihacks Yes. I don't use my limit switch much but it does have its applications. The mechanical stops, on the other hand, I find far more versatile. Please know that none of my comments of your video were in any way intended to be criticisms; rather I am analytical by nature and when I see something done I tend to try to envisage possible alternative ways to achieve the same result.
I never mind feedback as long as people are respectful and courteous about it, and they aren’t the 500th person to say the same thing. If someone fails those two tests, it means they aren’t really here for community and learning, they just want a platform for their unappreciated genius. My RUclips is not the platform they are looking for.
What a beautiful idea and presentation. Thankyou
So much valuable information, so intelligently delivered. Thanks Blondi.
Definitely on my project list . Always find your vids interesting. Thanks for sharing
You may consider a bit more stock on the y axis of the hold down as placed in the test. There is a high likelihood that if it gives, it will be the lack of contact on the table surface due to the lack of surface area. More contact = more holding power. Just a thought. Also, a slightly larger than the slot width hole at the end of the deflection slots will greatly increase the life span of that part of the tool. Finally, making these from a good spring steel that can be hardened and spring tempered will make them something that will last and last. Good stuff and thoughtful design!
I asked Greg Priest about a possible fit for the depth stop on my Precision Matthews mill. I received a response of "I don't know" and "You pay for return shipping". Just thought you should know. Knowledge and customer service are important to me. Best to you.
I have not seen any of your videos before so I may be touching on a subject that has been brought up before but anyhow, here goes. When you cut the slots instead of taking .05 deep vertical moves and traversing horizontally, use the quill of your machine and set a stop on it to allow the endmill to reach just past the bottom of the part. Now starting at the outside edge of the part use the endmill like a drill moving horizontally in .01 thousands increments after each vertical pass. You will cut a perfectly straight slot with no deflection if you just let the endmill cut. Also the endmill will last much longer.
Great design and lovely job, especially milling all those 1/8" slots.
80 manual passes, crazy. I'd pass out of suspense for over shooting just after 10 passes.
Quinn, another great lesson, thanks.
Another wonderfully informative video, From where did that magnetic end stop holder come? My table is aluminum so something like that that uses T-slots would be nice.
I wonder if you could use a band saw to do most of the cutting on the slots, then come in with an endmill to clean it up and do the roundy bit.
je découvre cette chaîne, just amazing ! I know what I'm going to watch tomorrow afternoon, ! great jobs . thank you
@ 9:00, Nachi 135 degree split point stub drills are your friend. High quality and not expensive and don't require as much torque as 118 degree chisel point drills...
This is really cool ill have to pick up some bar steel and make a couple!
"And I'm going to use my calipers in a way......" Been a toolmaker for 35yrs and do this all the time. Tell them to get bent, I have never "Ruined" a pair of calipers doing this. I usually drop them or someone helps me with that. Micrometers also make convenient carry handles for pieces of flat stock, so there!
great job!! I like the way you think and go about your work .
Great project and it resulted in some nice tools.
Don’t listen to the haters complaining about using the caliper for scribing lines. I bought a cheap Chinese one almost twenty years ago just for that purpose, so I wouldn’t ruin my good caliper. I use it almost every day, and the points are just like new yet. I don’t know what kind of steel those school kids use to make them, but they really are holding up nicely. I don’t consider that type of caliper as a precision measuring tool anyway. They are handy and great for reference, but there is usually a more precise and reliable way to measure things.
Thanks again for calling a drill a drill instead of a drill bit!
Apparently they are often made of 440C stainless. Hardness probably 52-56 Rockwell C, which is softer than HSS but still pretty hard, comparable to some woodworking tools and kitchen knives.
In my experience 2 flute ems make terrible counterboring tools. They end up wobbling too much. I think you were right to use the 4 flute. Smart about the clearance on the underside. Thanks!
Good to know! 😀
Thanks for the CAD files on patreon, im gonna try to run this on a haas mill and see how it comes out
It will probably hold up better than a HAAS MILL.
I like Mitee bites, they are relatively cheap and easy to use, I would have made a small aluminium fixture and some miter bites for your next project, added benefit is you can drill through the work.
Nothing beats a twist drill for material removal rate, so to mill a long and deep slot it is well worth the time to drill a row of through-holes first, and then doing the milling operation to join up those drilled holes. (use a drill slightly smaller than your final slot dimension!)
The drilled holes are very useful as they greatly aid chip evacuation from the milling cutter and prevent it from clogging and (potentially) snapping as it cuts the deep slot.
This allows the milling operation to be completed with far fewer depth-passes than would normally be necessary to ensure good chip evacuation, thereby saving far more time than you spent on the initial drilling operation.
PS: When doing the drilling, you can vertically gang several parts to save even more time.
I know all this. I have covered slot milling on my channel. This was faster in this case because the drill would be tiny and require a lot of extra setup.
Hi Quinn,
Nice design and machining. If you had an .125" slitting saw, could you drill a hole at the end of the slot and use the slitting saw to remove the rest of material?
Yah, probably! It would have been a lot of extra setup though. The advantage of the way I did it was it was only one setup for all 8 slots so it was pretty quick that way.
Most of the other guys I watch on these programs somehow put me to sleep, I think maybe it's the voice, but I can stay awake listening to you and you all seem to be talking about the same things
Another great video, and definitely my next project😃👌👍
Great video -- always looking for new ideas to hold parts where a milling vise or strap clamps just won't work.
Thank you for sharing! Very well explained and demonstrated.... Keep up the good work!
fantastic work. Enjoying your channel.
Letter drills are ANSI. They differ by 5, 10, or 20 thousands (more as they get bigger). Close but not the same as Imperial wire gauge. Like a lot of people I rarely use them except to find a drill for tapping. But when I do stop and look at them, they are very handy sizes and I should refer to them more often.
That’s pretty slick Quinn
Yeah the only thing I use the end stops for is emergency anti-crash protection if I've got a long cut and I'm not quite on the ball to cancel the thing before it hits the end of travel.. My horizontal mill doing miles of keyway or something
Though I am not an active machinist I do feel that through contact between the clamp and the table when parallel to the T-slot is somewhat less than I would feel comfortable with. I love your channel!
See my pinned comment.
When making your slots you should try plunge cutting to full depth to save time. Move in 20%, plunge through, move in, plunge, stop at end point, leave at full depth, clean the slot by feeding out. Try it, you'll like it.
Nice clamps very small,excellent job!!!
It’s a nice mill you’ve got there, what make is it? You make a good entertaining video. I am old and doing that for a long time but I cannot see the difference using those small clamps over a precise well adjusted vise.
Great job on those clamps, I really like the design. If you wanted an end stop switch that was repeatable would making a machined one yourself be a feasible/fun project? Maybe not worth it if you would never use it though...
Enjoyed this. Bravo 🎉
Nice simple design, I been wanting to make something like this. Might steal your design.
Please do! 😀
Nice idea. Many thanks for sharing. I will definitely make a few.
Big thonk. Use the power feed to rough out the sloted area but have it pre drilled with a drill so you only have to make the slot from there.
A tip for milling deep slots... Drill a series of holes just barely touching each other the length of the slot to rough it out. Drilling not only goes faster, it removes a lot of the material. It makes less work and fewer chips for the finish end mill.
You can actually space/drill every other hole, then drill between the spaced holes so there is no connecting web left between the drilled holes.
I frequently use this trick, but i have given up trying to connect the holes on narrow slots, cz I'm having too much breakage of small bits when they flex and snag. The broken piece can be the devil to remove.
Yeah, and takes 4 times as long.
Nice. Could this clamp be made in two parts? In that you have used steel bar and bolted that to the body of the slim body; thus the jaw that flexes performs similarly but easier to fabricate.
A slitting saw might also work; cutting a groove for all clamps in 2 or 4 passes.
Thanks for the video. Another thing I never knew I needed, but now must have.
Calipers make the best marking tools. Also wonder if a light spray of water based coolant would help with the smoke factor so someone doesn't think the old devils lettuce is getting burnt up at full blast.
Nice video. It gave me an idea for clamps for my cnc router
I'm a big fan of draw filing burrs off, very smooth finish without file toothmarks.
A suggestion from a novice. For cutting the slot for the flex "fingers", what about drilling an appropriate hole at the inner end of the slot ro provide the curved radius end then using the slitting sawto do the bulk of the cutting??
@8:53 you could've used a drill to make a hole to release the stress and then a slitting saw to make a thinner slit. I guess that would be better than having such a wide slot.
Still the problem of drilling for the threaded holes. Although I don't know if it would have mattered if you drilled into the flexture a bit.
@Reinier Torres and @Blondihacks I agree with the Drill + Slitting Saw idea. Either that or a thick slitting saw with radius, but that sounds like a specialty tool.
@@v8Mercury An end mill can drill the bottom end of the hole flat. You can use a drill to drill up most of the hole, then use an end mill to finish the hole. I guess her approach is good enough because as she said at the end of the video, these clamps do not move to much. There is little movement when you tighten the screw and whether the slit is wide or narrow shouldn't have much influence in the clamping force.
@@reiniertl no problem on a CNC, but when was the last time you saw a size Q End mill? Closest common size would be 5/16, which is roughly .02 under.
@@billmielke7395 True, but you can also chose to bore the hole or use other hardware. The problem is not how to make the hole and use a slitting saw. As Quinn said, she had to make compromises but I think the main reason to use a wider slit is not because of the relief. Less complicated operations are much more relevant in this case. In the end she managed to make a very useful tool that will serve her very well. Actually I may make some exactly as these, they seem relatively easy to make and require less specialized tools and setups.
19:10 - yes designing around the hardware makes sense, as there is much less machining/fiddling/frustration; I designed an Automatic Track gauge for full size trains (Heritage), which grew into a multi-parameter instrument, using parts on hand and, as parts that were bought in had datasheets that were twofold in use: 1. the design fitted the available parts, and 2. the doco used the datasheet diagrams (with some cropping/re-sizing of print-screened parts of the datasheet), as I don't have Fusion or Solidworks.
It is amazing what you can do with the simple drawing tool in MS Word. As I could not do everything with this tool, I called my docs "Concept Papers" as, after all, they were proving or disproving the concept with out doing a ;lot of construction.
The design ended up using Raspberry Pi SBC's in a networked configuration to reduce pin count and expense with the plugs and sockets.
All in all, lot's of fun!
those slots would be a great feature to machine with a rounded profile cutter on a horizontal mill
The design with a downward-leaning leaf, that you liked but was turned 90 degrees from how you needed it (1:30 in the video) - could you extend the T-head rectangle at the base into a square shape so it sticks out on all 4 sides, and then put it in the slot in either orientation?
Also, I have lots of hobby experience cutting aluminum (CNC injection molds) but not much on steel - I've found it's faster and cleaner to deburr a straight edge by filing along the edge rather than across it. Does that not work for steel?
BTW my 4 year old daughter watches these videos with me. Thanks for doing them!