You know when you start watching YouTube videos about one thing and 2 hours later you are watching something totally unrelated. Well anyway I stumbled across this video and immediately threw the dxf in estlcam and fired up the mpcnc. I have the pieces cut just need to doghole a new spoil board.
I have to say I have printed so many different clamps. I bought some aluminum t slot from Amazon to diy something myself (none of which ever got installed). I personally thought this guy’s design is perfect and just wanted to share.
I dont have dogholes. I made my board to have 3/8 holes 4 inches on center. I then have T-nuts under the table. Bolt goes through my clamp and into the t nut to snug it down.
Think I can get away with doing this but drilling out the hole to 3/8 and just using a bolt? Clearly not as easy as what he has going on but not much I can do about that now.
I love all of Marius’ videos. Was originally planning on using his clamping system, but decided to try this one out instead. Seemed something quicker and easier to set up. May still come back to this clamping system at some point in time though.
I just need to come up with a clamping system with more horizontal holding force. I currently use clamps that have decent downward pressure but once you put something like aluminum down, it has a tendency to slide. It doesn’t help I used particle board for my table. It’s cheap but it’s slick and I’d rather not try to scuff it up for fear of it becoming weak and starting to chip.
@Chad those clamps are very popular for being very cheap, and you can increase their quality by putting a piece of wood in the middle, and it can be cheap wood too. Paul Sellers uses them very effectively. I would only worry that they don’t put enough downward pressure on some pieces. I’m imagining a thin panel, with an upcut bit, and lots of pressure into the sides. With a small tug from the bit, the material might bow right up. But I’m no expert. Please share what you end up with, it would be nice to see that with an MPCNC.
If the lack of downward pressure becomes an issue, I could always combo it with the masking tape/super glue trick. That is what I have used to hold my first few parts, but would prefer something with a quicker set up than that.