Let's Make a Toolmaker's Clamp

[@conradhextall8863]

The conversion to furlongs was a nice touch, and the pacman bit made me spit my tea out 😂

[@aaaooaao9949]

i see pacman and in my ear - tappy tap tap

[@leonardmcdermott7703]

And you still say 'o' instead of zero... Grrrr.

[@robinafoubister]

If I'd had liquid in my mouth when the pac-man bit happened, she'd owe me a new keyboard. 🤣

[@KozmykJ]

I broke a leaf spring on my car in the car park at a wedding. My friend clamped the spring back together with a pair of toolmakers clamps. Held perfectly for the week it took for the new springs to arrive. They were slightly longer than the ones in the video . About 6” with 3” jaws. It's handy having a friend who IS a toolmaker.

[@chrisj4570g]

“The honesty scale.” Love it!

[@75Bird455]

I was today years old when I realized you could hold things in the saw with clamps (2:27).

[@75Bird455]

I've got a similar saw, and have needed to saw things in this manner. Apparently I'm too much of a water-head to figure that out. Thanks Miss Hacks!

[@butchdodds4530]

I always enjoy your videos, trouble is I don't always catch your little comments and I have to go back and watch it another time or two just so I don't miss them. I really enjoy them. No other You Tuber compares to you!

[@Blondihacks]

Thank you! I try to make them worth watching more than once. 😀

[@matthewphillips1728]

Please keep up the passive sarcasm. O an the machinists tips are awesome. Always a Pleasure to watch your clips.

[@anomoly40]

Thank you for showing fist shake moments. My stepdaughter needed to see we don't make mistakes in the machine shop. Now we know why "Type 2" machinist clamps exist.

[@foxwood67]

If its worth doing its worth doing right. Love your attention to detail.

[@OriginalHuchang]

I’m more of an Electrician and HVAC person by trade, but I love working with my hands. Creating anything and everything I have the skills to do. I need to say that finding your channel has been such a delight for me. I could only imagine the amount of knowledge someone could gain working a long side of you. Thank you for taking the time editing and uploading videos for us novices. Like I’ve said in prior post. You’ve made a forever fan/subscriber out of me.

[@Blondihacks]

Aww thank you! That’s very kind. ☺️

[@OriginalHuchang]

@@Blondihacks Haha np! Giving credit where it's due. Side note: I was pondering this idea at work. I would think a collaboration video of you and Mr. Adam Savage would be awesome (Post Covid). From an outside perspective it seems like you both have matching personalities. As well as, both of you being very informative and knowledgeable about bring ideas to life . Just a thought. Sleep on it. haha =D

[@Clough42]

I love that you didn't consider just leaving an extra drill spot in the finished tool. It would have been fine, but you would always know it was there...waiting.

[@Blondihacks]

I wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night. 😄

[@tomeyssen9674]

Wow. The stamp/press did work out well. No spring back also. Thanks for that...great idea.

[@richknudson5137]

In junior high school metal shop around '57, '58, tool makers clamps were a mandatory project! One semester to complete. Seems like plenty of time...but, the only machine allowed was a buffer to make them look pretty! We got a piece of 1/2" square bar, 2 1/4x20 screws about 2.5" long and 2 washers. Task: saw to dimensions, use files to refine shape, (lesson here, files don't cut on the back stroke), learned the draw file technique, drill and tap holes, a challenge for a 12 year old. File a flat on the edge of the washers and solder the washers in the groove of the screw head. Polish the thing up a bit and viola!, a nice clamp that will last a lifetime! Still have it 62 years later. "Thanks for the memory...of rainy afternoons, swingy Harlem tunes", ah but I digress!

[@nicholashacking381]

This Old Tony has a lot to answer for. Another great video. Thanks.

[@Sugarkraft]

Oh Blondihacks, it’s been awhile. Nice to see your amazingness again. 😀 So much tappy tap to tap, so little time.

[@Blondihacks]

I post a new video every week. Stick around! 😀

[@Chris-pb3se]

Loved the lengthwise split in the bandsaw. Simple but out of the box. The strap clamps in the vise slot was cool. Gonna use that.

[@Jeroendorrestein]

We had to make the same clamp during our first year at the Dutch Navel Engineer College as our first project. No machines, other than a drill. It is a great exercise to learn how to use a simple file properly. I still have this clamp and uses it in my (hobby) shop. Knowing how to use a file properly, is a great machinist skills. Can be a lot quicker than having to set up a machine too.

[@fuzzy.whumpkin]

I really appreciate the inch-to-furlongs conversion. We furlong users are an oft o'er-looked group!

[@caseytailfly]

Dang that die stamping was satisfying. Glad you left the pliers in the drawer!

[@christtophek9487]

what 's a shame ! what we can't put several "likes" for this video ! thank you for this nice episode, so relaxing, so every thing!

[@kimber1958]

The dye for the spring steel clip was genius brought it to another level . You are almost through the ceiling. LOVE>fear Kimber

[@normesmonde5332]

Well done Quinn. Love the effort in making the die.

[@murraypearson2359]

The die stamp is fab!

[@JohnsOrganWorks]

At last! A clamping mechanism which doesn't involve flexing! (Only kidding). Excellent presentation as usual. When I did a workshop course as a young man, this is one of the things we had to make. No DRO's back then, so for hole alignment we clamped the jaws together and drilled through both.

[@thestonethatthebuilderrefu5231]

Damn you're a really great engineer. Tony tried to tell me to check you out a while back. Glad I finally did.

[@steveNCB7754]

Still have the clamp I made as a first year engineering apprentice in the early 1970’s in the UK. Our design was slightly different: the rear end of our jaws was a half-round (milled I think) and our ‘keeper plate’ was flat, as our design had the retained screw head recessed slightly into the top jaw, so that the location groove in it, was flush with the top of the jaw surface. We also had to machine a criss-cross ‘grip’ surface at the end of the mating faces and the jaws had to be hardened.

[@eulerizeit]

I kinda love the yak shaving involved in machining.

[@Blondihacks]

Soooo much yak shaving. 😁

[@TheRadioShop]

This video was so much fun to watch Quinn. Love the funny comments and the mistakes you show. This is why you have became my favorite machining channel. In fact you have inspired me to drag out my old mini mill/drill and restore it. I also ordered a mini lathe. Video to come...….

[@GaryT1952]

Fascinating Quinn! Your set-up for the spring clip is machining Hall of Fame material. Over/under reamers are now on my wish list.

[@CreaseysWorkshop]

Another name for a dogleg bend is a "joggle". The advantage of using the term "joggle" is that if anyone asks you what your hobbies are you can say "I enjoy joggling". Also you can use a parallel with thin stock you just need to put a bit of packing behind the part and also on top of the parallel. I love the press jig. Very satisfying!

[@RobToz2011]

Beautifully Instructed..... I am enjoying learning!

[@jefferyswan4401]

Those clips are things of beauty. 🙂

[@peterxyz3541]

One of the greatest tool. I bought some larger, wood working version, very useful

[@britishreaction54]

Fantastic make. Looking forward to the next installment.

[@eddietowers5595]

Oh. My God. This was the very first thing I built in shop class, this takes me back. Awesome Job and thanks for this.

[@pnt1035]

I have two "type 1" style toolmakers clamps, made in the UK, with the blind hole, and 1/2" wide jaws, but neither has a spring clip. Nor do they have knurled thumbscrews. The older one has 5/16" x 18 BSF screws, with a sort of short tommy bar fixed near the centre of the 1/2" diameter smooth section above the shoulder, like the crossbar on a lathe chuck key. The less old one has M8 x 1.25mm (about 20tpi) screws with holes for 3mm tommy bars - it came with a pair 60mm long. I find the lack of spring clips is actually an advantage, in that it makes it quicker to open and close the jaws by anything other than a small amount.

[@daxliniere]

Great recovery @8:36 !! :D

[@TandaMadison]

These little clamps are such a great project. It touches on so many common operations. I used these for our project when I taught the machine shop safety class. The drawing we used had an odd fractional angle for the nose of the jaw so the students also got to learn how to use a sine bar. Great video as always!

[@AJR2208]

Hi Quinn, very nice so far. If you do make more springs, leave them a little longer and machine an enclosed slot so the "fingers" stay even, then trim/ machine the end off afterwards. It'll give you that excuse to make more. Stay safe and well :)

[@GeneSimonalle]

Bless you! I got a table-full of machinist clamps at an auction and they threw in two sets of indexed transfer punches. I didn't know what they were called until you used one on your spring steel clip jig. You should call the jig you made 'Bruce', btw. Bruce Springsteel.

[@glennmoreland6457]

Quinn: Splitting them bars with the bandsaw was using the sense you were born with...🇬🇧🙂

[@ninthm00n]

Another great video Quinn. Thanks for the edutainment.

[@Mucidamascusblades]

Yaaaay!!! I was looking forward to a new video from Quinn and she never fails!! Awesome one!!

[@Dave.Wilson]

I'l be making a set of these tomorrow now I've seen this. Always wanted some, nice little project. My day is complete now.

[@PorchPotatoMike]

When I first saw the thumbnail, I thought these were just small versions of a woodworking Jorgensen clamp. But I knew you would never sully this channel with something like that.

[@thomashoffmann4504]

Nice work. I remember that I made a clamp like this as an apprentice a long time ago. We made the jaws without a mill: just hacksaw, files, radius gage and drill press :) I'm still using mine.

[@jerrycoleman2610]

Kim, I enjoyed watching your video & I think the content was great thanks for sharing your video.!.!.!.

[@d00dEEE]

Want a cheap/cheezy way to hold those thin parallels in place? Get about a 1" long chunk of 1/2" (or whatever diameter seems appropriate) automotive heater hose and drop it down lengthwise between the parallels. It'll crush down just fine and spring the parallels out to the jaws quite well. Edit: at 6:10

[@Blondihacks]

Great idea!

[@davesalzer3220]

I had planned to build a vise stop for the table of my mill today, the whole row of rod and clench magnetic indicator holders on the back shelf just gained new life.

[@Blondihacks]

Just don’t forget to turn on the magnet. 😎

[@kevgermany]

Really interested to see this. Brings back many memories. I inherited my father's one that he made as an apprentice many many years ago. Doesn't have the retainer clips, but otherwise pretty much the same as your type 2. I'm not quite sure if you're going to do it, but the screw heads on his are drilled to take a small Tommy bar for better tightening. Thanks.

[@DavidKutzler]

I took up hobby machining after I retired and took a basic machining course at the local community college. This was our final project for grade.

[@billyhooks99]

Quinn I use that same method on the horizontal bandsaw at least once a week. I was suprised at how good your press method worked. Great video looking forward to next weeks show.

[@skoue4165]

;-) One of the first practical things I ever made on a lathe (as opposed to jr. high shop projects) is when my grandfather was helping me with my car and he noticed I had done some very funky repair on an exhaust pipe flange. It had broken and in my whatever works college fix I had pop riveted some drain pipe (with a flange) in to the exhaust pipe. Grandpa was a machinist and was not impressed. So he had me machine a die to press a flange that we (he) welded on. I still have that die and yes it was a lot of work to make essentially a coned washer but it was sooo satisfying to press that flange.

[@jimmunger8658]

If you look through an old Craftsman tool catalog you could literally buy these for less than five bucks. After seeing how much work you’ve put in it makes you wish you could go back and buy them out. Loved the Pacman bit.

[@Blondihacks]

That’s still true today of virtually anything I make. I can’t even buy the steel for what China can make these tools for. It’s really about the journey of doing it anyway.

[@jimmunger8658]

I agree

[@thaumaturgicresearchcounci4180]

Ah, Saturday afternoon pleasures. Toasted teacake, cup of coffee and a new blondihacks for education and amusement :)

[@randomlife718]

My arbor press has been beat on a lot. Some would probably cry. It was a nice antique piece. I see your press and wonder where is all the mushroom?

[@dcurry7287]

My angle grinder's blade guards use #12-28 machine screws to stay on. Being the itsy-bitsy metal between me and changing out the grinding disk, I usually go ham with the nearest impact driver to undo the screw to get the guard off. This has resulted in me chewing through the three #12-28 screws that came with my grinder in the year I've owned it, which has resulted in me searching local big box hardware stores and little local hardware shops for some replacement fine-pitch #12s, being limited by trying to shop as little as possible during this pandemic. No dice, so I'll probably have to buy some online and pay extra for shipping. Hoping to sooth my aching pride and stinging wallet, I turn to KZbin, hoping to lose myself in yet another great Blondihacks video, and who do I find in the middle of it? My white whale, the #12-28! From Hell's heart, I stab at thee, ye fine-pitch twelve!

[@matspatpc]

Do you have a "Fastenal" near you? They usually have bolts in more odd sizes than your typical hardware/DIY store.

[@Blondihacks]

Poetry 😀

[@johngunn5948]

@dcurry431 AKA Cap'n Ahab- check out McMaster-Carr, they should have boxes of white whales awaiting your beckon call.

[@tomholtz6369]

K

[@sailingitlldo1109]

ah, yes. I have a pump that has a 12-28 in it.

[@bradthayer6782]

OBTW, you are rapidly approaching snatching the funniest machinist crown from ToT. Instructive and hilarious. Where can I buy a fist scale?

[@chriscraven9572]

For the angled clips, when I made some clamps I used the metal banding that they use to hold heavy equipment to pallets. It seems to be spring steel. It's cheap (read free) and comes already blued.

[@Blondihacks]

Old bandsaw blades are also a great source of this material

[@josephmarazzl5848]

27 seconds with pliers, no. 2 hours for a mold. Awesome 👍. Btw love the PacMan throw back

[@Nemozoli]

Nice die setup for the spring! Yesterday I had to drill thin pieces of spring steel, I used little carbide drills that are almost as cheap as dirt on several Chinese online markets. They work just fine, although my lowest speed setting is still a bit too high for them.

[@Blondihacks]

I would think for small carbide drills you’d want as much speed as you can get. The smaller the drill, the higher the speed, and carbide needs more speed than HSS.

[@davfew]

Thanks Quinn, been needing to make a set of these for a long time.

[@rpavlik1]

Given the press was in the cold open I expected it was going to fail impressively. That actually turned out awesome.

[@Blondihacks]

I also expected it to fail in some dramatic way when I was doing it. 😅

[@aaron-bieber]

Mirroring that die got me, mind blown.

[@scottb6282]

Thanks again Quinn

[@stephenmarchant9314]

Awesome channel, I'm so glad I found you. thank you for your work

[@Blondihacks]

Thank you for watching! 😀

[@tyrannosaurusimperator]

In my intro to machining class, we also made clamps. Almost everyone in the class also put all 3 holes on one side of the top jaw and had to restart. The professor didn't care about tolerances or if your part matched the print, but no extra holes!

[@Blondihacks]

Ahaha, at least it’s not just me.

[@alxelectronics9615]

As always, green with envy over your home shop. *Metric fist shake*. Neato on the stamped parts - next time I'm faced with something like that, I'm totally making a little jig instead of using pliers and a hammer. Thanks!

[@RyanNeufeld]

Finally someone puts the conversion to furlongs in the video!

[@Blondihacks]

The most requested unit! 😬

[@Steve_1401]

@@Blondihacks Rods and perches for the next discussion on area please :D

[@thehaze1972]

"With all my holes drilled..." Luckily I wasn't sipping on my coffee just then. 😊 Great video as always, keep 'em comming. 💪 👍

[@danl.4743]

Did she mean it as a joke? I couldn't tell.

[@thehaze1972]

@@danl.4743 Not shure either, it could have been unintentional too. 😊

[@ralphf8951]

magnificent work

[@stevoreno45]

Been wanting to make one of these for years thanks!

[@RobWhittlestone]

I made one of these (we call them jeweller's vice) when aged 14 or 15 some 50 years ago on the milling machine and lathe and finished it by hot blueing it at school in metalworking class. And I still have it! One question: why do you hardly ever use cutting fluid? We were always reminded to generously apply cutting fluid. All the best from Rob in Switzerland

[@homemadetools]

Nice work! We posted this video on our homemade tools forum this week :)

[@BaconbuttywithCheese]

Marking fluid (sharpie), height gauge and scribe a line on the bar end for the chamfer. Nice build and funny as usual.

[@josepalacid]

I just discovered your channel. It seems to me one of the best machining channels I've ever seen! Subs'd and bell'd. Please-please keep going!

[@Blondihacks]

Aww, thank you! ☺️

[@georgewilmore7599]

When I taught machine shop every student was required to make one. It is interesting how bad some 10th grade students can mess up a simple project. I also had some clamps that were perfect. Great project video I could have used this 20 years ago for a reference the students could use.

[@SciFiMind]

In college we had to make one of these to get certified to use the lathes and mill.... mine does have an apprentice mark from were the tapered cut slipped. But from that I learned to do cuts like that in the y axis so the jaw is working for you

[@houstonceng]

The clip on commercially made machinist clamps is usually a bit of steel milled with a step at the forked end. Never seen one with a spring.

[@Packless1]

...good designs never get outdated...! ;-) ...i've built 2 'Type-1-Clamps' ~40years ago, when i was an apprentice...! :D ...but then we filed it, milling didn't come before the 2nd year...! :-P

[@verdelldelap2195]

Use the angle block stop on the high end of the angle block so the angle block stays tight and doesn't shoot out of the vice like a banana from its skin in one of those old Saturday morning cartoons!

[@howardosborne8647]

Toolmakers cramp? Is that some peculiar form of repetitive strain injury caused by leaning on the edge of the surface grinder too often?.... I'll get to watch the full video later.

[@KodyBear5605]

Chuckle at the .00006 "Furlong" measurement at 5:43

[@cranelift]

Just a thought, having screws coming out both sides of the clamp takes up a lot of real estate on your table or bench. I made a set with clamp and pivot screws on the same side. "case you need to get in a tight spot. cheers Mon Ami

[@donmathias1705]

When you have a piece of material like that that has stress relieved itself , if you had cut it in half initially, it allows you to keep your part thicker and get boths surfaces cleaned up. it can be important on some jobs.

[@AmateurRedneckWorkshop]

Great project although I wonder why a bright young lady would bother doing it the way everyone else did. Talking about springing when cut I wanted some 2"x2"x16' but believe it or not 2 of these 2x2s cost a lot more than one 2x4. So I bought half as many 2x4s as I needed 2x2s. You can see where we are going here. While cutting the yellow pine 2x4s I would push them over the table saw until the end got too heavy to hold and then I would walk around the saw and pull them the rest of the way. I cut one that looked reasonably straight but when I walked around the saw to pull it the two ends had already misaligned and crossed each other like an X. Super warp.

[@knucleon8483]

Great video as always! I am tempted to try out the stamping / pressing technique at some point, just need to find an excuse to work with thin metal

[@stu-po]

I learn so much every time!

[@thecerealcommie]

“Ya want I should clamp him, boss?” - Francis X. Clampazzo

[@scottleft3672]

"Who'd ya wont clamped Granny?....Jethro.

[@alexblackburn627]

Blondi is a fan of Futurama!? Nice!

[@kennethgilbertdds7249]

In space, no one can hear you clamp!

[@martintaylor984]

Orcinus24x5 popop

[@etheroar6312]

It might be amusing to use conversions to parsecs in the future.

[@mattmanyam]

KZbin has a parsec-stamp feature?

[@erikkayV]

@16:30 windex really does have a ton of uses.

[@ariesmars29]

I'm so glad that you give the metric approximate to those other units. Do you know a good place to get a set of metric drills? They seems impossible to find in stores.

[@Blondihacks]

I get my metric drills at MSCDirect

[@AdventureswithJane]

Brilliantly done as always. 😎 -Mark

[@kenlavender4233]

Hi Blondi, suggest you make a pair of these at least twice as big. Say 200 to 250 mm long. Really handy

[@Blondihacks]

Never enough clamps!

[@graemebrumfitt6668]

Gotta get me some of them magic angle blocks Quinn. TFS, G :)

[@appahman]

conversion to furloughs.. I LOLLED

[@brianrhubbard]

That is one accurate band saw you have there.

[@slygamer01]

I remember making these type of clamps in metalwork class at high school, but we didn't have any spring clips. Just two metal arms with two threaded screws.

[@gleggett3817]

Sounds like what we did when I was at school. Hacksaw and files were the tools rather than machining. Other metalwork class projects I remember were 'screwdriver' 'hasp and staple' and 'bicycle chain splitter'

[@johnspathonis1078]

Hi Quinn Enjoyed the video. Since you are making the screws did you consider cutting a half moon in the shank and retain the screw with a small roll pin which goes through the clamp body. Making spring clips is a little old fashioned and tedious which would discourage many.

[@Blondihacks]

Yah that would be a very nice way to do it! I just followed the old design without thinking about it a whole lot.

[@johnspathonis1078]

@@Blondihacks Thanks you for the reply. Perhaps on the second manufacturing round. Can't have too many clamps! Cheers.

[@willjosephson]

Quick question about symmetry: would it have been doable to cut the blanks in half at nearly the angle of the taper you were going to go for in the finished part, and then have to machine less material off?

[@IvanStepaniuk]

We call this "American vise" in Spanish in Argentina, for whatever reason. Like most folks that went to a "technical highschool", as we call them there, I made one of this back then and I still use it! The point was to learn basic turning and shaper operation (no milling).