hey what's up guys so in today's video we're gonna make actually something like this uh it's
a modular home fixturing uh clamp device I guess that's what you want to call it it actually goes
into a fixture and table like this and can actually clamp and the horizontal position
like that and it can also go in the vertical Direction like this and clamp down as well
what makes this special from the fixturing ones I've seen is that I've Incorporated a
quick release system that makes it faster to make adjustments when clamping parts from the
side and with some simple modifications you can make one for about 10 bucks
but before we jump into making one I want to give a quick shout out to my good friend Wolfgang
from 6L designs this is where I got the initial idea from when he made his homemade side clamps
for his Welding Table now let's go over what you'll need to build this clamp for materials
one you'll need a quick release C-clamp two 5 8 cold roll round bar three one inch by 3 16
wall Dom tube for a thumb screw and for the tools putting the drill bit and the tap for a quarter 20
thread two a 5 8 drill bit three you'll need filler Rod
um there are going to be two types depending on what alloy the clamp material is four
uh TIG welder or a MIG welder uh TIG is preferred if you have it if not a MIG welder would be just
fine I'll leave links in the video description to all the materials and tools I use to make this
with that out of the way let's build this thing for the C-clamp I went with this one because it
had the quick release feature there are many standard ones to choose from from light to
heavy duty so pick one that better suits your needs the first thing I do is take out the
internals of the quick release so they don't get damaged during the welding process because we're
just going to need the quick release and the screw portion of the clamp the rest can be trimmed away
[Music]
I trimmed it to be as close to the clamp screw I do this to help give me the lowest
limits of what I can achieve when side clamping shorter parts next is to grab some 5 8 round bar
this will be the shaft that will weld to the quick release I use the 5 8 cold Row versus
the hot row because dimensionally cold roll is more consistent offering a better tighter
fit into the 5 8 hold of my fixturing table I cut it to a length of six inches for the parts
I plan on the side plant somewhere between 4 inches to eight inches is a good place to
start before I could weld the parts together I was unsure what the material was for the clamp
it definitely looks like a cast iron part and I thought it was cast iron or something which
means I would need to use a special filler Rod to weld steel shaft to a cast iron part
but after shaving down the coating the material looked to be carbon steel
to make sure I picked up the scrap left over from the clamp and welded up a test sample
I used the standard er70s2 filler rod and Tig welded the cold roll shaft
to see if it would hold up I grabbed the hammer and gave it a few whacks
well looks like it's got a hold of me however if it was indeed cast iron then I would have gone
with the nickel 99 cake welding rod which makes it possible to weld the two different materials
and for those who don't have a TIG welder let's try using this with Meg
and that also seemed like it's going to hold too cover I do want to point out that the Mig
will leave a larger fill profile making it sit slightly higher when installed on the table
now that we got that out of the way let's give it back to attaching the shaft to the quick release
oh yeah I forgot to mention this but I grinded down a slight angle on the
shaft uh roughly five degrees this will provide better clamping Force when side clamping parts
okay I like how it's working so far but let's take it up a notch to make this more modular
I'm going to add a second component remember the Dom I mentioned earlier and the thumb screw
um we're gonna use that for this I drilled it and tapped it for the thumb screw
next I take about eight inches of the cold roll rod and weld it to the collar
because of the shrinkage I needed to clear the hole for the shaft to fit
um here you could use your 5 8 drill bit and drill a hole through it sort of like ramming it out but
for me I end up using my die grinder and I was able to shave the inside slightly to clear it
now we're able to clamp vertical
by the way the thumb screw helps the clamp from spinning on me before I initiate the clamping
and if we add a second one to the mix then we can also clamp things that are at an angle
guys
and that's how you make this homemade modular fixture clamp
adding this fiction clamp now gives me some flexibility when
it comes to clamping things that are in odd places
I know there are welding magnets out there that can help hold Parts in a similar way
but if you need more clamping Force then I think this is a good option
um here are a few examples of how this clamp can come in handy
if you're looking to make one like I did in the video I'll leave links in
the video description for more information [Music]
anyways if you found this video helpful um do me a favor and smash that Thumbs Up Button And
subscribe for DIY projects like this with that out of the way time to get to the next project