Hold down clamping kits

[C-Bag]

Can't argue with this. My problem with cheap tools is when they aggravate me every single time I use them or if they break doing the job they are intended to do. I would rather pay another hundred bucks to have a clamp set that will last me a lifetime and work the way they should, every single time.

Believe me I know what you are talking about Mike. And I don't like aggravating tools either. I've bought several Te-Co 1" step block sets when Zoro had a special on them as they are super handy. The fit on them is way nicer than the ones that came with my set. I have not run into the sticking stud problem and so didn't know about the flats on the stud thing. I checked out the link for the Te-Co special set on Amazon. Wonder how they would stack up to the cheap ones as they also have the plastic wall holder(which I like for the convinenence and have been on my wall for over 6yrs now with no problem) and one of the complaints in the review was the studs in that set don't have flats either.

I'm not baiting you Mike just noting.

 

[mikey]

The set with the plastic holder is the powdered metal set - cheap. If one buys a set, get the forged steel set I linked to. It's a nice set and fairly priced for what it is. That forged set has flats on the studs. You know how the last thread on a good t-nut is upset? If the stud gets jammed into that it will take wrench to get it off; that's when the flat is nice. Not a deal breaker but I guess I get aggravated by the dumbest things.

 

[mmcmdl]

When I moved my shop 2 houses up , I remember burying boxes and boxes of clamps and studs out by road . Used them as fill and covered them with dirt . I'll wager if I took a metal detector out there I could find them . I would imagine they are well seasoned as this was 1993 .

 

[Ulma Doctor]

making your own clamps is not difficult.
i have done so many times when a commercially available clamp was too bulky, or when i needed a custom profile

i have both the cheap and the more expensive clamps.
i'm of the opinion that you will use your vise more than any other work holding devise, if you are anything like the 90% of us.
that being said, spend the money on a good vise, get mediocre clamp set, and make your clamps when you need them or when it counts.
you'll find that mediocre clamps will still exert thousands of pounds of force onto the work piece, just like the high dollar ones.
the trade off will be a few moments more Time/labor to break down set ups, maybe a few more expletives if you have to make another clamp.

i would give different advise to a production shop, for a hobbyist i say spend the money elsewhere-
$100 bucks could buy other tooling of greater necessity

 

[macardoso]

Strongly agree with @Ulma Doctor!

 

[BGHansen]

I have a 35 year old 1/2" wide t-nut set from Enco that have served me well on my Jet JVM-830 mill. Bought a Bridgeport a few years ago and picked up what was advertised as a 1/2-13 new set off eBay. Turned out to be a 12mm metric set. Seller offered a discount after the fact so I kept it. Ended up buying a second English set and painted the metric set with a paint marker to Heep from mixing them up.

I've had no issues with any of my import sets.

Bruce

 

[Bob Korves]

T-slots are part of the practical accuracy of our machines. Take care of them. For tooling I use all the time, I make my own t-nuts from mild steel to fit the t-slots with a nice sliding fit and with all corners carefully rounded. I have a cheap import clamp set, but only use it when I have to, and clamp them as lightly as possible. The hardened and roughly shaped t-nuts can distort the t-slots, making for instance, tramming mill vises, more fussy. I am careful about keeping t-slots clean and pristine. Makes setups lots easier. As an example, my mill vise keys fit the chuck and the t-slots without any play, and the vise never needs tramming each time it gets installed. I take it on and off regularly for other setups, easy and quick, with known accuracy, no messing around with an indicator. My Bridgeport vise came to me used and without jaws, so I made my own from mild steel and then milled them in place to be parallel to the X and Z axes travel.

 

[epanzella]

I bought the cheap sets from Grizzly. One for me and one each for my 2 sons. Zero problems. Yeah, they don't have a flat in the middle but I just screw the studs into the nuts finger tight and they have always come right out. I consider expensive clamp sets similar to expensive paper weights. Nice but not required.

 

[Mini Cooper S]

I had an employee one time who thought that he was doing us a favor. He noticed that the studs in a brand new clamp kit didn't screw all the way through the T-nuts so he tapped them all through and proudly showed my shop foreman and I what a nice job he did! He was a little disappointed with himself when we pointed out that they are made that way to prevent the stud from jamming the T-nut in the T-slot! Nothing that a couple of strategic wacks with a center punch couldn't cure.

 

[darkzero]

I had an employee one time who thought that he was doing us a favor. He noticed that the studs in a brand new clamp kit didn't screw all the way through the T-nuts so he tapped them all through and proudly showed my shop foreman and I what a nice job he did! He was a little disappointed with himself when we pointed out that they are made that way to prevent the stud from jamming the T-nut in the T-slot! Nothing that a couple of strategic wacks with a center punch couldn't cure.

Haha, reminds of this one...... (not my story)

Dad: Hey, I fixed all your allen wrenches.
Son: Fixed, what do you mean, what was wrong with them?
Dad: Someone rounded off all the ends so I ground them all off you.