When you are ready to disengage your work from the clamp tap the backside of the vertical shaft of the holdfast opposite the arm to unjam from the hole and release your work.
Woodworking holdfast uk. Drill a vertical 3 4 inch 1 9cm hole in your workbench top to accommodate the holdfast and drop it in place when arm contacts top of your stock board give holdfast head above the top of round shaft a firm tap with a wooden mallet or rubber hammer until it jams tightly in the hole to hold your work firmly. Whether it s windows mac ios or android you will be able to download the images using download button. I don t really want to drill holes in my new bench and find that the wood is too soft for the holdfasts to work. It is easy to do with these types of clamps known generally as holdfasts.
Before the advent of the modern vise holdfasts used to come in all sorts of sizes. Workbenches were covered with holes top and side for clamping work everywhere. It also had a 7 8 diameter shaft that wouldn t fit in the pre drilled holes of many commercial benches. A holdfast gives a single point of contact so the work underneath will be able to pivot.
To reduce the pivot you might want to increase the friction by adding suede or similar to the bottom of the holdfast. Browse our range of bench dogs holdfasts and shop online. The woodcraft large bench holdfast 145479 19 99 was the only product we tested that had an angle greater than 90 it was 93 between the shaft and the pad. They insert into a round hole in the work surface and with a thumbscrew or a simple tap with a hammer or mallet will hold a plank jig or various table top tools and stands just about anything as if it had been nailed in place.
Rutlands offer a wide range of bench dogs holdfasts to buy online. The best value for money ones we use are the sjobergs holdfast st03 supplied as a pair 25 99 they can be located in any 19mm dog holes in your workbench top or if you have or in the 19mm holes on the front legs of your bench. The holdfast was sufficiently important to rate almost half a page in moxon s mechanicks exercises 1678 the first book on woodworking in english. Bench dogs let you take advantage of the cnc grid of 20mm holes on the festool mft 3 table as well as aftermarket multifunction tops or slabs.
Manufactured in the uk using the latest cnc technology for precision and accuracy. My question is do you think these holdfasts would work in a 3 5 inch bench top made of radiata pine all that i could find easily and affordably for my first hand tool project here in nz. If you try to solve the pivot by hitting down harder then you simply crush the wood.