On Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:33:27 -0500, "Karl Townsend"
wrote:

I gave blood this morning. All over my radial arm drill that I got a couple
months ago. The part snatched as the drill broke though. it rode up the
drill and then popped the vice grip holding clamp off and threw it. Then the
work made made a quick revolution before i could get out of the way.

I need to get a better way to hold work in the drill press. A couple vice
grips and pieces of tubing just aren't getting it. I've tried using a spare
Kurt type vise, but that is cumbersome. half the parts won't fit in and its
difficult to quickly line the work up under the drill and through an open
spot in the vise.

what's normally used to hold all sorts of odd ball one of parts in a large
drill? Just fabrication grade work here. I use a mill and bolt the part to
it for stuff needing accuracy.

Karl



A decent drill press vice (lighter than a milling vice) is handy for smaller
stuff. If there's a chance that it might get away from you then either clamp
it with a T bolt, block and goose-neck clamp or just leave a T bolt sticking
up out of a slot so that the vice will run into it if it tries to take off.
Won't stop the work riding up the drill, but will act as a second hand if
things get a bit lively. If the drill is big enough and the work thin enough
that you might not be able to hold it down, then go back to clamping the vice
on the table.


Better still, use the drill properly... Clamp the work solidly to the table
with goose neck clamps, blocks and T bolts or similar and a bit of scrap for
protecting the table, then move the drill head to where the hole needs to be.
That's why its a radial arm drill :-)


Oh, and keep some superglue and insulting tape where you can grab them. Not
for holding the work down, but for temporary leak prevention to bodily parts
(Actually, I have used superglue many times for work clamping).


Regards
Mark Rand (I do egg sucking lessons as well :-)