On Thursday, December 8, 2016 at 11:16:10 AM UTC-8, Bob La Londe wrote:
I've got to clamp a think brass strip into a slot on a piece of aluminum bar
prior to finish machining the project. Machinists clamps would work except
that the screws either [hit] the table or stick up to far and the mill head
would run into them.

This particular job is a one off custom job, but the task of inserting the
brass strip (slide gate) is fairly common and I am trying to think of ways
to make it a little faster and more efficient in the future.

At first glance, it would seem that a vise with soft jaws would be a better
way to combine the slot and clamping (for sure, it gets rid of the upward
protrusions). Before using loose bits and long clamps, could you just put
some threaded inserts into the slotted Al plate, and use holddown clamps?
A screw and a bit of U-section up close to the slot is easier on the
holddown arm than the longnose clamp proposed.