Clamping a T
 

Hello all,

Suppose you had to make something like this:


+----+
| A |
| |
| +---+ +----------------+
| +--+ |
| |
| +--+ |
| +---+ +----------------+
| |C D
| B |
+----+


By "clamp" below, I am assuming it will be held in a vise. It could be
bolted to a sacrificial plate; there is certainly nothing to prevent a
couple of holes being added for that purpose.

The outer dimensions look like they will be roughly 1.6" square and
0.49" thick. The notches in the sides of the T are the part that have
me going. I could either clamp the T with A-B parallel to the table
(giving my rounded notches), or I could clamp with A-B vertical, giving
me the (preferred - sorta) square notches.

Is that a good way to clamp with A-B vertical? Obvious choices include
putting parallels at C and D and trying to seat it on them, or clamping
high enough in the vise to cut by moving the saddle.

I _think_ I will "change from a square to a T" with A-B on parallels and
C-D sticking up, but suggestions are welcome. The top of the T is
thicker than shown (roughly 1/3 of the height).

I don't so much care about the "bottoms" of the notches being square as
I want the walls to be reasonably parallel to the top. A slighly deeper
round notch would do the job. The bar of the T is almost an inch wide,
so I can afford to remove the metal.

Hopefully this makes some sense. If you even got this far, thanks for
trying to follow it! If you can further offer some good advice on
clamping the thing, that would be a bonus :)

Bill

Clamping a T
 

Bill Schwab wrote:
....
+----+
| A |
| |
| +---+ +----------------+
| +--+ |
| |
| +--+ |
| +---+ +----------------+
| |C D
| B |
+----+
....
The outer dimensions look like they will be roughly 1.6" square and
0.49" thick. The notches in the sides of the T are the part that have
me going. I could either clamp the T with A-B parallel to the table
(giving my rounded notches), or I could clamp with A-B vertical, giving
me the (preferred - sorta) square notches.

Your description isn't quite clear. Do you mean that this part is cut
from a block of steel that is about .5" x 2" x 2" and the stem of the T
is about 1" wide ? Much of your description could be interpreted two
ways, making advice difficult, but if you say how far from the bar of
the T the notches in the stem are, how wide/deep/long they are, and
how wide/long/thick the bar and the stem are, and whether the following
is a correct view from the end, perhaps someone can help.
+----+
| |
| |
|----|
|....|
| |
|....|
|----|
| |
| |
+----+

-jiw