Wood hold downs - step by step build.
Wood hold downs
step by step build.
For as long as I can remember, these bad boys have been on my to do list, but for some reason they took ten years to be realized… Better late than never.
So I am more than happy now, especially by the drill press, where they are most often needed, but also think they may become useful on my MFT3 table and I plan to even drill a couple of holes in my normal desk, so I can use the delicate version there.
Another project that starts with some of the scrap Ash wood, that my workshop floor is made from. The guys who did the floor, left me a few leftovers and they have been really useful.
Beautiful solid Ash.
Splitting the boards up.
Getting as much out in full pieces as possible.
One floor board becomes all this wonderful wood.
Now carefully shaving the lacquer off on the table saw.
Just the lacquer.
A few final shaves.
Finally I cut them into the possible lengths.
Four standard and two long, decided to make six, now I were doing it.
A wee time at the drawing board, sketching.
I want it simple, higher at one end and more than one fix point, to make sure I get a good grip
On the left you can see some beech dowel, that I have a hand full of these in the shop, they was salvaged from some old trashed wine racks years ago as I remember it…, the holes on top of the hold downs were made to match these.
This is what we will go for.
And this is for the standard size, the long will be the same only longer curves.
All can be drawn onto the wood now.
Keeping it all on line, smiles.
My new router table were set up as a horizontal router.
Made a quick stop block, that starts the routing and stops when reacting the end.
The bit were set at half depth of the wood.
Turn router on, push it in.
Push to end.
That's just perfect, but I should have done it in several passes…
Lazy me.
Turned around and then routed.
Had to make a rabbet so the dust / shavings could get out.
Hmmmm and then this happened…
So I made a top fence also.
Let's try again.
Other side.
Yeps, that's better, even I can see I need to reset the height, to be in the dead center.
It was also here I realized, that I routed in the wrong direction… My ohhh grrrrr, I went from right to left as usual, but forgot it was a usual setup.
Well it was all more than fine, so just a learning.
Now time to make a jig for drilling.
Something like this, should hold it all in place.
Marking centers.
Finally drilling the first holes.
Seems to work fine, nice crisp holes.
Here in the long version.
Time to eat, fresh hand pealed shrimps on my own sour dough bread.
We all need a pause, from time to time.
I love fresh shrimps.
One set only gets the center hole.
Double sided tape.
One one of them.
Two and two paired up.
Coffee time.
Sawing or should I say burning the wood… Need a new blade.
Rough cut.
The rest gets a tour at the disc sander.
Looks better.
Quick and easy.
Out side done.
Inside finished up on the oscillating spindle sander, one of those tools I never understood was needed and now love and use a lot.
Final finish on the holds, by rounding over the edges, with a 45° bit.
Can someone tell me why I get burns here, do I run too fast or feed too slow…?
Another jig, just a hole in a wee piece of scrap, that have the same width as the hold downs…
Also found my star knob jigs at this time, but we will get back to that later.
A lot is going on here.
Cut some pieces of threaded rod, for the hold downs and tested out with wing nuts.
Ok MaFe back to the jig…
The beech dowel I had laying in the shop, could now be put into the jig.
Then cut on the table saw sled, like this I could avoid tear out.
On the drill press drilling a hole through the center.
You might notice I also rounded the edges a wee bit.
Easy done with a V groove jig.
Now I could test the hold downs, while making the knobs for them in the star knob jigs.
On the right with a small wing nut, this works but it's too small to be comfortable in use. So I decided to make my own knobs for them, as the once you see on the left hold down (an extra one I made some time ago).
Also notice I flattened the top of the dowel, so the washer and wing nut or star knob, had a good rest and tension.
Double was and hold downs, while drilling out some ash, to make knobs.
Cut to size and thisckness.
Now I could run them a tour in the star knob jig.
To get a handful of these.
A Forstner drill to make a small hole in the one half, her a plywood version.
(Used the jig to keep it from spinning, as it was there smiles).
Put a Tee nut in and glue on the star knob.
Secondly the other half of the Tee nut and here I brat nail it, as the underside will not be visible after and I kind og like the rough look.
I think they are kind of cool.
Here after sanding and rounding the edges a little on the sanders.
On the Ash versions, drill for the Tee's nails so the knob don't crack.
Put the Tee in.
Dont just knock them in with a hammer, as they may get deformed (don't ask why I know that). Put a matching bolt in them and beat on that or put a washer on the back, then a bolt and tighten it until it is in.
Glue.
Brat nail.
Notice I got the knobs mixed up, so they will need to be sanded a wee bit after.
Same for all of them.
Finally we got the functioning hold down.
Notice how well the dowel makes the star knob hold it firmly, here on my MFT3 table.
Top view.
The version I will use on the MFT3 table.
On the MFT3 table, I use these wall fasteners, as they are fast to use, they simply flip out, when they are through the hole.
For a more permanent solution, these bowl washers can be used, they also center in the holes, if that is needed.
Self locking nut.
The cut offs from the hold downs also got to use.
Made them into small simple hold downs.
Next up was to secure a good grip, so I decided to put anti skid tape on them.
Just like this.
On the full surface, that could be used for holding.
On the drill press I made the rabbets a wee bigger at the ends.
Just like this.
Then added these furniture nuts to them.
So they can be put in and taken off easy.
Then I could put these to use, making more star knobs, now in small size.
Sweet yes?
Here I had to re thread the holes as I had beaten them too hard with a hammer, as I told you about earlier.
The good part of this was they now run really wonderfully freely, so I did that to all of them.
Small hold down.
Back side with anti skid.
This type also slides into the T track on the MFT3 table.
A hand full of extras, that was otherwise meant to be trash.
The MFT3 versions, goes into the drawers.
I also wanted a delicate version for my normal table, so I cut some leather pads and roughed the blank surface.
So they could be glued on, with contact cement.
Like so.
Clamps at the ends.
This is where we end the hold down story.
Finally I have put a cross on the to do list, making these.
Look forward to let them help me in the future.
There are a few updates in the next episode.
Hope it can be to some inspiration, or help someone hold on to something they care about…
Best thoughts,
MaFe
Wood hold downs
step by step build.
For as long as I can remember, these bad boys have been on my to do list, but for some reason they took ten years to be realized… Better late than never.
So I am more than happy now, especially by the drill press, where they are most often needed, but also think they may become useful on my MFT3 table and I plan to even drill a couple of holes in my normal desk, so I can use the delicate version there.
Another project that starts with some of the scrap Ash wood, that my workshop floor is made from. The guys who did the floor, left me a few leftovers and they have been really useful.
Beautiful solid Ash.
Splitting the boards up.
Getting as much out in full pieces as possible.
One floor board becomes all this wonderful wood.
Now carefully shaving the lacquer off on the table saw.
Just the lacquer.
A few final shaves.
Finally I cut them into the possible lengths.
Four standard and two long, decided to make six, now I were doing it.
A wee time at the drawing board, sketching.
I want it simple, higher at one end and more than one fix point, to make sure I get a good grip
On the left you can see some beech dowel, that I have a hand full of these in the shop, they was salvaged from some old trashed wine racks years ago as I remember it…, the holes on top of the hold downs were made to match these.
This is what we will go for.
And this is for the standard size, the long will be the same only longer curves.
All can be drawn onto the wood now.
Keeping it all on line, smiles.
My new router table were set up as a horizontal router.
Made a quick stop block, that starts the routing and stops when reacting the end.
The bit were set at half depth of the wood.
Turn router on, push it in.
Push to end.
That's just perfect, but I should have done it in several passes…
Lazy me.
Turned around and then routed.
Had to make a rabbet so the dust / shavings could get out.
Hmmmm and then this happened…
So I made a top fence also.
Let's try again.
Other side.
Yeps, that's better, even I can see I need to reset the height, to be in the dead center.
It was also here I realized, that I routed in the wrong direction… My ohhh grrrrr, I went from right to left as usual, but forgot it was a usual setup.
Well it was all more than fine, so just a learning.
Now time to make a jig for drilling.
Something like this, should hold it all in place.
Marking centers.
Finally drilling the first holes.
Seems to work fine, nice crisp holes.
Here in the long version.
Time to eat, fresh hand pealed shrimps on my own sour dough bread.
We all need a pause, from time to time.
I love fresh shrimps.
One set only gets the center hole.
Double sided tape.
One one of them.
Two and two paired up.
Coffee time.
Sawing or should I say burning the wood… Need a new blade.
Rough cut.
The rest gets a tour at the disc sander.
Looks better.
Quick and easy.
Out side done.
Inside finished up on the oscillating spindle sander, one of those tools I never understood was needed and now love and use a lot.
Final finish on the holds, by rounding over the edges, with a 45° bit.
Can someone tell me why I get burns here, do I run too fast or feed too slow…?
Another jig, just a hole in a wee piece of scrap, that have the same width as the hold downs…
Also found my star knob jigs at this time, but we will get back to that later.
A lot is going on here.
Cut some pieces of threaded rod, for the hold downs and tested out with wing nuts.
Ok MaFe back to the jig…
The beech dowel I had laying in the shop, could now be put into the jig.
Then cut on the table saw sled, like this I could avoid tear out.
On the drill press drilling a hole through the center.
You might notice I also rounded the edges a wee bit.
Easy done with a V groove jig.
Now I could test the hold downs, while making the knobs for them in the star knob jigs.
On the right with a small wing nut, this works but it's too small to be comfortable in use. So I decided to make my own knobs for them, as the once you see on the left hold down (an extra one I made some time ago).
Also notice I flattened the top of the dowel, so the washer and wing nut or star knob, had a good rest and tension.
Double was and hold downs, while drilling out some ash, to make knobs.
Cut to size and thisckness.
Now I could run them a tour in the star knob jig.
To get a handful of these.
A Forstner drill to make a small hole in the one half, her a plywood version.
(Used the jig to keep it from spinning, as it was there smiles).
Put a Tee nut in and glue on the star knob.
Secondly the other half of the Tee nut and here I brat nail it, as the underside will not be visible after and I kind og like the rough look.
I think they are kind of cool.
Here after sanding and rounding the edges a little on the sanders.
On the Ash versions, drill for the Tee's nails so the knob don't crack.
Put the Tee in.
Dont just knock them in with a hammer, as they may get deformed (don't ask why I know that). Put a matching bolt in them and beat on that or put a washer on the back, then a bolt and tighten it until it is in.
Glue.
Brat nail.
Notice I got the knobs mixed up, so they will need to be sanded a wee bit after.
Same for all of them.
Finally we got the functioning hold down.
Notice how well the dowel makes the star knob hold it firmly, here on my MFT3 table.
Top view.
The version I will use on the MFT3 table.
On the MFT3 table, I use these wall fasteners, as they are fast to use, they simply flip out, when they are through the hole.
For a more permanent solution, these bowl washers can be used, they also center in the holes, if that is needed.
Self locking nut.
The cut offs from the hold downs also got to use.
Made them into small simple hold downs.
Next up was to secure a good grip, so I decided to put anti skid tape on them.
Just like this.
On the full surface, that could be used for holding.
On the drill press I made the rabbets a wee bigger at the ends.
Just like this.
Then added these furniture nuts to them.
So they can be put in and taken off easy.
Then I could put these to use, making more star knobs, now in small size.
Sweet yes?
Here I had to re thread the holes as I had beaten them too hard with a hammer, as I told you about earlier.
The good part of this was they now run really wonderfully freely, so I did that to all of them.
Small hold down.
Back side with anti skid.
This type also slides into the T track on the MFT3 table.
A hand full of extras, that was otherwise meant to be trash.
The MFT3 versions, goes into the drawers.
I also wanted a delicate version for my normal table, so I cut some leather pads and roughed the blank surface.
So they could be glued on, with contact cement.
Like so.
Clamps at the ends.
This is where we end the hold down story.
Finally I have put a cross on the to do list, making these.
Look forward to let them help me in the future.
There are a few updates in the next episode.
Hope it can be to some inspiration, or help someone hold on to something they care about…
Best thoughts,
MaFe