By Doug Ripka
We recently bought a small Jet drill press at work. The drill has T-slots in it instead of the open slots our old drill press had, so we couldn’t use our Vise-Grip style table clamps that we had grown fond of. (One example of what we are using is the Grizzly H1127 drill press table clamp. It has the toggle action of a Vise-Grip combined with a threaded stud.)
To remedy this, I drilled some holes in the bottom of the T-slots to accommodate the threaded stud of the clamp (Photo 1). I drilled one 1/2” hole 5” from center for our larger clamp and two 3/8” holes at 3” and 4” from center for our smaller clamps (Photo 2). I also put each of the three holes in different T-slots so as not to weaken one slot excessively, as the cast iron did not look very thick to me. As the table spins 360 degrees, any hole can be put in any orientation relative to the center for the best clamping option. I was also able to drill the holes using the drill press, so you can accomplish this with only the tool itself.
Thanks Doug. Your subscription has been extended by an issue!
Please do us a tremendous favor and share this tip with your machining friends!
