Aid for grabbing round things with clamps

[Manitoba Man]

Consider your idea borrowed. Bob

Sometimes I need to clamp a round thing like a pipe to a flat thing for welding. It's hard to get usual welding clamps to grab a round thing.
I made a little aid to help with that. It's just a little piece of angle welded to a little piece of flat stock with a magnet in it.



I drilled a small hole .150" deep in the middle of the flat stock. I have some little pill supermagnets 5/16" dia x .104 thick. Using a 2-flute 5/16"
end mill, I made a flat-bottomed hole .105" deep. The small hole was so the end mill wouldn't leave a tit in the bottom of the hole.
Then I inserted the magnet. That's it!



It sticks to the swivel pad on a welding clamp, but it's free to rotate so the vertex of the angle aligns with the axis of the round object. I recessed the magnet so it wouldn't get crushed by clamping force.