KanDo Won't Twist Clamps....Brass Copper Steel Rivets

[jjr2001]

I needed (wanted) a set of Kant Twist clamps. I also wanted to make them out of brass.
I have a set of 2 1/2 D and 4 1/2 D from around 1946 or so that were my Dad's. They have
a special place in my shop and I do use them on occasion.

Nice thing about brass is that it is non magnetic so it can be used near high power magnetrons.
For this example I did not use all brass however the 4 button head screws could be replaced with brass.
The clamping screw could be made of brass so with a little mod we have a multi use clamp.
The clamp pads are copper and ride on 3/8" brass bushings. They could be replaced with the material of choice.
Now the size is a bit different than the commercially available clamps. The capacity is between the
2 1/2D and the 4 1/2D with a capacity of 3". Grooves are milled in the clamp pads for rounds.

Tolerance....Tight fit all the way around. There is less than .005" between the small set of jaws and the large set of jaws by design.
When you pick up a new Kant Twist you can feel the clickety clackety motion of the loose tolerance. Normal for production clamps
and they work fine but I wanted this one tight. Everything moves smoothly but it does not clickety clack!

The lead screw is 5/16-18 grade-8 with a 4-40 screw as the retainer.
Riveting......First time ever. Actually it was much easier than I thought it would be.
Just make the rivets fit the holes snug and bash them many times with a hammer.
You can see in one of the pictures that I used a new Kant Twist clamp to hold all
the parts together so I could rivet it.
The brass plate used was 8.5" x 11" and .125 thick. I set up the CNC machine
to cut and drill the holes exactly where required.

Worked on this all week but it was a fun project. Cost was about $35.00 including the
brass plate which was only $25.00 including shipping which is a good price.
You can see the brand new 2 1/2D Kant Twist clamps in the picture. I bought
them from Amazon at a cost of $33.00 for two. Took me 1 minute to order them
so you can see how efficient ordering is compared to my building. But building
was much more satisfying and now I have plenty of clamps I can twist all day.

Cheers, JR.