Side holding Clamp Question

Recently, I made some side hold down clamps like the ones David Fletcher made. See this thread "Fletcher" Hold Down Clamps. Many times, that is all that would be needed to keep your workpiece in place but when you also need the normal clamps or two sided tape to prevent the workpiece from doing any lifting, would a strip of rubber attached on the end of the side holding clamps cause enough friction to prevent lift so an additional method of holding the workpiece could be eliminated?

Rubber would allow the part to move a bit. That may be fine for some people.

I’ve thought about just adding an angle to the end to also act as a hold-down. It needs to be thicker than the work piece, though.

I think there would be enough friction to hold the piece in place…it should be worth a try!

You can always add 60 or 80 grit PSA sandpaper to the edge of the clamp where it makes contact with the workpiece. This will give an extra bite into the edge of the workpiece. I would use PSA sandpaper before using any kind of rubber. The rubber can flex and could still allow the workpiece to slide over it.

Also a downcut bit will force the workpiece down towards the table surface, but an Upcut bit will have a tendency to lift the workpiece up and off of the table. Just food for thought

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Michael, that’s a great idea! I never thought about PSA Sandpaper. As a woodworker, I have a ton of it and a lot of what I have has a sticky back!.

I’ve just tried using sandpaper on a side clamp and can confirm it works very well on softer materials like wood, wax etc. Not tried on metals.

Cheers

Ian

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Glad you like it. I apply PSA sandpaper to most of my fences as well. The fences that do not need anything sliding across them while machining. Such as the miter gauge on my table saw and the fence on the drill press. The sandpaper really helps the workpiece stay put.

Sandpaper also works nice for clamping Cauls. The caul does not slide around as much.

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