A decided it was time to make a few new clamps for my CNC, and among my collection of wood scraps I found enough blocks to make four.

The design is an old one I came up with shortly after buying my original CNC Shark.  They are sacrificial and my old ones have encountered spinning router bits a few too many times.

A couple were made from thick blocks and cut out as one piece.  Then I turned them 90 degrees to cut the slot for the bolt in them.  The two walnut clamps were cut as halves then glued together as shown below.  

Three wood scraps are happy to have found a life worth living now.  😉

4D

Edited November 14, 2025Nov 14 by 4DThinker

Nicely done 4D. Besides functional, they look awesome.

outstanding work 4D and you've kept the old saying about waste not want not alive and well.

Just a little background to add to the story.   I'm retired now, but when I taught I oversaw 3 Probotix CNCs and one CNC Shark.  These clamps served all 4 CNCs reliably over the years.  I left them with those CNCs when I retired. I went back in to retrieve a few things and found a student using one of the CNCs.  The board he was cutting was held in by plywood cams on the sides. My experience with cam clamps found that when using upcut bits the wood could lift up or push the cam loose if the cut was aggressive.  I told that to the student and he said he'd already had that happen.  I asked why he wasn't using the clamps I'd made that were in the drawers of the workstations at each CNC.  "Too nice. Don't want to cut into them".   

 

I opened the drawer and pulled out one from the back to show him.  It already had encountered a router bit a few times and wasn't that pretty any more yet would still work as designed.  They are wood so you CAN cut through them accidently and they'll likely keep holding down the work.  Youth. Much yet to learn.  😉

4D

Edited November 14, 2025Nov 14 by 4DThinker

Made two more this morning from one block of white ash.

A long one.  And a short one:

Both were cut as a solid piece, then laid over to cut the slots.  Held them in my low profile vise to cut the slots.  

4D

@MT Stringer...hey Mike, good to see you here again. Hope all is well with you.