My first one was really clumsy. it was mostly wood and nothing I did would hold up well. I used 3/8-16 threads and huge knobs and still I couldn't get a solid positional clamp; it kept flopping.
Anyway this one is all aluminum and steel. I made it tool-less. There are knurled knobs for everything. I had an extrusion I mounted to the back of the lathe and hung it all from that. The threads in the aluminum are all helicoils.