Home Workspace | Drilling and Tapping | Pocket NC

The last thing I need to do to get the new clamp in place is to drill and tap the holes on the new bed.

I was planning on using a 1/16" square endmill to boar out the holes in the disk. However, none of my tools were long enough to do the job. So I opted to use an actual drill bit this time; I first spot drilled where the holes would go then pecked my way down with a 1/8" drill bit. I wasn't entirely sure how easy it would be, but I was pleasantly surprised and only took a few seconds to make all three holes.

I then took the 4mm x 0.7mm tap I bought last week and hand tapped the center hole; this is my first time using a threading tool, and it was surprisingly easy and only took a couple of minutes. I then test fitted the main clamp piece, and it fits perfectly! I used the locating pins provided by Pocket NC and dropped those into place as well, a very nice fit for it all!

The reason for tapping the center of the disk as if I ever wanted to make another clamp/vice system it would make my life easier knowing its exact location.