Making a Kant Twist Clamp

Face it, tools are cool! Sometimes tools are so cool that you want them, regardless if they are unavailable to you. Such was the case with the Kant twist clamp. Living in Sweden these clamps are not available, and entirely unheard of, but the desire to have one was still there. Aside from being a useful little tool for many clamping operations, they're also quite an aesthetic tool to have around, and with a little bit of effort, and skill, not too hard to make yourself.

I've made the plans I got inspired by available at the following link, if you plan to use them you may want to adjust the measurements to fit your application: http://switchandlever.com/plans/kant_twist_clamp_plans.pdf

What you will need:

Materials

Sheet metal, for making the arms, preferably a non-flexible steel 1,5 mm thick
Steel rod, for pins, shaft, handle and hinges
Brass, for the gripping blocks/jaws, it's good practice to make them from softer material, so they do not mar what you're clamping
Small screw, for locking shaft in place
Loctite Threadlock, to hold screw and handle in place

Tools

Metal lathe
Milling machine, with suitable endmills and drills
Belt sander, can be replaced by more manual filing
Band saw, can be replaced by hacksaw
Taps and dies, for threading the shaft
Ball peen hammer, for peening the rivets
Files and sandpaper, for refining shape and giving a nice finish to parts
Anvil, or other suitable hard surface to use while riveting


It's not an especially hard project to do, but it does help if you feel at least somewhat comfortable moving around a machine shop, especially so you know enough not to hurt yourself due to ignorance. Anything you may end up doing to yourself as a result of trying to make a clamp like in the video is your sole responsibility, but do be careful and rather think things through once more than do something you're not comfortable with.

Hope you enjoy the video, there will be more to come so stay tuned!