I finally got a chance to take my new Torque Work Centre home from the store to begin to experiment with what it can do. I decided to try doing fluted columns, which would be a great application for the local cabinet and trim guys. As I started the set-up, I quickly discovered that clamping was going to be an issue for me. Since I have a strong production background, I am always concerned with how long it takes to do anything in the shop, even when it is just playing around.

My wife and I we also working with our new video camera, learning the in’s and outs of that as well. Soon I hope to share some of those with you. As I was fumbling with loading and securing the workpiece during the taping of the demo, I knew there must be a better way. As with most of my jigs, I took a step back and began to look for a solution to the problem at hand. Sometimes I will simply stare at the piece and usually something will pop in my wee little mind. Then again sometimes I fall alseep. This is not a good idea in a woodshop.

 I will spend a lot of time up front to make things flow better later. I really believe it’s well worth the extra effort. This is what I came up with. An auxilary clamping table. Of course I had to use the world famous Torque Work Centre to do this. Can you think of an easier way? I cut a fresh piece of MDF and clamped it to the old top. I routed T-track into the top. I think the pictures are self explanatory. I drilled holes first to accept the T-bolt head

Set the depth

I flipped the top and used a larger diameter bit to route for the bolt head.

I can now clamp my work anywhere on the table with ease, using any type clamp that uses T-bolts.

Next time I’ll show how I clamped the column to be fluted. I ran into a few minor issues, but figured out how to deal with them.

Thanks for looking