Clamp Wedge Just Couldn't Take It No More

[md8n]

One of the little clamp wedges decided enough was enough

and parted ways with itself.

Also, not losing the little nut somewhere inside the clamp, because you’ve backed off the tension too much is suuuper annoying.

So I figured, now’s the time to design my own clamp wedge (stop sniggering, I can hear you from here), and include captive nuts (oh go on then).

I ended up with this

Not quite captive nut, but it’s close enough to “not going anywhere” to avoid hard to access mishaps.

And it looks like this

When installed and tightened up.

The geometry seems to be a bit off, but I got bored with fiddling around with prototypes and just wanted it done so I could reassemble everything.

[md8n]

And I’ve put the step file over here M4 Router Be Gone (installed the spindle) - Hardware / Sled - Maslow CNC Forums

[md8n]

One of the wedges cracked - the other 3 I printed are still OK.

I put this down to a “manufacturing defect”, by which I mean that when the 3D printer hit the pause layer, I didn’t get the captive nuts into the print within a reasonable time (it was many minutes later), so that under stress it delaminated at this layer.

So, I’ve tidied up the design of my clamp wedge a bit and you’ll be able to find the STP file in the Router Be Gone thread.

M4 Router Be Gone (installed the spindle)

New clamp wedge design. Remember to set a pause in your 3D printer at the layer height at the top of the captive nut. And as soon as your printer hits that pause layer get the captive nuts in pronto - it’s easier when the plastic is hot, and you’ll get better layer adhesion when you continue printing. [IMG_20250206_123942] ClampWedgeV3.stp (482.0 KB)

The new one looks like this, and is a little easier to fit into place

[dlang]

it looks like you have this set to print vertically, why not print it on it’s side so the layer lines aren’t weakening it?

[md8n]

because captive nuts

[dlang]

Lee H wrote:

because captive nuts

you can rotate them 30 degrees so that there is a flat top and bottom and have
the lower half fully supported, with the upper part having a slight gap. not a
perfect fit, but it should be good enough.

in an ideal world, we could drop in nylock nuts so nothing can vibrate out.

I tweaked them to take square nuts as a press fit post printing and set the
printer to print them sideways. I’ll see the results in the next day or two.

David Lang