After my original clamping wedges broke when needing to take the Maslow apart I found a 3D printed version on the forum which uses heat inserts instead of nuts.
3D printed clamping wedge with heat set insert
I have these presently installed in my Maslow. If I need to take the Maslow apart again I thought a metal clamping wedge would be a good upgrade. Making this post to show it is not very difficult and does not require a lot of tooling. It does require the correct drill, tap and hacksaw.
This is to show making the clamping wedges in metal, in my case aluminium, is not difficult.
First a piece of 1in wide x 5/16in thick aluminium bar. The alloy was not labelled on this offcut but I expect it is 6061-T6.
The parts can be drawn on the metal with a sharpie, or on a piece of masking tape with pen, pencil or sharpie.
I have a product called Dychem which is used to put on metal to layout dimensions with a scribe.
I used the 3D printed clamping wedge to layout two new clamping wedges.
I then drilled holes for the top of the wedge and the top of the threaded sections to make cutting out the shapes easier.
I then cut out the shapes. I used a bench mounted small metal cutting bandsaw, but I could have easily used a hack saw. The rough shapes.
I cut the shape so that the threaded sections are a through hole. I do not like threading into blind holes, especially with small diameter taps.
A bit of filing to improve the faces and remove sharp edges and burrs.
I then drilled and taped for the M3 x 0.5mm thread.
The drill size is either 2.5mm dia or a #40 drill imperial size.
I did not clock my time and had a few breaks in the process but it should take 1 - 1 1/2 hr.
I may need to tweak the fit when I eventually install these.
I hope this inspires others to make their own version.
Dave P.