Swivel Feet for Small
Clamps
© Frank Ford 2004;
Photos by FF
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I wanted to make up some small swivel feet on 1/4-20 threaded rod for some light weight clamps. So, I chucked up some 5/8" brass rod and drilled a shallow 1/4" hole. |
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Then I used a radius tool to form the contour of the brass pad. |
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Parting off is always easy with 360 brass! |
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To make the ball end on the threaded rod, I decided to whip out a simple form tool, so I drilled an angled1/4" hole in a piece of 1/2" square water hardening carbon steel. I wasn't particularly concerned with the angle, I just clamped the steel in the vise arbitrarily at an angle that I felt would give me a bit of clearance. |
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Then, approximating that same angle, I roughed off the end on the grinder. |
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I gave the 1/4" drill hole a few strokes with a 1/4" chain saw file just to clean it up a bit. |
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This ain't rocket surgery here, but I did make myself a nice little form shape. I figured I could skip side clearance since I'd just be running the tool in a short distance. |
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Two regular propane torches gave me enough firepower to get the end of the tool nice and hot. |
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And, a quick dunk in water brought it to near file-hardness. I didn't bother with tempering it. It seemed stout enough that it could take care of itself without bringing the hardness down at all. |
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A little honing on some fine waterproof paper laid on my band saw table. |
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My finished form tool, nice and sharp |
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Looking around the shop, I found a bunch of these all-thread carriage bolts that were just about the length I needed. |
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When I ran in the tool, the long leg parted off the end of the bolt. |
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The rest of the tool formed a nice ball on the end. |
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I wanted the ball to be about as big as I could make it, so it still showed plenty of thread depth on the circumference. |
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Here's a collection of parts, ready for assembly. |
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I made my last tool from a scrap piece of 3/8" thick cold rolled steel. First a quick hole. |
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Then a bit of countersink action. |
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The finished tooling hole. |
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I stuck the ball end of a rod up through the hole, placed a brass foot on the rod and gave it a hard smack with a hammer. |
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One blow, and the foot was swaged in place. |
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Some of the final product. |