Shopmate Maxi-Clamp

[kellycat]

Can anyone tell me where I can get information on the Maxi-Clamp system. I bought mine used and it is missing the threaded bars and instructions on how to use them. I did a search on the shopsmith web site and it didn't come up with any reasults.

[oldc6]

kellycat: I sent you a e-mail message. I have booklet and could copy for you.

[rnr]

I saw your note that you have a set of directions for the Shopmate Maxi Clamp that you were willing to share. I have one of these that came with a Shopsmith that I bought at a sale; but no directions. If you are still willing to share my email is bob@louisville.edu


Thanks.

[jgiblin]

I just bought a maxi clamp set on Ebay that came with no instructions. can anyone help me get a copy?

[azdustdevil]

I have a pristine copy of the maxi clamp manual. Just email me
azdustdevil@gmail.com

[JPG]

I have a pristine copy of the maxi clamp manual. Just email me
azdustdevil@gmail.com

Where were you 3+ years ago?

[robinson46176]

I have a Maxi-Clamp set... I bought it long ago (I forget for how much) at the yard sale of a prominent local businessman who was retiring and was downsizing for a move to a condo. I was a bit shocked at his sale since we had been business friends for sometime and casual "bump into and chat" friends for more years. The shock was that I didn't have any idea after all of those years that he was into woodworking... It simply never came up. Maybe I should start wearing a sign.
He said at the sale that it was a nice system but that he had never been able to get in the habit of using it. I have found the same for myself as well. I have had a few pieces out of the box and puttered with them over the years but I simply don't reach for that set. In fact I just loaded the box on a nursery wagon in the farm shop with some stuff to be moved to the woodshop and I have moved the woodshop twice since it was in the farm shop.
I just consider the set to be a part of my Shopsmith collection / experience. I haven't given up on it yet, I'm thinking about making a nice wooden box / shallow drawer to the same dimensions as the original cardboard box and mounting it under the top of my work bench. It should make a fun little project and at least be semi useful. Everybody hold up your hand if you have made more than one wood project that ended up being useless... My hand is up.

A maxi-Clamp set without the rods is about like a car with no tires, wheels, engine or transmission.
In that case I would head to a good hardware store and ask them for some "All-Thread" that size and cut it into the lengths you need.

I have some other rarely used woodworking stuff to be moved loaded on that nursery wagon including 8 or 10 keyhole saws of various sizes. It's been a very long time since I used one of those.


.

[Awake]

I got a set of these off of ebay, and it's actually a pretty clever design.

A maxi-Clamp set without the rods is about like a car with no tires, wheels, engine or transmission.
In that case I would head to a good hardware store and ask them for some "All-Thread" that size and cut it into the lengths you need.

That's actually suggested in the manual, if I recall correctly. The threads/diameter are standard size and you can go to a hardware store and get rods cut to lengths you need if the sizes that come with the set aren't adequate to your clamping needs.

It's a pretty clever design. What isn't clear (wasn't to me anyway) if you don't have (or read the instructions is that the clamps have to be pressed against something in order to engage. If they're not meeting some pressure/resistance then the screw threads won't catch. That's a feature, not a bug as it lets you slide the clamps down the rods quickly to adjust the size between the ends of the clamp

[robinson46176]

OK, I finally got that nursery wagon load of stuff moved to the basement woodshop. I sat all of it off at the top of the old outside entry stairs and used the wagon to move a few things from the house to the farm shop. We needed to leave so I quickly carried the stuff down to the shop before we left. I don't suppose that I am the only one here that has an occasional shortage of "flat spots" ... I didn't want to set it down someplace where it might get bumped and dumped so guess where it ended up? No, not on the work bench, that got covered over a week ago. Yeah, the tablesaw... As usual if the bench is full "EVERYTHING" ends up on the table saw. I guess I could have put it on the assembly table but yeah, it's already full and has been for weeks. Just like that partial sheet of plywood sitting on a pair of sawhorses over in the back corner. I have GOT to get some time in down there.
Some days I feel like I am running a 10 ring circus and they are all clown acts.

At least the Maxi-Clamp set is finally officially "home".


.

[JPG]

Back at my long term employer they had a 'clean desk policy'. The mantra was that a cluttered desk was an indicator of a cluttered mind.

Those of us who did not agree with that could not resist considering what matter of mind was indicated by an empty desk top.

As a corollary: one who has an uncluttered workshop must not be very busy doing things other than making the area shipshape.

A matter of priorities.