Segmented Bowl Clamp 

A SNES controller as a CNC control pad? my man!

Segmented Bowl Clamp? I say, 'Segmented Bowl Champ'. Love your work!

Nothing short of Brilliant!, Frank. Thanks for sharing your bloopers and your work-arounds. On your pressure disks, if you CNC cut a keyhole in the center of each, you will not need the radial slot and you'll get more clamping pressure b/c the disk perimeter stays intact. Thanks again.

Frank, you can continue building 3 ring sections on top of the previous clamp boards, just make up a few more clamps and build up the bowl in multiple sections in one clamping session. When they all dry, then you can clamp the 3 ring sections together into one monolithic bowl.

I love how Frank laughs at his own little jokes. Seriously, I have never done any woodworking, but I'm always amazed with how much I enjoy these videos. Keep up the great work, Frank!

Frank, Great idea. I had made a very similar clamp myself. The only difference was that I had not thought to make the pressure plates like you did so my clamping starts with the base and then the rings get larger and the base acts like the pressure plate. I don't like the hole in the bottom of the bowl it makes more work to fill it but the clamp was pretty simple to make and works well. I also added the circles on the bottom but I attached the base to a faceplate and spun it on the lathe and marked them that way. One other note I find a lot of " wander" if I try to glue more than three rings at a time this can really throw the bowl out of round. So never more than three rings at once, the glue dries pretty quick so I can clamp two or three rings every hour or so and get the whole bowl laid up in one day. You are THE MAN best regards. Mike

Frank, even your simplest projects are both well filmed and entertaining. Thank you

As I remember you are an architect. Having been a CEO of an MEP firm for 22 years, I worked with many architects and sad to say only a hand full had your hands on thinking process. Many were good at "design" but you couldn't build what they designed much less pack all the MEP into their design. I really like your technical approach to woodworking! Good luck in 2016! Skip

I enjoy how you show mistakes and how they help you learn enough to succeed. Thank you!

That is going to be one of those tools you wish you made years ago, very obvious and very handy! Thanks for posting, really enjoying your channel!

Nostalgia level 9000 for the SNES controller. Great idea for the clamp.

Thank you for the confidence to show issues you encounter (I won't say mistakes) since we all run into them and it shows they happen to everyone. Just a "design opportunity" as was mentioned to me by my turning mentor.

Sooo much detail!! Im not even a lathe guy but I appreciate the amount of quality and effort you put into your videos.Again, Great job!! -Abel Nieto

Super Segmented Super Bowl Super Clamp...! Seasonal greetings Frank... Looking forward to NeXT year... and holdfasts in the 4 corners of the rig... (for the lower rings to not slide and slip).

One clamp to make them all. One stand to hold them. One bolt to force them all and in the woodshop dry them

Hi Frank, Another great idea and video, I am so pleased you show the things that go wrong as well as what goes right as it gives the rest of us hope, Thanks again for all your entertaining videos and ideas, Happy new year . Phil Hereford UK.

Every time you inspire me Frank! thank you.

Nice controller on the CNC! I use an XBox 360 controller. Sure more convenient than using the keyboard buttons and mouse. A little tip for you on your CNC hold down clamps. If you look at about 5:38 in the video, you can see the hold downs are angled downward toward the table, away from the workpiece. Try to keep the hold downs a bit closer to level by tucking a piece of scrap under the ends that are touching the table in the video. That keeps the clamping pressure directed downward as opposed to down and forward. I'm new to CNC myself, and I didn't realize how much of a difference something as simple as this made. It really works nicely. Peter Passuello did a video in which he demonstrates his technique for using clamps similar to yours, and some different strategies for clamping down materials of varying thicknesses. He has all kinds of CNC videos on his channel, and he's really come up with some great solutions for different applications. Here's a link to his clamping video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RESF53ltsO0.html As always, thanks for the video Frank! I really enjoy your work!

great idea! i like that you include the bloopers so others can learn from your mistakes.

Nice build - I am not sure if youre aware about it, but when you pack the rear end of the clamps on your cnc so they are level or just a little bit higher than your workpiece, they hold the workpiece way more safe, as the clamp is not just riding the edge. Thank you for those videos, incredible well edited, great narration and overall fun to watch. Happy new year :-)

Great video as always! When i started using my CNC i used to make the same mistake with the z axis all the time. So i got so frustrated and now i always run the program once, with the z axis an inch or so away from the cutting material so that i can visually check the path and make sure the cutting depth will be correct. Then i lower the z axis to the desired depth and run the program for real. I also use metal hold-downs, where the screws in the base board and the tip of the router are electrically connected with my CNC controller limit switches, so that when the tip accidentally touches one of the hold-downs an e-stop is triggered and the procedure stops. Then i can reposition the hold-down and continue the program.

YES! you used an SNES controller for the CNC router! I am so happy to see that.

I Love your work and your videos! And your voice make it that sometimes I want to listen to a video on and on and on! You are such an inspiring person! I looking forward for the bowl video and maybe soon kitchen update (?)! Cheers from Germany!

I know a lot of your videos are much more "produced" with animation and so on, but in this one, seeing things go wrong and the problem solving and on-the-fly design was really interesting!

This is a really good way to approach this. Great to see the cnc getting some action

simple design, easy build, and cost effective. genius.

Great idea Frank. Love that monster CNC of yours.

Awesome as always, Frank!

Thank you for sharing your mistakes. And your inspirational projects.

Thanks for the idea. Here's something that might be a useful accessory to avoid running the clamping nut up and down the threaded rod. It's a clamping handlebar with half-nuts embedded in it. I sawed the top clamping nut in half. Then I ripped a 12" length of 1x3 oak and embedded the halves of the nut in the middle of the length. Then I crossdrilled the oak bar on either side of nut and installed carriage bolts with wingnuts. Now, after placing the slotted caul disc, I put the bar together and cinch down the wingnuts and turn the handlebar to tighten the press.

I just had to comment I don't very often but I have to say I appreciate the fact that you show the mistakes much respect to you second the SNES control pad on the CNC made me like working with wood carcasses just a bit more

Congratulations for this project, very good. Happy New Year to you and all yours

Very innovative in making a bowl clamp. As Alan W suggested below, I think a hand crank would "top it off" very nicely!

Awesome video and job as always Frank! Love the game controller! AWESOME!!!!

So I'm curious, will you drill a hole on the bottom bit of the bowl to be later plugged in or will you just attach the bottom piece separately?

You make such cool videos that I almost forget it's about working with wood.

I have a great pleasure to congratulate you on a good and bright holiday - Christmas! Let it bring you a peace of mind and a huge happiness!

Great Project! Much better than creating a screw down vice and a lot simpler to build. I will have to make one this weekend. Thanks as always for your great videos.

Great clamp you'll get a lot of use from it I build the same a few years ago I made the pressure plate like a plus sign + that lets you see the inside and out

I nearly never comment. But I have enjoyed watching lots of your videos. You end with "Thanks for watchin'". The usually say thanks for making another.. Of course, unknowingly to you, until now. So, without further ado, "Thanks for making them!"

You make such good videos, just makes me happy!

Great idea for the clamp and I look forward to the bowl video.

Very clever! Well done Frank.

Great idea, Frank! Ive been wanting to try some segmented turing and this looks like a easy build that will really come in handy on the glue ups. Thanks for sharing!

Long time fan. You are quite amazing. Love your work.

Can't wait too see that segmented bowl!

The numbering was great!

I don't remember seeing the SNES controller on your CNC before. That is way too cool!

Awesome project videos Frank, not to mention the professional production. Keep em' coming , the cnc is a whole world of its own!, thanks for posting. One comment (sitting here on my arse), you may want to try acme threads/ threaded rod instead of those threads meant to bind. much easier to clamp things.

Nice work, Frank. If you made a well balanced "knob" for the nut that tightens on top, you could spin it in place, then tighten it by hand without needing a wrench.

Smart clamp Frank ! great idea.

My favorite part? The inch marking of the rings. Nice touch.

Every CNC operator has made those same mistakes.. Keep up the great videos and welcome to the club.

love the NIntendo game controller! and your clamp ofcourse ;-) i thought you'd be turning the bolt until you were a year older, but this looks cool

Beautiful Frank!

I love your videos! Keep up the good work! I would love to see more CNC videos!

using the SNES controller for the CNC machine is brilliant

That is a really cool old drill press!!

Great solution to the clamping issue. Reminds me of the mechanism that holds a roll of stretch film on a dispensing handle.

It's a nice touch with the numbered grading rings.

Make key shaped holes in your clamp boards to clear the nut and washer. That way the outer rim stays solid.

great video, i use a similar jig and have found that if you make your top clamping piece "cone ' shaped you tent to get better clamping force as it seems to spread the pressure better

I like that you put your mistakes in your videos

Simple solution anyone can make. Excellent!

Rods are always better in tension than in compression anyway. That will make glue ups a lot easier.

Well done. I will have to remember that idea.

for some reason the part where the numbers were carved into the board was so satisfying

Nice job. Good idea!

Genius! Love it.

I knew it. Back to your true love: turning bowls...

I like that the clamp can be stored in a very small space. The original idea clamping down would take more storage space.

follows you from Denmark like the way you make your graphics with the videos and the things you are doing in your workshop intentionally final

What a very clever man Frank Howarth is.

I can't tell you how much I enjoy watching your videos. As a very new woodworker at an advanced age, I need to learn as much as I can and your videos and narration is fantastic. I just wish I had a few things. 1. your genius and talent. 2. Your shop. 3. Your tools. 4. Your talent. (i know I said that twice.) I have a grizzly 14 inch bandsaw that works well fro what I do. I have a small drill press, and Rigid table saw. I have a planer, and a compound miter saw. Of course I have clamps (never enough) and pal sanders. I have two routers and a router table that I am just barely getting comfortable with. I am trying to decide what my next big tool purchase will be. Between a Lathe, CNC, or laser engraver/cutter. What do you recommend. I think I can get more done with the lather initially but I also make boxes- band saw and others as you can see on my simple page. Bowls will expand what I can give out as gifts but I also like the idea of adding to my boxes. Anyway, I would appreciate any feedback you can give me. Keep up with the videos but I haven't gotten close to watching the ones you've already produced.

I laughed out loud watching this one! Thanks Frank for the great videos!

Nice video. Glad to see, that CNC results not only in my shop to try and error :-)

Nice clamp. You might like replacing the top nut with a long board with a captive T-nut in the center. This would give you a longer bar you could easily "spin down", and give you some easy leverage turning it by hand and not require the use of the wrench.

So basically you build a shop-press out of wood :) Nice work!

some skateboard grip tape on the base might hold the bottom ring in place to stop it moving around during glue up might work

Seeing that you have a (awesome) controller on your CNC, I wonder why you didn't just drill the center hole using a long plunge bit on the CNC instead of the old, half-functional drill press.

Ah, that good old CNC learning curve ;-)

really cool video! you should do some more cnc projects cause thats a nice machine

Couldn't you glue up 3 rings, put on a clamping plates and tighten the nut, then use the top of the clamping plate as a base for gluing up the next 3 rings with a second clamping plate and nut; and so on till you had all the segments gluing up in 3 segment stacks. Then after they were dry (cured, whatever) , take the 3 stacks segments off and glue them to the other 3 stack segmants thus speeding up the gluing process?

Frank, if you watch closely at 6:29, your piece moves well before the clamp is hit. I think your setup was correct, it just that your piece starts to move due to the cut/vibration. It is a small movement, but that's all it takes sometimes.

SNES controller to control the cnc ? Splendid! Btw, never clamp the way you did it in this video, always use some support to have the clamps horizontal.

I appreciate the re-use of the old kitchen cabinet wood! You should definitely think about welding a balanced hand-cranky thing to that top nut. =)

What a great idea. I think I will make me one thanks.

Excellent video Frank. I realy enjoy seeing the ups and downs you encounter when doing these projects, it keeps it realistic (we all mess up sometimes!). I noticed you have to bend over your cnc table to turn off the router, have you thought about putting a dedicated switch near your other controls to power on/off the router?

love the drill press

That's awesome!

I could see the joy on Frank's face.

I would tack weld a rod at a slight angle on the top nut so you would not need to use a wrench when tightening the clamp down.

Nice!

very nice, It seems the CNC has a bit of a learning curve.. thanks for sharing the good and not so good :)

That Candy-Otto (sp?) drill press is a monster! :D Totally impractical, but I still kind of want one. :)

Great video. I'm tellin ya man, horizontal clamps for some of this stuff is way better. Lots of time on case like this, all you need is for pieces not to slide, so just building walls around the piece is much better than using trying to have lots of downward force only for the friction to keep it from sliding.

Good to see you included the mistakes As everyone does at some point

Reminds me of the Towers of Hanoi game... except with a lot more glue. Anyway, clever clamp!

but what about the hole in the bottom of the bowl for the rod to go through?

Even without a CNC that will do for me, thanks Frank.