WoodstockW1301 Steelex Drill Press Clamp, 6"

I recently purchased a 4-1/4 inch keyhole saw for making wooden wagon wheel hubs on my drill press. The spring clamps I had were not strong enough to hold down the stock when I tried to cut them out. I needed a stronger clamp that would hold the stock in place and not allow it to move while cutting the circular hubs. The clamp also had to be shaped in a way that would not interfere with the saw. The clamp had to be rugged enough to withstand a lot of tork created by the saw biting into the wood and spinning at considerable rpm's. After a lot of searching, I came across the drill press clamp concept. I read about the Delta clamps and did not like what the reviewers said about the quality and function of the product. When I discovered the reviews about the Steelex D2192 10-inch clamp, I felt like I could chance an on-line purchase. Turned out to be one of my best investments in clamps that I ever made! They worked like a charm and handled the job of cutting wooden circles over 4 inches in diameter a breeze. Two clamps did the job with ease. These are dependable and rugged tools. Well worth the purchase price.

I like it over all. Easy to use and set in place. Works just like vise grips do so the quality seems good, but it won't clamp down on real thin material. You have to have about an inch block in on top of your thinner things to hold them down.

About 8 months ago, I bought the Steelex clamp or hold down in the 12" size for use on a Jet JDF-17MF drill press with a slotted round work table, and gave it a rave review. Amazon (or Steelex?) seems to have dropped that size and made the reviews for it unavailable. I wanted a smaller size to have for the same applications, so have now purchased the 10". The two sizes do complement each other. The new 10" clamps all the way down to the table: there is no "dead zone" the clamp won't tighten to. There is some lateral play, but I could live with that, or fix it the same way I did with the 12", by squeezing the frame together.

After reading some reviews, I was wary of purchasing this, but I was pleasantly surprised at the tool's overall high quality. It meets the quality level I would expect from a US-made item. Good metalwork, no burrs or snags, good welds, threads, plating. Adjusts and clamps smoothly and firmly. All the clamps in this series have a peculiarity, in that the nut which secures them to the workable is an "eye-nut" (see the illustrations on other sizes). I prefer a regular nut, which is an M10, easy to pick up, along with a heavy fender washer. But the toolmaker did all the hard work, and made a very useful clamp for a drill press or similar setup. It's a keeper.

So I bought 2 of these for my drill press. The 1st one clamps well enough, the 2nd one will spring open after I let go of the handle.Also, on this 2nd one, there was more rust along the inside of the clamp, and the finish of the clamp seemed as if the topmost coating was wearing off.I don't have any other drill press clamps to compare with these, but I have regular, actual Vise-grip clamps and they are much better in quality than these. Heck, even my Pittsburgh HF bought clamps are better built than these.

The media could not be loaded.  The only clamp of this type that I could find to work in a "t" slot was much more costly than this one and it was not hard to modified to work. It does not bother me that the clamp will not clamp down to a very thin piece. Most times I use a protective cover on what I am clamping and I just vary the thickness of the protective cover. There are scrap of wood that have been cut to the desired shape and or thickness that I use for this. For the money I thought it to be a great little clamp.

I use this clamp as a speed clamp. It makes for fast single piece drilling.

Worthwhile purchase. I just pulled the old drill press out of mothballs and bought this to hold work in place while drilling. It is simple to install and easy to use. I'm glad I bought it.

Purchased for my husband as a Christmas gift. He let me know that it works great. Just what he needed.

Bien

Very good...should have gotten 2

works well

I have a 12" version of this and it works great but I needed a smaller one so I thought this would be perfect. Unfortunately this item is complete junk. Whether it's just poorly built or has a manufacturing defect, it will not clamp shut. If I want it to stay clamped shut I have to hold it clamped tight with one hand while I wrap tape around it with the other just to stay clamped. If you don't do this it just pops open, completely defeating it's purpose. Don't buy!!