simple and effective holddowns

I have been looking for a way to add holddowns to my benchtop for a while. All the plans i saw called for either complex cuts or glueups or special hardware or reaching under the bench.

I ended up with making these, which I find so far VERY satisfying. Actually, they are much better than i thought they would be. The overall cost for the pair is ~5$.

ok, lets do it:

From 270509 hold down

these are the things you need:
1) 2 lengths of threaded rod (i used 8mm). they should be (the thickness of your bench) + (the thickness of the work you aim to hold) + 3-4cm. don’t make them too long, it will make work awkward. you can make another set of longer rods if needed. I used 15cm pieces of rod
2) 2 knobs that fit the rod you used. i used knobs from hafele just because i had some. you can make your own knobs from t-nuts and piece of plywood the niki way.
3) 2 heavy washers
4) two pieces of softwood (I used Douglas fir)
5) some T-nuts that fits 8mm rod

Thats all!

From 270509 hold down

Drill some 10-11 mm holes in your bench all the way through where you want the holddowns to be. I drilled 8 holes. use the threaded rod, the washer, a nut and a spanner to pull the t-nut firmly into the bench on the bottom of the holes. this is how it looks from below.

From 270509 hold down

Assemble the holdowns: knob, washer and piece of wood all on the threaded rod

From 270509 hold down

to use, just drop the holdown into the hole and turn the rod several times so it will catch the t-nut. now adjust the knob.

From 270509 hold down

sometimes when the edges of the piece are fragile, you might want the pressure to come from above. one way to do that is to notch the piece of timber (wide V). I just put another piece of timber on the back.

From 270509 hold down

and they can also be used as a very versatile bench stop (that can have an open section in the middle or slanted sides)

-- The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep...