Shop tip: Keeping assemblies from tipping off the bench

Back at school, the teachers advised us to clamp fully of partially assembled projects down to the bench, to keep them from being accidentally knocked over. But, half the time we were clamping one hand screw to the piece, and then clamping that hand screw to the bench with another hand screw, and it always felt really improvised.

This is a minor refinement. My rolling shop table has a couple of threaded inserts in the top, that were there to mount a jig that I don't use anymore. So, I drilled a few holes through a hand screw, clamped it to the project, and then used a jig bolt to hold the hand screw down. Now I can roll the shop table around without worrying that this thing will come crashing down.

Step One: Close the middle section of the hand screw to fit the piece in question.

Step Two: Using the handle on the end, clamp the rest of the hand screw around the piece. Note the threaded insert in the surface of the work table, to the right of the hand screw.









Step Three: Bolt the hand screw to the table.