Back in 2023 when I was restoring the Moore And Wright Scribing Block there was a discussion on one of the forums which went along the lines of “you cannot have too many toolmakers or engineers clamps” At the time I had 3 sets that were cheapo imports. Since then I have added another single 2″ Eclipse example to the collection but I was also thinking about a pair that could be used for holding parts for soldering without going rusty.

I happened to have a length of 1/2″ square brass bar that I’d had for a number of years without having a use for it. A quick measure up worked out that I could get two pairs of jaws from it so in the intervening 3 years I have been slowly building a pair. I made the screws from stainless M6 threaded rod and the knobs and nuts were made from 10mm nickel bar.

They have been substantially made for quite some time and really only needed the angles putting on the jaws and some way of retaining the nuts in the absence of having any spring steel. In the end I milled some flat brass bar to fit around a slot cut in the lower section of the nut.

Now all that remains is to loctite the knobs on he ends of the threaded rod and put some on the bottom of the threaded rod where it screws into the front lower jaw.