Have a similar item in the wood shop.

Plate screws onto top thread , pop on a block of wood and carve away.

Not saying that is its original purpose, but tis what I use it for.

BB

Mine looks like a lathe faceplate.

BB

I have one of those. I made a base to clamp it in the vice and a holder for the swivel top to hold copper sculptures while I brazed them together.

James.

I use one to support a flat table rest on my double ended bench grinder.

The aluminium table is slotted to take an adjustable angle fence

Bill

Hi all, in the 60s I worked for a firm that made the entire range of Spencer Franklin workholding equipment of which the pictured item was a part, a powerful locking mechanism indeed! Base was a steel or alloy casting or gunmetal (crikey) for the ones made as aerial clamps for the Royal Navy. Could easily be made in any shed dwellers workshop, would obviously need access to a ball turning device but lash up using boring head or any of the other methods previously described in these forii (is that a word). Naturally made a couple for myself at the time but at some later date when times became hard I sold them for an obscene price, thank the Lord for people who can't knock a nail into a snowdrift.

Bob

If is really is possible for the ordinary Model Engineer / Home Shop Guy to make a decently effective hydraclamp ball mount without elaborate equipment I'd think such would be a nice MEW project. Especially if teamed with a Baby Wilton replica as per the avatar used by Mike E.

Far as I can see the performance of ball swivel mount and swivel vice assemblies on the market at normal folk wallet friendly prices cover the range from "useable side of rubbish" to "it'll do I s'pose". Certainly the three I picked up over the years fall in that range.

I think more than a few folks would be interested in crafting a really nice replacement. Hafta be reasonably quick project tho', not the all too common decade long Quorn endeavour. If weldments and judicious exploitation of built up construction along with more angular styling is acceptable a Baby Wilton replica could be done quite simply. Looks as if same would apply to the hydraclamp.

Clive

PS Tom Lipton has already done a design for a Baby Bullet replica :- http://oxtool.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/.  Link to drawings at the bottom of the page.  Hard part is getting all the sweet curves.  Angular with broken corners would be more my style.

Edited By Clive Foster on 04/03/2018 11:09:40

Edited By Clive Foster on 04/03/2018 11:20:21

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… uncannily similar to the mechanical [Miniclamp] offering from Hydraclamp.

The only substantive difference appears to be the design of the operating lever.

The 'proper' [hydraulic] Hydraclamps are described in this patent. **LINK**

https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=GB&NR=926072A&KC=A&FT=D&ND=3&date=19630515&DB=EPODOC&locale=en_EP

MichaelG.