Palmgren Clamping Kit

If you want to make full use of your drill press or milling machine table, Palmgren makes a kit with just about everything you’d ever need, including a steel storage rack to neatly organize all the pieces.
Here’s the complete list of what’s included:
- Four 9⁄16″ T-slot nuts
- Four 5⁄8″ T-slot nuts
- Six flange nuts
- Four coupling nuts
- Six step block pairs
- Six step clamps
- 24 studs — four each 3″, 4″, 5″, 6″, 7″, and 8″ lengths
- Two 1-3⁄4″ wide U-clamp sets — each U-clamp set contains a 5″ stud, a flange nut, a ball joint, a U-clamp, and a 9⁄16″ T-slot nut
- Steel storage rack
At $140, this kit isn’t cheap, and it weighs 28 lbs, so shipping will definitely cost you — but you’ll never be lacking for ways to hold down your work. Sears sells what appears to be the identical kit, rebranded as Craftsman, for $100.
Clamping Kit [Palmgren]
Clamping Kit [Grainger]
Clamping Kit [Sears]
Via Amazon(B0007ZFK0S) [What’s This?] [What’s This?]
Enco has an import set for $24.95.
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=505-6544
Should serve well enough if taken care of.
I have an import clone of this set. I think I paid $25 for it. It works fine.
At least with the set I bought the t-nuts come in different sizes. Double check that the nuts will fit in the t-slots of your machine/table.
And people wonder why we have no manufacturing jobs in the US….it’s because of this “lowest common denominator” mentality. Yeah, you can get it for $25 made by some child-labor facotry that spews crap into the river and treats it workers like garbage. And yes, I’ve bought Enco stuff and own some of the Palmgren stuff – there’s a big gulf in quality.
And, even if it’s close in qualty, it’s sad to see that the first comments made by folks on this board are about how you can undercut a US factory.
Some day we’ll see below the bottom line, but probably not until we completely decimated our economy, environment, and way of life.
I am in manufacturing. I know why we import more and more goods – UNIONS. Making hold down sets is no longer a high skill job thanks to modern machine tools. BIG LABOR needs to wrap their heads around that concept if they want to compete. You don’t own your job; your company does, and they sell it to the lowest bidder.
That Palmgren set is likely made offshore as well, Palmgren has been transitioning for years now. Some of their stuff may still be made in the US, but a large proportion isn’t anymore (“International Quality” line). Same goes for Wilton.
Is there user instructions for the clamping kit?