I made ten of these a few years ago:
They're a clone of these:
What I'm trying to figure out is what to make the clamp pads out of that will last any length of time? I'm not even sure bessey has that figured out since they sell replacement pads. Although they might sell them for different reasons because they sell them with the cams and everything, not just the pad. ...and for about as much as a new clamp, at least where I saw them for sale.
My first try was a brand new mouse pad. It had a satin cloth adhered to the top and some thin, grippy rubber on the bottom. I cut the rubber into strips and epoxied them to the cams. Lasted a few months I think before the rubber started deteriorating and leaving marks on the projects. Like rubber powder was getting ingrained.
Second try was vinyl seat fabric. It was 88 cents for way more than enough. It just wasn't grippy enough. It does work great in my bench vises where more pressure is applied.
Third try was epoxying 150-grit paper to the vinyl already in place. Worked great once. Second use the paper-vinyl bond started giving up. So that was a fail. And I'd like to maybe not have sandpaper on the projects in this fashion.
My ideas include silicone baking mats, or rolls of adhesive-backed neoprene rubber. First I'm not sure how to glue the silicone non-stick mats. But now I'm not even sure where to find the thicker ones that are grippy. Seems like all I could find today on amazon were thin and or not grippy-looking.
Not sure how durable the neoprene strips would be. Any thoughts?
*addition to post:
Found this chart online.
Looks like silicone is a good candidate as far as lifespan. Do you think Devcon 12045 silicone adhesive would be a good choice for gluing strips from a silicon baking mat to semi epoxy-soaked wood?
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