Hello jewelry-making friends! This will be a landing page for different ideas I have had for making custom adapters for my Easy Saw Rotating Clamp. I have a couple of another post where I have talked about how I was using this tool (and how much I love it), but I have several more tweaks and uses for adapting the clamp so I can saw pieces even more easily. Some of you may think this is all a bit fiddly, and that might be true, but I can saw all day long (and much better!) with these set ups. So I can do more intricate designs without having to rely on pancake dies to cut my shapes for me.
The first video is about the acrylic adapter that comes with the Easy Saw:
Note that this customization needs additional pieces- the mini clamps that are either sold separately or that come with the Easy Saw Adapter with the smaller hole.
I drilled holes in the adapter to match the drill bits I was using, but the acrylic since then has worn out. So not I using a bolt through the adapter with a nut underneath to hold my pieces in place. Just make sure to keep the holes inside the circumference of the hole in the base of the Easy Saw. Also, keep the plastic film on the adapter while you are sawing and drilling, and tape the other side so it doesn’t shatter. You can see I left the tape on because it catches my shavings- I am using pewter here and so there’s less dust to clean up 😊
I used the Faux Bone blades by Robert Dancik. You can find them here.
Easy Saw Acrylic Adapter Blades
Here is the set up on how I use the custom adapter- note the tape catcher 😉
Easy Saw Acrylic Adapter Clamped
I originally drilled holes that matched the circumference of the bolts I was planning on using. However after several uses the hole started to get stripped and the bolt would no longer twist in tightly enough to hold down the mini clamp and the piece underneath that. So I ended up having to use a nut underneath to attach the mini clamp through the acrylic adapter. It’s not a big deal, but you do have to make sure that your holes are within the circumference of the hole in the easy saw rotating clamp base.
Don’t forget you can use the leftover piece! I used it for teeny tiny pieces:
Easy Saw Acrylic Adapter Leftover
Here is the video-
In the second video, I talk about a more custom approach to using the Easy Saw Rotating Clamp.
While I was working with the acrylic adapter it was working fine, however I thought it would be better if I could have even more custom shapes for pieces that I saw out often. I was noodling on something else if I remember correctly and somehow Faux Bone popped into my head. I thought that would be a good material to try to make a custom jig from because it is non-marring and fairly easy to cut, especially if you use the blades that Robert Dancik sells. One note on these blades- they don’t cut metal, so try to keep them separate from your normal saw blades. I took the thinnest faux bone that I had and sawed out a shape that was smaller than the piece I was trying to saw and it went pretty easily. Then I drilled some holes in and around that shape. Two things that I have learned since this experiment –
1. I wouldn’t cut the slit in these jigs because it makes them a little less stiff. And that makes sawing a little bit harder because the piece you are sawing out tends to bounce. Also see the third section in this post with accompanying video to see another idea that doesn’t need the holes drilled into this piece. You will need to either drill a hole in the piece or the jig and bring your saw blade through as if you were piercing. It’s an extra step, but I find it to go quicker because the piece doesn’t jump around as much.
2. I matched the drill holes to the bolts that I was using and after a few uses realized it was the same as the acrylic adapter where the bolt ends up stripping the hole. So you end up needing to use a nut from underneath to hold the bolt down through the mini clamp to clamp your piece to the jig. So you can use any drill bit you want that’s a little bit wider than the bolt you are using- as long as the bolt head won’t fall through- and just go ahead and use the nut underneath to hold everything in place. Make sure the holes are within the circumference of the hole in the Easy Saw base.
Easy Saw Faux Bone Custom Adapters 1
Easy Saw Faux Bone Custom Adapters Cut out
Easy Saw Faux Bone Custom Adapters Clamped
Don’t forget about the leftovers! For the Faux Bone piece I cut out it was similar to another piece I had cut from thicker faux bone. I use it as a non-marring bezel pusher.
Easy Saw Faux Bone Custom Adapters Cut out
Easy Saw Faux Bone Custom Adapters Sawing
Check out the video-
In the third twist, I decided to take the idea of the Easy Saw original clamp and make something similar with two pieces of metal. I also show in the video how I do something similar with the Faux Bone that I used in the previous attempt.
In this adapter I use two pieces of metal or Faux Bone that I have cut either the exact same or somewhat similar shapes out of the middle. Again, I am skipping cutting in the slit from the side to make sure that the thinner material I am using stays as stiff as possible to hold the piece securely and not have any bounce. In the first go round I used two pieces of metal about 18 gauge brass and 20 gauge copper. I used one of my dies to cut the shape out of the middle.
Now I have two options: I can either sandwich my piece in between the two adapters and slide it into the original Easy Saw clamp in between the top and bottom plates as if it was a single piece of metal. Then tighten the whole thing down, bring my saw blade through an area outside of the piece I am trying to saw (sometimes I need to drill a hole if the piece I am sawing fits too tightly within the jigs I am using), and just start sawing.
Easy Saw 2 Part Custom Clamp 1
Easy Saw 2 Part Custom Clamp Faux Bone Original
The other way I can use these adapter clamps is again to sandwich my piece in the middle of the two adapters and then place that down onto the Easy Saw adapter with the smaller hole and use the mini clamps to clamp the sandwich down with the piece centered over the hole in the middle of the Easy Saw adapter. This works for smaller pieces, and if you have this adapter which is sold separately.
Easy Saw 2 Part Custom Clamp Faux Bone Clamped
In general I try to do a bunch of shapes that match the adapters that I have been using so I’m not switching back and forth that often. This seems to work really well for me and again my hand doesn’t hurt as much and I am able to saw all day and with much better results.
If you have the Easy Saw Rotating Clamp, you might want to try to create jigs for yourself- especially for pieces that you cut often. Hope this helps! Enjoy!
