Checklist: clamping on machine

Poor clamping creates both dangerous situations and inaccurate measurements. Use the list before you start.

§Before printing, every single book was written by hand, often by monks in monasteries copying texts letter by letter. It was an enormous undertaking: a single book could take months or years and books were therefore so expensive that only the church, nobility and universities owned them. The script, layout, the hand-coloured initials and illustrations were all manual work — and two copies of the same book were never quite identical.

• 01Is the item clean and free of chips and burrs?
• 02Are the clamping surfaces clean?
• 03Does the clamping suit the workpiece and the task?

§The actual clamping

• 01Clamp the component firmly and securely
• 02Check that it is straight and cannot move
• 03Check that tool can reach without hitting chuck