# Best Homemade Tools >  Unimat Lathe Faceplate and Faceplate Clamps

## Paul Jones

Shown is a 2.5” diameter faceplate and set of small faceplate clamps for my 3” swing Unimat SL 1000 lathe. The faceplate is made from 12L14 steel machined on the face with evenly spaced 0.1” witness marks. The clamping holes are evenly spaced and tap for 10-32 screws. 

I also made three faceplate clamps from C360 brass. These have an additional 10-32 round C360 brass nut on the backside for the clamping screw to use on the faceplate that came with the Unimat and shown in the last photo. The round nuts are not needed for the 2.5" faceplate. Each clamp has separate 4-40 screw for leveling the clamp. 

The idea for the brass faceplate clamps came from one of the tool articles published at Adventures in Watchmaking** - Home and I previously posted another version of the clamps at Homemade Faceplate Clamps.

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DIYer (Nov 26, 2014),

Doc (Nov 28, 2014),

jjr2001 (May 29, 2018),

kbalch (Dec 1, 2014),

PJs (May 31, 2018),

rlm98253 (Oct 16, 2017)

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## Captainleeward

Nice set up Paul for those small hard to cut parts. I like it because its fast Great job...:O) :Clapping:

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Paul Jones (Nov 26, 2014)

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## Vernon

The picture makes it look so big than when you read it you than realize it will fit in your hand but nice job.

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Paul Jones (Nov 26, 2014)

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## Paul Jones

It has come in handy several times. Thanks

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## DIYer

Very nice, Vernon. More ideas added to my personal knowledge base.

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## kbalch

Thanks Paul! I've added your Unimat Faceplate and Clamps to our Lathes and Workholding categories, as well as to your builder page: Paul Jones' Homemade Tools. Your receipt:





 






Unimat Faceplate and Clamps  by Paul Jones 

tags:
machining, lathe, clamp

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## kbalch

Hi Paul,

An awesome project, as well as interesting and useful homemade tools! Your Unimat Faceplate and Clamps are the 'Tools of the Week'!

You'll be receiving one of our official HomemadeTools.net T-shirts:



Let me know (via PM) your size, color choice, and mailing address. We'll get the shirt in the mail to you directly.

Congrats!

Ken

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## kbalch

This thread has been moved to the Must Read subforum. Congrats (and thanks) to Paul for making such a valuable contribution!

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## Chrisk7

Very nice, thank you for taking the time to show us.

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Paul Jones (Jan 27, 2018)

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## Paul Jones

Hi Chisk7,

This small lathe and the homemade accessories have proven to be be very useful over the years on projects requiring a small lathe ( http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/m...0111#post11976 ). 

I bought the 3” swing Unimat SL1000 lathe new in 1970 when I worked part-time in the School of Oceanography, University of Washington designing and building underwater oceanographic research equipment. My part-time job helped to pay for my undergrad degree education physics and geophysical oceanography before going on to a MS and PhD in geophysics. In grad school starting in 1973 I thought I would continue designing and making underwater geophysical research equipment in grad school but my future career changed forever when our my research was performed using computer simulations with mainframe computers and minicomputers for geophysical research in oil and gas exploration. My new development platform became FORTRAN programming rather than machine tools. I have been involved in information technology most of my career but still wanted to do machining. That is when I decided to continue being a hobbyist machinist (I started when I was 14) and the passion has continued and only gets better over time.

Thank you for your comments,

Regards,
Paul Jones

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PJs (May 31, 2018)

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