This is a new pointer holder clamp to replace one I made many years ago. The old clamp is just a piece of brass hack-sawed and filed to shape, with a 1/4″ UNC bolt and mystery nut to hold the pointer firmly.

The new clamp is made from a piece of 3/8″ x 3/4″ mild steel bar. The opposing radii was milled and filed to shape, and a 1mm wide slitting saw was used to make the slot.

Silver steel (tool steel) was used to make the nut, sleeve and spindle. I used the KX1 4th axis to mill 18 straight flutes on the nut, I think straight flutes look and feel better than a traditional knurl.

The clamp is secured to a silver steel column fixed to a magnetic base, at about 5″ tall it is a very handy tool to use on the milling machine to point to a datum mark on the table, to act as an idiot guide to where my zero is on the dial.