. I have tried low profile hold downs from several makers, both on Etsy and on Amazon, none have really been what I wanted. Wood is too bendy, too thick, and not grippy enough, and the 3d printed stuff is hollow and I have broken several of them just tightening them down by hand. All of them stick up over the project too high for my taste. So I made my own. Like my daddy said "you can’t hit it if it ain’t there! Of course, He was talking about hitting a baseball but the same holds true for hold downs. I built some hold downs that are strong, fast, grippy, and wel,l they work. They only stick up .120 thousandths above the workpiece all along their length. So no steel screws sticking up a half inch or more above the work. Realizing that most if not all Zaxis retractions come up .200 above your workpiece when they travel to a new spot It feels pretty safe. I have not hit a single one yet. and since they are stepped they don’t need to take up much real-estate so your total size when cutting out your project can be smaller saving you money on wood. they keep your wood down and also keep it from moving laterally. you can use them with your match fit or your t track rails. let me know what you think i am not sure if i will be sending the files or a physical hold down set with everything. I have only tested them with t track but it makes sence that the match fit would work . Right now, they are made for 1/4-20 threaded low head screws. contact me if you have any thoughts on these.
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this photo shows how low this profile really is. I will try to upload a short video of it in action tomorrow
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Sorry to revive a thread, but do you always specify a minimum z depth to retract back towards when doing any movements or working towards the edge where a hold down will be?
I’m just curious if you adopted that behavior as a result of ‘hitting the ball’ 
while working.
Nice hold downs.
thanks . it is just my standard safe z height…
Make sure that your safe Z height is higher than the hold downs. That way, you won’t run into them accidentally during a position move.
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