Hello from Melbourne, Australia

[Spyros]

And then you make that impression deeper with a chisel, deep enough to fit the nut

Then you mix some 2 part epoxy, and sink the bolt in with a hammer                                                                                                                                               

[Spyros]

(make sure there is no epoxy in the threads of the nut.  If there is, before the epoxy dries completely screw the bolt in and out a few times and then clean the epoxy off the threads of the bolt, it's much easier like that).  Ok you should have something like this at this point: 

[Spyros]

Now that you have something to handle your star knob with, take it to a sander and give it a bit of a bevel all around, makes it much easier on the hand:  

You can see now where your initials will go     

[Spyros]

Note: if you've done this right, the bolt should turn 12-15 times inside the knob before it hits the bottom of the hole.  Thats about 15-20mm of travel, which is all you need.   For the other knobs it's pretty much the same process, except you don't want to sink the nut, you want to sink the head of the bolt. Like this

So when you turn the knob, you want to turn the whole bolt.  I hope things make sense so far??

Edited May 27, 2020 by Spyros

[Spyros]

Probably not LOL  

[Spyros]

Ok lets make a clamp, which I believe is what sets this pony apart from the ones sold on etsy etc.  

So pretty much all the stitching ponies I've seen, even some of the most high-end ones, have this sort of clamp that catches in the bottom of your table and keeps turning as you turn the screw until it lodges itself in your table or at the very least marks it for ever.    This is a terrible design, not only it will scratch the crap out of your table but the actual clamp will self destruct eventually.  I'll show you how to make a proper clamp that lands gently on the bottom of your table and then it only squeezes without turning.  We'll make a pony that you can use on your dining table if you want without ever leaving a mark.

Take your part A, mark it in the bottom , about 20mm from the edge:

 

Then drill a hole right through, wide enough to just fit your insert nut.  It's important to drill that hole as straight as possible  

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Spyros

[Spyros]

Then sink the insert nut in with a hex key.  

 

I'm not gonna lie, those thinks are a bitch to put them in straight.  You'd think the hole would guide it but it always seems to want to go sideways a little bit.  Anyway if you fail and your bolt is going in very crooked, take out the nut and try to put it in from the other side of the hole, guiding it straight while turning it with the hex key.  Basically you have 2 tries to put this in straight, but if it's crooked by only a little bit that's ok, it will still work just fine (don't ask me how I know LOL)

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Spyros

[Spyros]

Next step for the clamp:  find a domed end nut for your bolt

Then cut a circle (slightly smaller in diameter than your star nuts) from your thick plywood, then make a wide hole in it for your domed nut to sit very comfortably in.  It should look like this:

and then make an equal size circle out of thinner material (anything 2-5mm), and cut a hole in that one just wide enough for your bolt to go through, but not wide enough for the end nut to get out of:

 Then put it all together in this order:

Ideally at this point you want to weld the end nut on the bolt, and by all means do that if you can be bothered, but I never did on mine and I've been using it for months and it never came off.  

Also, another good thing you can do is add a little piece of metal in the hole on top of the end nut, like a tiny metal button or washer or something, it will help things run smoother long term.  I did do this in my other pony, completely forgot on this one.  Anyway I might open it up and do it at some point.

Then glue and clamp your circular parts together and leave them a couple of hours to dry.

 

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Spyros

[Spyros]

This is what it looks like when it's finished.  Notice how the circle part looks limp?  That's exactly what you want, you want it to be loose.

 

Works great

The whole point of this mechanism is that when you start tightening your clamp by turning the knob, as soon as the circular part comes in contact with the bottom of your table it stops turning, but the screw inside it keeps turning and pushing upwards until the clamp is firmly (but gently) attached on your table. 

Last thing about the clamp:  the parts that come in contact with your table, you want to line them with something.  I know your first instinct would be to line them with leather, and you surely can do that with just your leather glue, but it will come off eventually and it's a bit slippery anyway.  Go to a hardware store and ask for a small roll of non slip vinyl, the type they put on slippery steps in workplaces etc.  It usually comes with double side sticky tape, use that to fix it on the clamp.   Not as pretty as leather but it's definitely the best stuff for the job.  

[Spyros]

For the next joint, same drill.  Take your part B, screw the insert nut in, add a nylon washer, thread it through, add another washer from the other side

Screw it in, boom, done.