Installing Kreg Clamp Plate

Finally getting around to installing a Kreg Clamp Plate in my workbench top. I built the jig shown using scrap plywood and pocket holes, but if/when doing it again I would just use strips of MDF and double sided tape.

I cut the recess and then had second thoughts about squaring out the corners left by the router bit - I could see the laminate chipping when I used a chisel, not to mention what it would do to the edge on the chisel, so had the idea that the smarter way would be to round the corners of the clamp plate (maybe something that Kreg should have done?). I screwed the plate to a length of 2x4 so that I could hold the wood rather than the aluminum while rounding the corners on the disc sander - this worked very well, a lot easier, and probably safer, than trying to hold the short plate. In order to check progress on the rounding, I cut a corner into a piece of plywood and used that to check how well the corners matched - this was when I found that the recess wasn't quite deep enough so I had to relocate the fixture over the recess in the top. Turned out the easy way was to put some washers in the recess and set the clamp plate on top of then, and then drop the fixture over the projecting plate and reclamp it. Installation turned out OK except for the little whoops on the first plunge - I set the plunge depth to barely cut through the laminate and then had the bit too close to the jig before I plunged and wound up putting a little divot in the edge. A little wood putty took care of that before plunging the full depth.