Fix for cheap clamps

So they work great now? I have seen these things in my local HF but I wasn’t sure about them. May have to try them out now though…

-- Dothan, Alabama Check out my woodworking blog! http://woodworkingtrip.blogspot.com/ Also my Youtube Channel's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SailingAndSuch

Oh, I wouldn’t go so far as to say they work ‘great’. I doubt these things would ever qualify for that label.
They work much better than before…let’s leave it at that!

-- Website is finally up and running....www.woodandwrite.com

When it comes to clamps, you get what you pay for. I looked at those one time and put them back.

-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.

How much of a tab does the head stock have inside the bar? You could drill and tap two flush head bolts on one side and then two on the other at opposite corners. That way you would gain back the reach you lost with the through bolt.

-- Mel,

Mel, there are a number of other ways to get there. These things just aren’t worth too much trouble.
Fact is, the length of the screw was always too short and would not give enough adjustment.

-- Website is finally up and running....www.woodandwrite.com

Next time try some 3/4 ” pipe clamps from HF . I wait until they have them on sale something like $2.50 each.

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Jim, I have some of those from HF and they shouldn’t be confused with a Pony clamp. They are worth what you pay for them but they don’t hold the close tolerances of a Pony so they don’t work as smoothly. I do use them andwill porbably buy more of them some day but I have noticed if I only need a few clamps I reach for the Pony clamp.

These clamps are only okay until the head snaps off. It’s been posted in other topics elsewhere. It’s pretty common. Just don’t put too much pressure on them and they’ll do “okay”.

-- LAS, http://www.abettersign.com

I never felt the HF aluminum bar clamps were up to snuff. However, I dig the steel F clamps. The C clamps are good too.

Several years ago I bought 6 aluminum clamps like the one illustrated (don’t know the brand). I have one left. All the others have broken. Pipe clamps are a little harder work with, but I have never had one break.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

I bought aluminum bar clamps from USA Clamp Company a couple of years ago and have been very happy. They were the clamps I used at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking – so I’m pretty sure they can take a lot of abuse. They are also pretty reasonable in price. http://usaclamp.com/BarClampPage.aspx

-- Chuck, Preston CT, http://www.curtishome.net/

What? 3/4 ” pipe clamps from HF? Those are a joke too I think. Look at the tiny little tab you have to get ahold of to release the sliding fixture. One of these days I am going to drill that out and put on something big enough for my fat fingers to get around.

-- Website is finally up and running....www.woodandwrite.com