Has anyone used Lee Valley’s assembly clamps (pictured below; on sale this month)? They look a little easier to use than other options, but heads are aluminum. I like the clamp mechanism, but always have concerns about squareness of the jaws on a bargain clamp.
Obviously not for big assemblies, but might work for smaller projects. I always feel silly hauling out the Jorgies or Jets for a small box.
forestgirl — you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can’t take the forest out of the girl 😉
Replies
Cast Aluminum is pretty tough stuff! They say 700 pounds pressure. I'd say it will hold almost anything you want to wrestle with.
No I do not have any but they 'look' nice. I like their statement on a pressure setting that remains the same regardless of the jaw opening.
They look a lot better than the Irwin clamps which I like and have a bunch of. Not that much more expensive also.
Just a guess because I have not looked at current prices but I would think you are talking at least $23.00 + for an Irwin in 18/24 inch length.
Jamie,
For boxes and other small part assembly, I LOVE the Bessey UniKlamp's. At LV, see here -
http://tinyurl.com/3togju
I have never had any out-of-square issues using these clamps. I make my share of boxes and these come in very handy for some assembly.
A few years back I accidently nicked one with my TS blade. When I discovered this, I was extremely grateful for the hard plastic cover on these clamps. Very dumb, I know, but dumb does happen once in a while, but this time I was lucky in that I was using the right clamp for this stupidity. I now use small hand-screw clamps for this particular TS cut
For whole box assembly, I still resort to those web belt assembly clamps. LV has those as well.
My Best,
Phillip Anthony
I bought a few sets of them and a couple of the squeezer clamps. They are good value!! The one handed cam use is a real plus. They are much more robust than the pics lead to believe. They're not going to replace K-Bodies or bar clamps in any shop, but for work that does'nt need the pressure they are a great tool. I would say they are an easy replacement for the UniKlamps, and easier to use at that. Just so my opinion can be based on something, I have well over 150 K-bodies, Unis and bar clamps in the shop.
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