Universal Bar Clamps

Bill for what its worth I bought 20 of these aluminum bar clamps from Lee Valley when they had a special order shipment.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=31183&cat=1,43838

They are the same as the ones in the link.

The ones you have shown have a slightly different screw and wing nut tightening method but here is my beef. They bow and start to come off the piece of lumber you are clamping when you really try to fasten them. The clamping face is very shallow as well. Great if the wood is say 1.5 inches thick but otherwise nah.

I dont know about the exact one you have shown, I would buy a single one and try it.

But at the price that both Lee Valley and Joel are selling them I wish i had bought myself the Bessey or the Jet parallel clamps. When i do, I doubt i will be using these again after my experiences using them in my clamp up of 2x4 's for my bench.

These might be slightly better than the ones i have since i see two rivets in the end that holds the screw to the bar.

Thats just my humble opinion but I would love to be proved wrong because one advantage is they are light weight when lifting them and they hang nicely.
 
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Those I bean clamps look amazing.

I love the universal clamps. I have about 60 parallels so I really only use the universals for face frames. Wish I had about 40 of the 24s and 36s. If I was even remotely close to CA I would buy yours Rob. I have about 8 universlas and they are really too long.

So my advice, buy the parallels for your collection first and then add universals as needed. They are SOOO much lighter.

My problem now - no more space for clamps and really with 60 bessies and Jorgys I cannot justify them. When the Jorgys and Bessies are $20 it is hard not to buy them.
 
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