Harbor Freight Bar Clamp #60539 Review

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DerbyDad03 wrote in news:b2dac27e-90f0-418e-81a3- snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

Can you be a little more specific?

Reply to
Doug Miller

Those look like the ones I've had the head castings break. Yep, they suck eggs.

Reply to
krw

Pretty much covers it.

Reply to
-MIKE-

They really suck.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

very good. Understand that they are light duty clamps, they are not made to torque down to the max... if you did, you really don't understand them. They are for things that can't handle heavy clamps.

Mine have been fine.

Reply to
woodchucker

One more thing, my HF clamps are better than the Jets. The jet has a very thin wall and really bow very quickly. The HF are more stout.

Reply to
woodchucker

Yep. Toss my hat in with yours. They worked OK for a short while, but after that they found different ways to fail.

The only thing worse they sell in that line at HF? Those fricking squeeze clamps. I purchased carefully in the store, and within one job, all six clamps I bought wouldn't compress //at all//.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Perhaps you would do better with the steel quick release clamps. I Have 50 or so in varying sizes accumulated over 20+ years and none have ever failed, all work fine.

Reply to
dadiOH

Did you try impaling it with a stick? ;~)

Reply to
Leon

Oo, oo! You're talking about these, right?

I think at the time they may have been orange. I bought 2 and took them back after the handles broke before they'd actually hold what they were clamped to. :-)

Reply to
-MIKE-

I look at HF bar clamps as exactly what they are, inexpensive clamping tools. I could get frosted if I paid $20+ ea for them. But they are around a quarter of that. If one breaks, I can still buy two more for the cost of a "Name" brand and be ahead.

Then there is the fact I have a LOT of them and have had no problems. Could it be that those who are having the problems are simply over stressing what should be a light duty clamp?

Reply to
Dr. Deb

+1

I wouldn't even buy a 'C' clamp at HF, anymore.

Reply to
krw

Except that they break when you *need* them, not when they're hanging on the wall looking pretty. If I can't trust a tool, I don't want it around.

Bar clamps shouldn't be "light duty". They didn't bend. The damned thins broke, with just moderate pressure. My Irwin Quick Clamps will do 10x the clamping force. ...and they aren't designed for such.

Reply to
krw

yeah most reviewers may not be using them correctly

and who has not tried to clamp the mistakes out of something once or twice

Reply to
Electric Comet

What's alight duty clamp, though. And shouldn't the jaws of even a light duty clamp stay at 90 degrees to the bar. Even if you're only edge banding plywood shelves, if the jaw faces don't stay straight, they will try to pull the banding off the edge of the plywood or at least put uneven pressure (more pressure on the bottom).

They just aren't worth the money to me anymore. Not with the hassles that come with using them. About all I can use them for is supplementary clamping after real parallel clamps are in place.

Reply to
-MIKE-

very possible

unreasonable expectations are common with consumers

on a similar note amazon is weeding out some of these consumers that send too many things back

not sure if hf will do that too but they might because that can dig into the bottom line in a big way

Reply to
Electric Comet

It's not unreasonable to expect a clamp to stay in one piece. I've never broken a clamp, other than these HFs. They're poorly designed and poorly executed.

Nothing new. Brick and mortar stores have been doing this for decades.

I don't bring things back to HF. I just don't shop there much because of all the crap they sell. That hits their bottom line too.

Reply to
krw

Agreed. I?ve had mine for many years and they?ve been great. i broke one because i torqued it down too much. We?re not supposed to squeeze all the glue out anyway.

Reply to
Meanie

Beats me, I see little to no difference between the HF quick release clamps and equivalent ones from Jorgenson et al. If anything, I'd say the the hf ones - those sold now - are heftier. I use them to clamp all manner of things.

IME, no clamps like this do that because the bar flexes as pressure is applied. That's no problem as long as the clamp is properly positioned on the work piece; i.e., if you don't try to make the clamp head perpendicular to the work.

Your money, of course, but at 1/3 the cost or less of others, I'll stick with HF.

Reply to
dadiOH

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