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Harbor Freight Bar Clamp #60539 Review

Don't be silly. If I checked it with a HF square, it would be square. :-p

Reply to
-MIKE-
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It rather depends upon what you are gluing up. If it is a 42" x 96" tabletop I suspect you will find that the edges are not perfect and need some force to close.

Reply to
dadiOH

I can hear Ed McMahon and his "Hiyo!" with a rim shot!

I have those same HF clamps and used them for about 3 or 4 glue ups. I spo tted one that was out of square right away so I marked it and used it for p lywood framing glue ups, etc. Oddly, it held up. The others? Even in lig ht use, after the mentioned 3 or 4 glue ups the little balls inside the cla mp head on the end of the screw just fell off.

I don't trust them so I don't use them. I don't know why I don't throw the m away.

Sadly, these used to be a great HF product.

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I have a couple left that continue to serve and they are just as good as th eir domestic counterparts. But the newer versions aren't nearly as well ma de and even some of the wood parts are cracked before purchase. I rarely u se that style clamp, but still, I wish I had bought a few more.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Well Mikey, you got a bad one. Here's mine and a Jet for comparison.

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The jet bend out of shape real fast, the HF is much better. I don't have an issue with them as used. When I need a heavy duty clamp, I take my cabinet masters or Bessey K body's out. Or a pipe clamp.

Reply to
woodchucker

Mine are all out of square. Maybe they've improved them. That would be awesome. FWIW, if you ask Jet about that, they'll tell you is so they bend "into square" under pressure. I don't know that's a bullshit answer to cover a faulty product or not. But that's what they say.

Nice pencil sharpener!

Reply to
-MIKE-

All of these aluminum bar clamps bend easily compared to the steel bar clamps.

Reply to
Leon

;-)

Rockler has a really good sale on these, occasionally.

Reply to
krw

-MIKE- wrote in news:p40eep$qgv$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

Imagine a trapezoid. If your clamps toe in, so the bar is the long side of the trapezoid, the clamps will have their greatest pressure at the top of the clamp. That will reduce the chance of the clamp squeezing things out or slipping as pressure applies. Now if the bar is the short size of the clamp, the clamp will tend to squeeze things out as pressure is applied.

They will bend towards square, but the actual angle will be limited by your work.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

Actually Mike, glue a dowel onto that pad, that will ride centered on a

3/4 piece of wood. It will center the pressure every time and save the clamp.. Or thow it away. Or strip it for parts.
Reply to
woodchucker

Mine are about 20 years old. The Jet and HF bow way out of square more like yours when over torqued. It's just why they are light duty.

It has its purpose. Mostly I use the electric one, but sometimes I use that manual one to chamfer a dowel.

Reply to
woodchucker

Reply to
woodchucker

Gorilla using a wine glass

So only Festool, Fein , Bessey are tools worthy?

So the word Heavy Duty doesn't mean a thing to you? You consider the light duty not up to the task, because they don't do what the heavy are capable of?

Reply to
woodchucker

+1

Side issue: Amazon is ending the America that I knew. They are in effect becoming a monopoly, and forcing many stores to close. While I am not a shopper, nor is my wife, all these empty stores are very noticeable. This will have repercussions in the building industry.

Reply to
woodchucker

I suspect that Amazon's attempt at world conquest is going to end in their overextending themselves and collapsing.

Reading about what they're doing with Whole Foods it sounds like they have about as much clue about selling retail foods as Elon Musk does about running a car factory.

Reply to
J. Clarke

I believe I already stated they were only good for scrap metal. :-)

Reply to
-MIKE-

I've been using pipe clamps for 60 years, same clamps too, can't over torque them and they work fine for cabinet makers all over the world for as long as they've been making them. (mine were my dads, and are probably over 70 years old.)

I bought 4 of the HF ratcheting squeeze clamps a while ago, under 3 bucks a piece. I didn't expect them to last, and they didn't. First the plastic trigger pin broke, so I drilled the handle and put in a machine screw. Then, the plastic end bracket cracked, so I replaced with hardwood. Then, the plastic cam in the handle broke, so I beefed it up with epoxy. Now the clamps pass as a light duty clamps and I use them quite a bit. The weak point now might be the epoxy cam clamp thing-ee. Been holding up but I try not to use all my strength in use.

Here is a picture of two of the fixes, I didn't bother taking the handle apart to show the epoxy reinforcement.

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I only wasted my time with them for the challenge, and fill up some putzing around time. People building stuff for a living shouldn't waste their time. People like me that quit building stuff and would rather putz around, well it's something to do. Had they put 50 cents worth of metal where they fail, they would work ok, but what fun would that be. As it was, I was IMPRESSED you could take the handle apart with screws.

Reply to
Jack

"This is my favorite hammer. I've replaced the handle three times and the head twice. Love this thing."

;-)

Reply to
DerbyDad03

The point was that, even being one-hand squeeze clamps, they can deliver a *lot* more force than the subject POS bar clamps. Many here are denigrating the squeeze clamps but the Irwin 300s and 600s are damn nice clamps. Haven't broken one yet.

Reply to
krw

I have a lot of "squeeze" or trigger clamps, and I love them. I use them a ll the time for all kinds of stuff, they are literally another hand for me.

12 - 16' rip on the sawhorses and your helper is on the scaffold? Clamp on e side, rip to the clamp, move the clamp behind you and finish your cut. N eed to hold a template in place (like the aforementioned Kreg jig)? Clamp it down so that the bars are on the underside. I use them to hold material in place to sand, to hold pieces together that I am gluing, hold up long m aterial so I can start nailing and work my way to the clamp. The list goes on.

You are right that they hold well. Small glue ups are nothing for them, an d I use them so much a few of my carpentry-centric contractor friends now c arry them.

I have had excellent luck with the DeWalt brand of clamps. Every Christmas HD has the 4 pack of large and small clamps on sale as stocking stuffers an d buy them when they are on sale whether I need them or not when they mark them down after the holiday. Usually get them for about $19 - $20:

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Likewise with Irwin brand which is usually at Lowes, which their clamps is one of the few things that Irwin makes that I would buy.

I have a couple of 36" triggers (DeWalt makes a 50"!), but rarely use them. If I am going that big I usually drag out all my cabinet clamps as I am i n a project.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

I have so many of those, I couldn't count. When you work solo as much as I do, they end up being as ubiquitous as tape measures or cordless drills. I have several everywhere I work-- the shop, the sharn, the van, and the truck-- so they are always there when I need them.

Whenever they have a stupid cheap deal on the four-pack of little ones, I buy a set just to rotate through the heard or to have hanging somewhere convenient.

Irwin makes one that has jaws like a cabinet clamp. I have 2 and they are really well made, functional, and surprisingly strong. The jaws have a switch that lets them rotate on an axis (like usual) or lock at

90 degrees for parallel clamping.
Reply to
-MIKE-

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