Ping Leon - PC Speedbloc clamps (again)

[Leon]

Leuf, as it recall I had to really watch the position that I had my mouth in while cursing very loudly.

I really don't recall however it was difficult and vowed never to do it again.

I recall using a combination of thin flat blade screw drivers to position the pin to go through the holes and needle point pliers, and a hammer. I would pry up on the rod to lift it past the indentations.

This probably explains why PC sells the whole pad assembly, IIRC about $40,

6 or 7 years ago.

[Leuf]

Okay so I originally thought it was working fine with just one of the clamps, but that was just on small stuff, smaller than the pad itself. When I tried it on a larger board it had a mind of its own, running around uncontrollably. So I ordered two replacement rods which got delivered today.

Having now spent an hour and a half trying to reassemble the damn thing... HELP! You probably don't remember exactly how you did it, but any pointers would be appreciated. I can get one side of the spring engaged properly, but never come close to getting the other side, much less then get the rod through the hole on the other side without the whole thing flying apart. How the heck did you do it?

-Leuf

[Leuf]

I didn't see anything like that. The PC site links to dewaltservicenet.com, where you then get to find the parts diagram and then you can put in the part numbers you want.

I'd be perfectly fine with the clamp not actually working, just having the right weight on there to make it happy. But the only way I got that to happen was to put the spring in backwards, and then it was so loose I wouldn't dare turn it on like that.

I tried to make a metal plate with a notch in it that would allow me to bend back both sides of the spring at once, but I couldn't get it to go far enough. I think the tabs need to be curved for that to work. You know they have a tool for doing this at the factory that takes 5 seconds to do...

Grrrr...

-Leuf