Harbor Freight Coupon for 12" bar clamp $2.99

[phi1l]

that's no excuse. a tool should be designed to hold up under the forces it can deliver. Having it break apart is just not correct for this type of tool.

The Quick Grips (trademark of Irwin) those orange and black one-handed HF clamps are designed to emulate and compete with may not deliver the absolute most pressure in the world but they sure don't break when i squeeze them as hard as i can.

Well, I guess you can pay 10 times as much & get Irwin or Jorgensen Clamps & squeeze all you want, but he HF clamps have worked fine for me (so far)

[cabinetman]

The Quick Grips (trademark of Irwin) those orange and black one-handed HF clamps are designed to emulate and compete with may not deliver the absolute most pressure in the world but they sure don't break when i squeeze them as hard as i can.

Maybe you should work out some, I break 'em pretty easy.
.

[Mr__Bill]

Well, I guess you can pay 10 times as much & get Irwin or Jorgensen Clamps & squeeze all you want, but he HF clamps have worked fine for me (so far)

That really is what it's all about. If it does the job for you then from your point of view there is nothing wrong with them. In the same way I like and use the HF aluminum bar clamps like these: I know that I can tighten them until something breaks but thus far glue joints have come together nicely with out having to do that. Others may find them woefully inadequate for what they do but for me they do the job. My problem with the black and orange clamps was the they promised more than they delivered for me. My hands are not that strong, I should not be able to squeeze a clamp enough to break it. Perhaps I had a bad batch or had eaten my spinach that day.

Bill

[MK]

Knock on wood. But so far the orange and black ones work perfect for me. I don't need tonnage force to hold my joints together until the glue dries.

[tex]

I bought 4 of the orange/black clamps. First one broke on first use, so after fixing it, I modified the others (perhaps a pin was omitted in the assembly process.) My modification is to remove the cover, drill a hole and add a machine screw/nut.

I've attempted to include a photo showing a modified clamp, and a clamp with the cover removed.