Quality of HF 60 inch bar clamps?

[JarvisD]

Hey folks. Does anyone have experience/opinions on the 60 inch aluminum bar clamps from Harbor Freight? I've had great experience with their shorter steel bar clamps, but I'm a bit leary of these longer aluminum ones.
https://www.harborfreight.com/60-in-alum...60673.html

Thanks in advance!

[tomsteve]

ive have quite a few of those in different lengths for quite a few years  and find em pretty good. one major thing to do:
theyre rather flimsy- as in they twist easy. i popped the end cap off, measured the internal dimension, and ripped some wood to slide in there. strengthened em up pretty good.

[Strokes77]

ive have quite a few of those in different lengths for quite a few years  and find em pretty good. one major thing to do:
theyre rather flimsy- as in they twist easy. i popped the end cap off, measured the internal dimension, and ripped some wood to slide in there. strengthened em up pretty good.

For the price, they are fantastic.  

Cut your joints correctly and you wont have issues...

But prepare to get blasted by some folks that say if you don't buy the $60 parallel clamps you can't work wood...

These are not as "good" as the more expensive clamps... But I would bet money 4 of these could clamp a panel or cabinet better than 1, 60" jet clamp...

[Stwood_]

Somewhat flimsy. I had some 48"s. They were ok. Problem I had was the threaded shafts did not match the threading in the head. They bound up some, and one of them locked up.
That was 5-6 years ago, so things may have changed on them

[museumguy]

Perfect timing. We have several 4' and 3' at work and hate them. Now, in talking to fellow employees that have been there longer than I, it seems that most of the issues are operator error. It seems that when the clamps were new, they worked pretty good. At some point, someone tried to use them for heavy duty glue ups. The heads got stuck and twisted and more pressure was applied. Cracked parts and twisted frames were the result.

Now, we are about to buy some new ones and are going to try the Irwin version. about 10 bucks more per clamp but we'll give them a try. I would suspect that in competent hands, the Harbor Freight version will do just fine.

[6270_Productions]

Tools always seem to last longer in the owner's hands

- than they do in the help's hands.

[museumguy]

Tools always seem to last longer in the owner's hands

- than they do in the help's hands.

Truer words haven't been spoken in a long time. Especially in a work environment.

[Mike in kc]

Those are light to medium duty clamps, not pipe clamps, so I'm sure they can be ruined if one cranks hard enough.   I've had several of the three foot version for a few years and they have worked well.

[Phil Thien]

Those are light to medium duty clamps, not pipe clamps, so I'm sure they can be ruined if one cranks hard enough.   I've had several of the three foot version for a few years and they have worked well.

Yep, for assembling stuff like a cabinet where the parts come together well, I found them to work very well.

If I was gluing up a table top and had gaps in my joints, I wouldn't want to rely on those clamps to muscle the joints closed.

[Ray Newman]

"Tools always seem to last longer in the owner's hands - than they do in the help's hands."
--6270Productions


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