Quality of HF 60 inch bar clamps?

[stav]

I don't have any that long, but I do have some of the shorter ones that have worked well for me.  I saw Paul Sellers uses a similar type clamp and he adds hard wood insert to stiffen them.

[Rob Young]

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.

I have found them sufficient.  They are generally easier to work with due to weight than my much larger Jorgenson cabinet clamps.  However because they have a small clamping pad (add something to protect the surface, slip of wood, scrap of leather, etc) they sometimes can't "project" the clamping force.

Adding something inside the channel reduces twisting.  Oak is a good choice but really, any wood works.

And under any conditions, if I needed the sort of force that pipe clamps can apply to close a joint, I'd re-do the joint.

[adamcherubini]

I have no experience with HF clamps, but I wanted to respond to a couple points raised in some of the other posts just in case anyone is interested:

For most of the projects most of us do, we probably don't need the full strength of Titebond (PVA) glue.  So we continue on our merry way and everything is fine until it isn't.

Titebond requires a fairly significant clamp pressure to attain its impressive full strength.  I think the magic number varies based on species, but 250psi stands out in my mind. Maybe these clamps are fine for the project in mind.  Maybe you will never need high strength clamps or joints.  But when asked about 5' clamps, I feel like sooner or later you will want these for a dinner table or something wide and thin that could use a good strong glue joint. Are pipe clamps really $60? 

Year and years ago, I bought 8 pony clamp heads from Highland Hardware.  I bought threaded 10' black iron pipe from the home center and sawed them in half with a hack saw because that was the cheapest way to get pipes of that length. I have never regretted that purchase.  I have used them for many many projects.

Now that I think of it, I think I should have bought either 7 or 9 clamps and not 8. I think an odd number is best:
Keep in mind that when you crank down on a clamp, you don't get uniform clamp pressure all along your joint. (assuming your joints are a close fit unclamped- mine never are). You get a "hot spot" of high pressure, then less and less pressure until you get to the next clamp. 3 clamps would have potentially 3 areas where the glue is really working surrounded by areas less strongly glued together.  What I do is place a clamp in the middle of the glue up, then one on each end on the opposite side of the panel. Then alternate between the end clamps and middle clamp.

So who cares about glue "hot spots"?  Wood doesn't shrink and swell uniformly along its length.  The moisture content at the ends (assuming exposed end grain) shrink and swell more than the middle. What I do is spring joints by purposely planning a gap in the middle of the joint lengthwise so that the highest bondline pressure (preload) is at the ends.  The idea is that as the wood shrinks, the preload is relieved and the joint doesn't open up.

I guess my advice is to get the strongest clamps you can unless you are using epoxy, hide glue or fish glue, or rice glue etc. None of these respond well to high joint pressure. I'm assuming the glue of choice is PVA.

[Cooler]

There was a video on line showing how to beef up a HF bar clamp.  I will try to find it.

Found it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt04QLa8KKA

[rwe2156]

I have a couple of the 60" and I rarely use them anymore as they are too long for the way they are constructed.  That said, they will work, you just can't crank down on them much.

I do use the other lengths of those clamps and find them to be a good bargain, as well as the 6 and 12" F bar clamps.


A couple modifications will improve them:

1. Insert a length of hardwood inside the tubing for a little extra rigidity.

2. Ease over the edges of the sliding box part of the clamp, as the tend to bind.

My biggest peeves are the plastic end caps come off as well as the rubber retainers on the handles.  But they can be replaced with a screw and apron nut.

[Cooler]

I have the smaller trigger type bar clamps and I learned that you can easily strip the clamping mechanism if you squeeze the trigger too hard.  But for light clamping it is fine and cheap.

[EricU]

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.

I have some old, maybe even antique bar clamps that are heavy duty by today's standards.  They must have been used by weightlifters, because most of them are bent.

[Mike in kc]

...as well as the 6 and 12" F bar clamps....

HF's "F" bar clamps are a great value, and they come in 6 inch increments.    Over the years I have purchased probably a dozen or so of each size from 6 inches to 3 feet.

[Farwood]

HF's "F" bar clamps are a great value, and they come in 6 inch increments.    Over the years I have purchased probably a dozen or so of each size from 6 inches to 3 feet.

I have quite a few of the F bar clamps.  They have held up well.  Some are 15 years old or older.

[Bob Vaughan]

I got some of those aluminum bar clamps once since the Jorgensen/Pony 3524 clamps I wanted to replace were no longer available.  Flimsy junk in comparison.  The aluminum is only 1/2 the thickness of the Pony 3524.  I did the wood reinforcement and that helped a little.  The thread fit is sloppy and floppy.  The indexing pawl is badly cast and prone to cam-out unless filed to a good fit in the indexing slots.  Those HF clamps are good maybe for drawers and other lightweight clamping applications.  One of those HF clamps 60" long may have some special light weight applications where a lot of clamp pressure and clamp weight isn't appropriate.

Shown below was an experiment gluing a 3/4 Plywood case together.  I had to use a clamp every six inches to get a good compression.  The pony 3524 models are down at the other end.  They have a good bite to them in comparison, but still way too light to do panel gluing if there's much more than a single glue joint.

Both models are light weight and are easy to put back in the rack and get down again, but for serious wood panel gluing, neither are really suitable.