While it’s nice to have the Bessey’s, they’re heavily used/abused and require a lot of maintenance. We might want to look at using some of the (run away now) Harbor Freight aluminum bar clamps in the 24"-36" sizes. Like any woodshop you can never have too many clamps, and with all of the glue-ups that are done at DMS for cutting boards, etc we could always expand our collection.
Yes, yes, Horror Freight. Hear me out.
The Bessey’s cost on average $40 each, while the Harbor Freight ones go for $10. If the HF ones last even a fourth as long it’s a break even proposition, and with a couple minor mods/tweaks when we buy them I think they could last much longer than that.
Youtube modification/upgrade guide here:
I have a 36" one I’ll bring up and donate to woodshop that you can try this on that’s brand new. Personally even with that mod I feel it’ll still be a piece of shit, the other clamps they sell are fine but these are God awful, the whole thing is flimsy and the notches are too far apart. I think with the beating it’ll get it will be out of commission in a month and a half.
Only mod to PS’s approach I’d suggest would be to substitude 3D printed pads that can be slid on for the wood squares he tapes on. But overall a very solid set of upgrades to some very inexpensive clamps.
I went and got a set to play with to see how much improvement is gained with the mods.
Stock, they’re very easy to twist and feel flimsy. After mods, they’re much more solid, and the ability to twist them is almost eliminated. I will try to make the next woodshop meeting to show the difference between the two if there’s interest.
