Bessey uni-clamps

[Mac]

Hi all,

I've seen what looks like a pretty good offer for these Bessey clamps (?12.95 for the 60 version) and wondered if anyone's got any experience of them. I've just started to build up my workshop and equipment and want to make sure I buy the best of whatever I'm buying, if that makes sense. On the other hand, I have two young kids and another one the way so money's always a consideration...a hard balance to strike, often.  Would these be a decent general purpose clamp in terms of size and what it can do?

Thanks, guys.
Mac

 

[Neill]

Mac,

I have a number of Bessey clamps, not sure if I have the Uni-clamps.  I can tell you this, in my opinion, if the Bessey name is on it, you cannot go wrong.  The quality and functionality is there.  They will last you a lifetime under normal circumstances.  I think that are so good because that is basically all they make.

They should change their name to "Bestey" clamps.

Neill

 

[Meatplow]

Good Evening,

I agree with Mac, Bessey is top shelf. However, I see many, many Bessey lookalikes, even to the point of "molded in color" red. Jet and several others without a molded-in name look and seem to act similar. Now I say similar because I have not used them in the shop, just played with them in the store. The prices are also similar, does anyone know if Bessey, is indeed, the manufacturer or is there a third party involved? I see that Irwin has come out (this is fairly new) with a K-Body "fighter". Irwin makes an excellent quick type clamp and suspect this clamp would be no different. With all of that, if the Bessey K-Body and the new Irwin "fighter" were the same price which would you choose? if the Bessey were a couple of bucks more than what? I appreciate and use the information on this forum, so keep me posted.

Please and Thanks

Meatplow

 

[festoller]

You should take a look at the DuoKlamp! The advantage is the single hand use and it's more versatile. If the difference from 1500N to 1200N doesn't bother you, I would prefer the DuoKlamp.

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[Les]

Can you post a link to these? That seems awfully cheap for anything that is 60" or is it 60mm? Doubt if it is  2 1/2". Something seems amiss. I found these at Amazon. Quite a difference.

 

[Mac]

Hi Les,

Here's the link. Bear in mind that it's in UK pounds.  But yes, I thought they seemed cheap too. What do you think...is it worth picking a few up?

http://www.fixy.co.uk/products/item582.cfm

Mac

 

[Les]

These are more of a "light" duty clamp than their K bodies and cheaper too. I have a pair of 18" uniklamps that I use occasionally. Typically if I'm wanting to pull joints together, I use either the K bodies Bessey or the Jet clamps. I prefer the Jet clamps to my Bessey clamps but I have the old design Bessey.

As for your question, yes I would pick up a few but I wouldn't plan on using these clamps exclusively. They can't always pull joints together. Especially when pulling dominoed joints together.

Get some cheap pipe clamps and add blocks of wood to the clamp faces using rare earth magnets. Easy to pick up pipe to vary your lengths. These are a good place to start until you know better what your long term needs will be.

 

[Mac]

Thanks for your tips Les.  I'll do as you say with the pipe clamps.

Received a couple of those Bessey 60 uniclamps this morning; haven't used them properly yet but they seem really nice, sturdy but lightweight, and very well made. For the price, seems like a winner. And they look so pretty hanging on the new rack...

Cheers,
Mac 'the clamp'.

 

[Les]

Let us know how they work.