Circa 2025 Opinions: Bessey KRE or KRE Vario?

[Woody Knotsensplintah]

HI,
It would be helpful to me if we could confine the discussion to the two product lines offered by Bessey.

I have seen plenty of brand comparison information and always consider those options.

I need some clamps for an 82" glue and screw. Wouldn't you know I have some 79" Bessey TGKs that are just too short.

I figured I could buy some extra parallel clamps in a smaller size and use the Bessey's coupler accessory to combine two of their 50" clamps, for making my 82" assembly.

Then I would also end up with more useful, general-purpose-sized clamps.

So, I am especially curious about the Vario feature.

The Vario feature seems nice, but the clamps are not stocked by many vendors. While searching for a retail outlet with stock, I began to wonder if there was an underlying reason why they are hard to find. The price does not seem to be at such a premium that this could be the reason. The fixed head KRE seems to cost nearly as much.

I have read many opinions based on when the clamps were newly released. People had not used them extensively, but were posting their comments. I am wondering if, in 2025, after several years of experience, users have found that the Vario head feature introduces any downsides that outweigh the potential benefits.

Thank you!

 

[Woody Knotsensplintah]

No one knows? Has anyone tried both and formed an opinion?

I am especially curious about how the early claims that the Vario head would surely wobble have come to be regarded now that some people have had the opportunity to use them for several years.

Thank you.

 

[woodferret]

I think @Crazyraceguy is the only one that's used it....

Thread 'Bessey K-body Revo Vario'

Mar 4, 2023

It doesn't happen very often, but occasionally I exceed the range capacity of my clamps.
The ones I have the most of are the 40" variety. They seem to cover most of the situations.
The next size up is 50" and I only have 4 of them.
This particular job was over 45" and needed more than that. This is the best use case I have seen for the "Vario" type of the K-body. With a longer clamp, you can move the head down the rail, so you don't have to fit yourself between them to tighten them up.
I have had a few people ask me why I have these and what they do differently, this is it. Bessey also...

• Crazyraceguy
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Other Tools & Accessories

It's just rarer I think because it fits that weird need of 'being nice to be able to not have a protruding bar' (i.e. balance bar) for those with smaller shops, but small shops wouldn't be building that many large items - and those of us that do already have the joiners for the standard KRE. There are also many better ways to skin that cat so hence the limited traffic.

 

[Woody Knotsensplintah]

Hi,
I appreciate that you took the time.

I had seen the post you linked to.

I can appreciate what you say about most people's circumstances. I have a small DIY workshop space that shares the garage with a vehicle. I spread out the tools and benches for big projects and shrink them when I am not working with wood. The neighbors say I look like an urban fruit seller, because everything is on wheels and gets rolled around as needed.

My primary concern is whether the Vario head changes angle position due to the capability to slide it on the rail.

 

[bertv]

It is late here and I am watching the Poland-Sweden match, will check my Vario’s tomorrow.

 

[Woody Knotsensplintah]

Thank you Bert

 

[bertv]

I did a quick test with a 100 cm REVO. I clamped a 45 cm-something piece of oak, like this:



With the board in the highest position and maximum torque applied (I have some grip left, I think) there is quite a bit of flex in the pad that can be moved around. Hope it is visible in this picture:



It is around 2 mm. Now the question is whether this is problematic? I don’t think it is. First of all: the cover of the pad has a bit of give - the material is not very hard, so it will even out pressure and not mar the object. Second: the purpose of this type of clamp is not the one that I used in this 'test': it is to clamp carcasses. Which is a quite different application, where one wants the most pressure applied on the joints where glue is applied, which works very well with the 'flex feature'…

I have used my REVO's (4 x 100 and 2 x 150) with no issues at all, even when combined to greater lengths using the adapter. They are not cheap, but every once in a while a special offer with a combination of REVO's and accessories comes around.

 

[Crispy]

Ive thought about getting a couple of the varios over the last year or 2.
I could not work out the best length for me 1m or 1.5m, and as you said, no around me seems to stock them, only the revos, which was part of it.
Ive now got a mix from 800 to 1250 revos which covers most of what i want to do, so for the future, ill probably wait till i really need one rather than just want one.

 

[smorgasbord]

FWIW, you can join Revo’s as well, you just have an extra head at one end taking up some bar length:

 

[Woody Knotsensplintah]

Hi Bert,
Thank you very much for taking the time to make measurements and post the results.

I've just ordered four KREV60s and look forward to using them.

Thank you.

 

[Hawkeye0001]

Both versions have their pro's and con's. I use the REVO KRE, KREV and the extender plates and I wouldn't wanna be without that mix. My longest clamps are the Vario type (1500mm) and I really love the option to move the head or take it off alltogether (think: mega clamp with a normal clamp left and right and just the KREV-bar with two extenders in the middle!), it adds a lot of flexibility. Then again: if I had nothing but Vario's I'd be annoyed because I can't stand them upright onto their head, that again is a pretty useful feature on the KRE-variant.

 

[Woody Knotsensplintah]

I guess I'll find out soon enough, but why can't you stand them upright on their heads?

Thank you.

 

[smorgasbord]

I don't own a Vario - most of my clamps were purchased long before they were available, and the ones purchased since at mostly 18" or shorter so no advantage to the Varios there.

But, thinking about it some more, if one is worried about the moving head not being as fixed in angle under pressure as the actual fixed head, wouldn't it be possible to use two of the screw-end ends on a bar against each other? Those screw-ends have more widely space rods to index against the bar and seem to hold their 90º angle well under pressure. Yeah, you lose a few inches of usable bar length, but that's probably often minor.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I guess I'll find out soon enough, but why can't you stand them upright on their heads?

Thank you.

I guess you could, but it would take some balancing. They are not flat on top.

 

[woodferret]

mega clamp with a normal clamp left and right and just the KREV-bar with two extenders in the middle

You'll need someone else to hold the other clamp head engaged or jam it. Otherwise you'll just end up pushing both heads down the line. The older Bessey is self-catchy though... the newer one with the hex access hole was modified to easily slip because some people couldn't figure out how to move K-bodies.

 

[Coen]

I have two KREV100 and two KREV150 clamps (1000mm and 1500mm), next week I have them for 3 years. Back then the KRE was everywhere and the KREV wasn't... so I just searched for a shop did sell the KREV. Price difference wasn't that big and I could see the benefits through the desktop monitor.

I have the whole set, with two couplers, two KR-AS (so four heads) to glue angled piecies and a set of KP (4 pcs) so you can put the clamps down on your glueing table, keep them all upright, and then put down the pieces you are glueing.

However... I never got around to using them. Maybe I have used one clamp once..

 

[petar73]

In my experience the vario jar often needs something to push the ‘button’, after that it moves easy. I have only 2.5m long vario and like them a lot, but I prefer the fixed jars for the shorter lengths. 1.5-2.5m vario clamps have advantages though.

 

[Allano]

I have a general question / observation regarding long clamps:

It is the cantilevered design (AKA F clamp?), which makes a good clamp expensive. It creates a lot of bending moment in the clamp so you need a stiff, sturdy construction to avoid angular deflection.

For projects where you only have access from one side, the cantilevered design is necessary. For example the photo in smorgasbords's post in #9.

For projects where you have access from both sides, the cantilevered design is not necessary - just more expensive and more prone to angular deflection.

And yet, people seem to buy these cantilevered clamps for projects where they have access from both sides and do not need a cantilevered design. Why is that?

If you have access from both sides, you can just put a thin threaded rod on each side of the workpiece and put a crossbeam at each end of the bars. All the bending moment will be in the crossbeam, and there will be very little deflection.

And perhaps even more important: The remaining deflection will be symmetrical around the centre line, as opposed to the asymmetrical deflection of a cantilevered clamp, demonstrated by bertv in #7.

Seems to me as a perfect solution in many situations, for example for glue-ups of wide boards. Put threaded rods on your table, put your glue-up project on top of them, put another layer of threaded rods on top. Put cross beams at each end (a simple piece of wood with two holes or two slots!). Finish with nuts and tighten it all up. Now you have both clamping and some lateral support from top and bottom to avoid cupping of the glue-up.

 

[Allano]

For projects where you have access from both sides, the cantilevered design is not necessary - just more expensive and more prone to angular deflection.

And to clarify: I am not necessarily advocating a DIY solution. I am also wondering why this is not more widespread as a commercial product from clamp manufacturers.

It seems like it would be considered a better product for some use cases, and that it would be easy for a company like Bessey to make a "double" version of their standard sliding F clamps:

• Two longitudinal bars instead of one
• A cross beam at one end between the bars instead of the fixed cantilever half.
• A sliding cross beam instead of the sliding cantilever half. This would have the usual twist handle mounted at the mid of the cross beam, and the connection to the longitudinal bars would be designed to lock in place, but not transfer bending moment to the bars.
• Perhaps some quick connectors in the joints so you can open up the closed rectangle formed by the two bars and two crossbeam for better access / workflow.

 

[smorgasbord]

I am also wondering why this is not more widespread as a commercial product from clamp manufacturers.

Probably because it's a pain in the neck to use. I assume you've seen, maybe even used, two-sided panel clamps:

I know your proposed design is different, but it's even more complicated to set up and then apply even pressure on both sides.