Absolutely brilliant and so helpful of you to have shared the eBay bit. I'm definitely going to be doing this to a couple of my clamps. Genius idea. Thanks for sharing :-)
I have similar clamps and occasionally need a longer one than what I have. My solution costs nothing. Using two clamps, I take off both removable jaws and then using a 5 mm bolt and nut, I attach the two bars using the existing holes so that the two ratcheting jaws are at opposite ends so that I now have a clamp with almost double the length. You might have to restrain the middle from bowing out as you apply clamping pressure. This could be avoided if you remove the spring dowel pins and use two bolts to attach the two bars.
You could connect 2 clamps with 2 short side pieces and existing holes. Take of the non moving parts of clamps, punch out the locking pins, cut 2 pieces of similar bar long enough to cover 2 holes on one and 2 holes on other clamp. Align and mark holes and drill 4 of them in both metal strips that you cut. Now face bar ends and bolt it with 4 bolts. With that you'll double the length of the clamp and you'll have clamping mechanism on both sides. Procedure is reversible :)
Done exactly the same as this a few years back, i just buy the shortest clamps i can and buy the steel to extend them. You save a absolute fortune on large clamps if you don't need the same clamping pressure as long sash's
I bought some of the same brand clamps at Bunnings here in NZ, I think they are just as good as the expensive irwin clamps! Thanks for the video, good idea. Cheer Mike
Thanks Bunnings now own Homebase in the U.K. so we are seeing a lot of their stuff appearing as well as some Bunnings branded stores which I think is a good thing.
Hi mate, I spent about £25 for one long ratchet clamp (1.2m) not thinking I had umpteen 300mm, 450mm and 600mm ratchet clamps laying around! If only I had half a brain I could have used this method to save myself alot of money! I will definitely be giving this idea a go after I have measured the steel bar of my clamps. Thanks for sharing this idea pal. N.
Good vid, i also would like to add that You can also use cargo straps. You can get 4 straps for 11$ with 6 feet of lenght. Just use a wooden block to wrap around the corners or buy some 1/4 inch rubber. Works great and gets the job done with ease
Make 2 small steal pieces with holes matching the holes in the clamps and bolt two clamps together when you need longer ones much cheaper that way and is extremely sturdy with a small piece on each side with bolts going through
I think it would be a good idea to put back the end stop "lug " at the fixed end of the clamp. By leaving it off the clamp relies on the single 5mm bolt through the plastic fixed jaw instead of the much stronger lug . . . I think they are called roll-pins
You could have taken a short piece of steel of similar dimension and drilled two sets of holes matching the bars into it. Then take the "links" and attach them to two bars and you would have the 1200mm by using two bars and only have to buy 1/2 half as much long bar for the same results. Not wasting the existing bars. Just a thought. I have actually bolted two existing bars in a pinch.
Or drill hole at end of each bar then attach s hooks. use chain in between. That way u can pick whatever link on chain u need for length. It's an extension piece between 2 clamps (butt end to butt end) got the idea from some gadget they were selling that reminded me of chinese finger trap (Google it)
Great idea. Thanks for the tip. I've popped to my local Homebase (now called "Bunnings") and picked some up just for this purpose. Actually, they are really pretty good clamps too for the price. The 600mm is £5.65 for two there. I've had some cheap rubbish clamps and these are a nice surprise. Did you find they were stable enough when you extended them?
Hi Darren there is a Bunnings near me too they are pretty good stores. You are right the clamps aren't bad. I haven't used the extended ones on anything too heavy duty but they seem to be pretty sturdy.
the easiest, least expensive, simplest and fastest clamps to extend are pipe clamps. all you have to do is buy a longer threaded galvanized or black-pipe and a union. Now you can make any length you want. Another benefit is that you can carry many small sections of black pipe in a small car. Example, if you need a 10 foot clamp you an carry 3 x 4 foot pipes and 2 unions and everything fits in a small car.
Why are you feeling so offended. There are harsher posts than mine. I did excuse myself (somewhat) when I read your post that the black pi[pe or even galvanized in not available in the UK or even that it was expensive. Once again which statement insulted you?
Norman Boyes, here in Australia these with the split in them are known as split pins or spring pins, these same looking ones without the slit are known as roll pins.
Hi, just a great idea, been looking on eBay, various prices, who was the supplier on eBay you used only the price you paid seemed to be less than I have found. Kind regards.
That's a great idea. Shame that I don't think it will work with my Irwin XP clamps, as those aren't flat. They have a channel down the middle. When did you get those clamps? I don't see them on the Homebase website?
That's a shame I'll have a look at my Irwin ones. I got them a couple of months ago have a look in the tool section in store as they seem to now have a lot of stuff not on the website.
Good idea but I have a better one. Use pipe clamp assemblies, actually a better clamp than those plastic ones and you simply purchase black iron pipe for what ever length you may need. You could make a 20' clamp if you needed one by screwing sections of black iron pipe together.
traderjoes the price I stated included shipping and to be fair I think about 50% was shipping. If you can pick the right size up locally without shipping being needed you could probably save a lot.
Those clamps are the same cheep clamps sold by Harbor Freight. I bought a few of them and found out that i could have flushed my money down the toilet just as easily. They are made of cheep brittle plastic and untreated metal that rusts quickly in humid weather regions. I've used only a couple once and now they are all rusted and have 2 out of the 4 with broken plastic pieces.
No good deed goes unpunished. Try to offer an option to extend bar clamps and you get shot down for it. Are there other ways? Yes there are many ways. That's why sometimes you wonder why you try to help your fellow man. There were probably a bunch of this type of people on the Titanic that who tried to argue there was only one way to jump from a sinking ship!
I don't think anybody is punishing anybody, I and the others are just pointing out the other options. In my case would I have known that black pipe is very expensive or unavailable in the UK. I would not have posted anything. But in my defense we are on the net and there are people from all over the world watching. So even if Happy Wife Happy Life can not use the pipe idea there are certainly some people that can.
Thanks for making this video. It was this video that inspired me to design the Wingman Clamp couple months ago. Checkout my channel for the videos, would love to get your feedback. - Cay
