Wait, wait, what happened with the intro scene, your animated logo, you talking to the camera, a panning view of your workshop, asking us where in the world are we watching you from, a convincing 2-minute speech on why to follow you and activate the bell, the ambience music, the transition effects, a pet walking by? Is this a youtube video from this universe??? THANK YOU!
That was early RU-vid. The golden era. Simple, applicable and concise. That’s why this video deserves to be: shared, liked and subscribed…don’t forget to comment! lol couldn’t help it. Now it’s unbearable like 80% Idiocracy + AI garbage videos. 😭
I've used my Irwins every day for years and never had any slip problems. But I totally get what you're talking about and I'll watch for it. How to double the working life of my clamps - what a revelation. Thank you.
This is something I'm proud of and many mention...I trust you'll all view my channel differently. I'm a believer in the K.I.S.S principal. I word it "keep it stupid simple!" hoping, "they will come" more lol!
Seems everybody is sick and tired of crap music and constant camera/edit trix every second! Apparently they just want the facts without the "froth" lol I'm good with that 110%@@petersack5074
I was just thinking that, except you'd really have to reverse the other grip pad as well, otherwise you just have a, small piece of metal as the tip of your spreader. Jorgensen makes clamps that can easily be converted to a spreader in a few seconds, without any tools.
@@danstheman33 I just rely on the square plastic bit of the fixed head. I only usually resort to using the clamp as as a jack at times when I just need a quick assist. It's not perfect but, in a pinch, it helps. Now you've suggested turning the fixed head I'll have to take a look at that option.
Great video, thank you. My grips are fine, but I like learning and this is great. Also, a pleasure listening to someone being concisely intelligent and not starting off with weird greetings and hand signals. I like normal.
Thanks a lot, I got three of similar ones nearly thrown away. You saved their lives and reduced waste. Now, even when the other sides is work out, I'd makes my own replacements. (And, if the pin gets lost, use a zip tie.)
Glad I could help! Anything older is worth saving...todays stuff is, well, not so good sometimes, especially when it floats here low and goes home high in the water...or empty.
John that metal slug needs to be almost at a right angle to lock. As you file it with a rat tail file, your elongating the slot which may cause earlier degradation. Also, that won't be good on your file that's hardened material. I have no test data on this so it's truly an unknown just a guess.
Forget about that Irwin clamp; the real star is that prybar, which is a Red Devil from days gone by. My uncle gave me one 40 years ago. What makes it so special? The steel. it’s a hardened tool steel so sharpenable that years ago I actually shaved cast iron off my intake manifold while scraping the gasket off under the carburetor. It’s precious and hard to come by these days. (BTW, ex-wife and I went into a battle over this during the divorce. She wanted my “Red Tool”. I won that battle).
DON'T do that. Wait till they slip so you'll get more time before replacing!! I'm in 20 years before 2 of 30 started to slip but in all fairness I use the hell out of them!
Well the algorithm served this little gem up to me & im not disappointed. Iv had my 4 little quick clamps for about 8 years now & haven’t had an issue yet, but now that iv sent that statement out into the ether im sure i will have 4 failures tomorrow morning😂 Either way you have armed me with the knowledge to an immediate fix the second it shows any signs of weakness. Funny because I would never had thought to do it, but as soon as I saw the thumbnail I knew exactly the fix you were going to do. Well done & thank you very much
Personally, I love the Irwin Quick Grips ! I use them for everything ! I need to also add that I've NEVER had one slip ! However, it is nice to know that if one ever does fail I can fix it !
Sweet. I just tried this with my little 6" Quick Grips that I use constantly, and it worked like a charm. I had forgotten what it was like for them not to slip. Thanks for the tip!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I absolutely HATE when any brand of clamp I have starts slipping or gets "glitchy".....this particular style clamp is notorious for being glitchy in my opinion. I have about 7-8 Irwin Quick Grips that I KNOW would benefit from this simple fix! My Dad is a retired Master Machinist and Tool & Dye Maker; when I go to do this "fix" on my Irwin's, I'm going to have him fabricate a couple dozen "replacement parts" for that little interior rectangular piece!! Now you've inspired me to disassemble a couple of similar style clamps I have from other brands to compare interior parts! Thank you again! ~~Christy~~
Christy, THANKS for the visit! It seems over tightening is the culprit in wearing out the locking "slug". The hardening will be important on the new parts he makes so they do not mar the bar of the clamp itself. The new slugs need to be slightly lower Rockwell hardness or they will burr the heck out of your clamp bars.
As a guitar builder IDK how many dozens and dozens of times I've struggled to get Irwin clamps to grip tight enough while gluing up parts. I wish a knew this at least a decade or more ago. Sir you are a champion !
There are much better clamps on the market that don't advance even half as far in one squeeze there by making them way more powerful clamps. There is a draw back... higher cost per unit.
Great video. As a side note, you can also replace the roll pin with a properly sized wing nut and bolt to turn this into a "quick reverse" spreader. While I get that spreaders might have considerably fewer uses than clamps, when you need one, you need one, and being able to quickly turn a handy clamp into one is a pretty convenient thing to do for the cost of $0.19 worth of hardware. Admittedly, if you've fixed your slipping "clamp", you will now have a "slipping" spreader. Fortunately, you don't often need the kind of holding strength on a spreader that you need on a clamp, so the slipping might be a non-issue for your particular use.
@@joesshop3622It has been awhile, but it just came up one day. I have been planning on doing them, but kept putting it off. I needed to have them working good for the project I am working on so decided it was time. Again, thank you for the tip.
A 3 minute video in 3:30 these days is almost as good as a double tax refund. I have two of these, and while they don’t slip yet, I’ve had them apart for various reasons. I keep the roll pin off because it makes it easier to reverse the clamp as a spreader, or put one end through my bench as a holdfast. Thanks for the great vid!
I took out the fixed end split pins and put a quick remove type in, then you can make it a 'force apart' gripper, as well as a 'push together' gripper.
Have the opposite problem, won't slip from abuse, paint, sealant, rust, dog snot (he's huge), dirt and probably a bend as well. They get used, a lot. Great tip
Seems reasonablre enough that it would depend on the specifics of the individual clamp's service life. It's a great fix, certainly save some going prematurely to the bin.
I'd say we saved one hell of a lot of them already and I'm liking that. I tossed several years ago...oops. I have no time for "if it works" as the glue dries lol. THANKS FOR THE VISIT!@@ottomakers
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for the visit! You'll find I like to get to the point quickly. EVERYBODY likes that, no? Watch hrs. will come in time, no need to make everybody suffer.
Nice. Saving this tip for down the road when mine loosen up. My biggest issue with my set that are probably 25 years old now... the soft plastic/rubber "yellow" pads always slip off and/or are loose after so much use.
Haha... yah, I did that. Problem is they then slip even more when you place the clamp on something. Still great clamps, that have lasted for years and years.
There are 2 types of these grips. The simple one is not much good but the better one works really well especially on big jobs. The better type has some type of ratcheting system inside it which allows you to get a really strong grip on your material.
Great video. I know what to do now but I would take a picture or two of the bits inside before I take them to pieces. That way you've something to refer to when you forget what goes where. 👍🇬🇧
And, I can also make a template from that part and make my own because that side will also wear and then that part will need replaced, but, with the template, I can make my own. :)
In reality you should get a decade or 2 of fairly hard service before they wear out. If you don't squeeze these like bigfoot could, your wear will be minimal or may not even occur. I failed to point this out in the video. A viewer reminded me lol
If you leave the roll-pin out, then it's simpler to flip the sliding bar and movable jaw around if you need to use the clamp for "inside" (i.., pushing outwards) clamping instead of just outside (i.e., pushing inwards) clamping. :D
@@joesshop3622Really?? I did not know that. Well, I wasn't actually going by the Irwin brand clamps when I made this comment --- I always just buy the cheapy-bargain-bin clamps, so I am not familiar with the Irwin-brand clamps; maybe they are different. I just know that with many clamps like this, you can easily reverse the jaws for "inside" clamping --- all you have to do is unscrew the nut-and-bolt securing-pin that attaches the movable half of the clamp to the end of the sliding bar, separate the jaw from the bar, remove the bar from the lever-half of the clamp, flip it around (unless both ends of the bar have the hole in the same place relative to the bar's end, in which case the removal/reversal of the bar from the lever-half of the clamp isn't even necessary, since you can just remove the roll-pin from the end of the bar and then attach movable jaw to the hole where the roll-pin was), re-insert the bar into the lever-half's slot at the "inner" side instead of the "outer" side the way you would normally assemble it, and re-attach the movable half of the clamp "backwards" --- i.e., with the clamping-pad facing towards the end of the bar, rather than towards the middle --- as well, so that the clamping-pads are now facing away from each other instead of towards. :D
Great video - I have some Harbor Freight versions and yes they will 'give' at times - I'll check this out on those - I really think they need to have some super soft rubber sleeves that could go on the grippers for increasing grip on things like round pipes - I'll make some but that might be good for lowering the tendency to 'crush' down and strip the pinch hole
Turns out they seem to wear out due to over tightening. Only the smaller 1/2" spine versions have this issue of mine. The bigger clamps with the 3/4" spine have never slipped ever. But then again my set is from the early 90's. Today lots are saying their offshore clamps slipped from day one. That's really sad.
@@joesshop3622 Thanx for the reply - yeah my bigger ones are okay - it's the itsy bitsy's that don't hold - I use rubber band to hold them tight You must have taken typing since like me you type responses fast thanks again
Your talking the 1/4" spine models...those are fragile lol their for repairing tooth pics mostly! BTW mine slipped too before the video!@@TotalFreedomTTT-pk9st
I removed my roll pins from my clamps and never put them back. By sliding the handle off and putting it on backwards you now have a clap that will spread apart. I’ve used it many times while installing decking to straighten warped boards.
The bar is hardened your considering tapping but others have mentioned just a thru bolt/screw or even a zip-tie. RU-vid rocks so many varied ways to share on everything.
I have a different model, but most of these clamps have reversible fixed jaws, so you can also keep things apart. I think you don't need to take out the roll pin if you remove the fixed jaw.
What I would suggest is not to put the pin back in. Get another Irwin clamp and remove that pin too Get a small short machine screw and bolt and thread both ends together and tighten. So if you put two 12" clamps together, now you have one bigger 24" clamp. Of course remove one handle from one clamp and remove one end from the other clamp before attaching together
@@joesshop3622 You can also remove the static clamp end where there's just a screw holding that end in. Might be easier predicated on which and what series of Irwin clamps you have or others have. Having 2 triggers on a longer clamp rail works just fine too.
I have original Quick Grip clamps and the Irwin version. I never have problems with originals. My guess is, Irwin makes them cheaper, such as using softer steel for that grab plate.
you can also throw a rivet into that roll pin hole. You can always cut it off if needed as this is especially useful if you lose stuff like me. 😅 Great video!
Or do as I did, accidentally leave it outside in the rain etc for a while, then after discovering it with a light layer of rust on the bar, note whilst it's a bit stiffer to slide, it also lost it's willingness to slip.
Sorry, I wasn't clear, the fix jaw has to be flipped around as well. I drilled a hole and installed a roll pin to hold the fixed jaw in place. @@joesshop3622
I have a clone of the Irwin clamp, "Tooltech" it goes one step further and the fixed jaw is held on with a wingnut so it is easy to flip the clamp around. Instead of a roll pin on the moving jaw end, it is a easily removable screw.@@joesshop3622
Problem is the punched hole through the steel plate will only have sharp edges on one side of the plate/hole, the sharp edges will be on the side where the punch exits the steel plate, the other side where the punch enters the plate will have rounded edges.
Its not punched on my grips though, that's weird. Its a sawn extrusion or maybe it's been faced? It's sharp on both sides if you look at the video closely. Although mine are from early 90's when they were likely made here in the USA
