John Coloccia
05-17-2009, 9:52 AM
Ah...the premiere cam clamp in the world. Nearly 50% more expensive than other cam clamps out there. I bought 8@$25.00 each. I thought I'd treat myself to a little better clamp than my cheapy Woodcrafts.
The things showed up, and they where totally unusable. The jaws moved so rough they couldn't be moved with one hand. Further, not even one clamp had parallel jaws, and some were so bad they had a 1/8" gap at the back of the jaw. Clamping pressure was pitiful. I could barely get them to support their own weight. As soon as you touched it, it would move. Needless to say, I threw them in a box and sent them right back.
I will say they were by far the prettiest clamps I owned, but they were total garbage in terms of fit, finish and function. Anyone else have Klemsia clamps? Did I just get a really bad batch? I really loved how smoothly the cam worked, and the overall feel of the clamp, and I was really ticked off that the things didn't work and I couldn't find a way to justify keeping them. I tried and tried and tried, and finally had to accept the fact that they were totally unusable for even the simplest clamping tasks. I'm wondering if I should try again through a different supplier, maybe. I'm having a hard time believing that they developed their reputation with this kind of junk, but at the same time every last one was...well....JUNK.
My cheap Woodcrafts move very smoothly, the jaws align perfectly and they clamp just fine, by the way. The cam motion is very sticky and squeaky. The Klemsia's cam was smooth as butter....I'd never felt anything like it on a cam clamp. I wonder if there's a way to smooth out my Woodcraft's cam motion. I was thinking a bit of oil, but I think that would eventually start softening the wood, and makes things worse.
The things showed up, and they where totally unusable. The jaws moved so rough they couldn't be moved with one hand. Further, not even one clamp had parallel jaws, and some were so bad they had a 1/8" gap at the back of the jaw. Clamping pressure was pitiful. I could barely get them to support their own weight. As soon as you touched it, it would move. Needless to say, I threw them in a box and sent them right back.
I will say they were by far the prettiest clamps I owned, but they were total garbage in terms of fit, finish and function. Anyone else have Klemsia clamps? Did I just get a really bad batch? I really loved how smoothly the cam worked, and the overall feel of the clamp, and I was really ticked off that the things didn't work and I couldn't find a way to justify keeping them. I tried and tried and tried, and finally had to accept the fact that they were totally unusable for even the simplest clamping tasks. I'm wondering if I should try again through a different supplier, maybe. I'm having a hard time believing that they developed their reputation with this kind of junk, but at the same time every last one was...well....JUNK.
My cheap Woodcrafts move very smoothly, the jaws align perfectly and they clamp just fine, by the way. The cam motion is very sticky and squeaky. The Klemsia's cam was smooth as butter....I'd never felt anything like it on a cam clamp. I wonder if there's a way to smooth out my Woodcraft's cam motion. I was thinking a bit of oil, but I think that would eventually start softening the wood, and makes things worse.