stuck head jorgensen cabinet master clamp

[Ken Platt]

Folks - I bought some used Jorg cabinet master clamps, and as I was in a hurry at the time I didn't open up all the clamps. One of those that I did not open up seems to be stuck with the clamping head right at the far end, such that there's just barely a crack of space between the heads. The screw is also just about all the way in so that I cannot back it off more than a quarter-turn or so. I've jiggled and shaken and yanked, but am unable to get the head to release.

I seem to remember reading that this was a known problem with these clamps, and there was a simple remedy, but can't remember any thing else and can't seem to pull up any threads on this. Can someone help me out here? They seem to be great clamps otherwise, and I got them for about 1/2 of new prices.

As an aside, the guy also had a bar without the moveable head which he threw in to the deal. Anyone know if or where one can just buy the moveable head?

Many thanks -

Ken

[Chris Tsutsui]

This happens to me occasionally.

If mine ever gets stubborn I give the handle a good whack in the direction away from the bar.

Though you may want to wait until somebody chimes in with possibly a more delicate method.

I was hesitant to use WD-40 or anything like that due to the plastics in the mechanism and I didn't want my clamps to start slipping or anything like that.

(Another guy flips the clamp over and dropped it a few times onto a 2x4 so it lands on the bar only)

When closing the clamp from now on, make sure the clamp isn't all the way unscrewed and the problem doesn't happen again.

[Ken Platt]

I just didn't want to be the first to ruin a perfectly good 4 foot clamp. :)

As best I can tell, the gripping mechanism works by having two little offset metal rods grip the bar. It wouldn't seem to me (famous last words, right?) that this would be a problem with a bit of spray lubricant (the dry kind) so I tried that on the mechanism where there was any pivot point, and it seems to be working more smoothly now.

Thanks -

Ken

[Chris Tsutsui]

That's good you got it to work. i noticed on mine it develops tiny notches in the bar after strong tightenings so it's got to be metal on metal for gripping the bar.

I just noticed a white plastic like washer perhaps there to act as a slippery spacer.

Dry lubricant would seem fine since the wet ones might get gummed up with saw dust over time.

Other than an occasional hard to release clamp, I've been really quite pleased with these jorgs and would still buy more because once you get used to them, they perform admirably. heh

[Mike Heidrick]

Ken, on the back of the moveable clamp - is it black or shiny silver. The shiny silver ones lack the plastic shim that keeps them from sliding too far (mostly). Scott at the Adjustable Clamp co will help you out.

I will point him to this thread for you.

[Ken Platt]

I can't quite picture where this shim might go, but will contact the person you'd mentioned. Thanks for the help.

Ken

[fRED mCnEILL]

I have the besseys but my daughter bought two jorgys(by mistake) for Christmas. I finally got around to using them 9 months later and they stuck. I took out my rubber mallet,smacked them as hard as I could and immediately took them back to Home Depot for a refund.

Problem solved.

Fred Mc.