Modifying Jorgensen Cabinet Master Parallel Clamps

[Joe Angrisani]

Has anyone ever shortened a Jorgensen Cabinet Master clamp's bar?

My Home Depots honor the Menards flyers, where Jorgy 24"ers are $21.99 right now (cheaper than I've ever seen 12"ers anywhere). I'm thinking of buying some discounted 24"ers and converting them to 12"ers, which would required cutting the bar and drilling a ~1/4" hole. I find the little parallel clamps to be super handy. Not sure how hard the steel is so I'm hoping for some comments/experiences before jumping in.

[John Lanciani]

Not cabinet masters, but I've shortened a bunch of Besseys. (It seems like I always find deals on 24" clamps and I wanted a dozen 12"s) I know it's not the preferred tool around the creek, but I just use a high tension hacksaw with a good 18 tpi blade and it takes less than a minute to cut the bar with minimal noise or mess. Drilling the hole for the end is easy with a drill press. You may even want to go a little longer than 12", I find that the four that I cut to 15" to be extremely useful, too.

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

I cut down some 24" Quick Grips for the same reason. However even with a cobalt drill, I couldn't drill through them. I had to cut them with an abrasive wheel, a power hacksaw wouldn't touch them. I ended up putting a bead of weld on the ends to keep the heads on. I'm not around my Jorgensen Cabinet Masters, so I can't tell you how hard they are. I don't think I tried a carbide drill when I did mine, but that would be an option if needed.

To test the hardness of the steel, try to file them. If the file cuts easily, there should be no problem cutting and drilling them.

[Steve Peterson]

It can't be too hard, since the metal retaining clip bites into it slightly each time you tighten the clamp. That is a really good price. I wish Menards would make it out to the left coast.

Steve

[glenn bradley]

I too have shortened parallel clamps that I got a deal on but, didn't need the length. I used a metal blade in my jigsaw, filed the sharp edges, drilled a hole for the stop and Bob's your Uncle.

[Jay Jeffery]

I got some of the Bessey Revo rebranded as Craftsman bars and clamp parts at Sears this summer. I cut some of the 24" bars in half with a sawzall to make some 10" clamps. These are the style where both heads are movable, so I didn't need to drill any holes to mount the "stationary" head. I bought the bars a la carte so I can turn the 6 clamps into 10", 24," or 50" as needed.

Several years ago I did essentially the same thing with some Stanley heavy duty F clamps. I took 2 clamps 24" and 2 clamps 30" and made 4 clamps of 10" capacity. The 30" bars were left long to convert 2 of them back should the need ever arise (it hasn't). It required drilling which I accomplished with standard HSS drill bits.

In both cases I couldn't be happier. In my shop, the short clamps get used more than all the others combined.

Edit: How do you get your HD to honor a store's add that isn't eve in your state?

[Joe Angrisani]

I got some of the Bessey Revo rebranded as Craftsman....clamps. These are the style where both heads are movable, so I didn't need to drill any holes to mount the "stationary" head....

On the Jorgensen C-Ms, the "simple end" is all that needs shortening. Then one ~1/4" hole for the quick-pin that holds the little black leveler on. Seems simple so I'm off to get some more 24"ers to do a little surgery on. Thanks guys.


Edit: How do you get your HD to honor a store's add that isn't eve in your state?

By following corporate policy and being polite?? I dunno. Their policy says nothing about where the competitor needs to be located.

I've never had problems (at three different Home Depots) using the Menards ad, the Harbor Freight 20% coupon, or the Ace $10 off $30 coupon from the back of my supermarket receipt. All I did was print out Page 1 and Page 30 of the "Christmas Catalog" flyer from Menards. Grabbed four 48"-ers and headed for the checkout. Told the girl at the express lane, "I have a competitors ad from Menards. Will you match it?" I handed her the ad and magically the prices changed from $44.99 each to $31.99 each.

And upon further review, they BEAT the price by 10% and only charged me $28.79 for the 48"ers....

246552

[Joe Angrisani]

Just got home with my 24"-soon-to-be-12"ers. They also beat the price by 10% on this round, making the 24" Cabinet Masters $19.80 each.

I'd say if you're within 500 miles of a Menards, it's worth a try at these prices. And if Menards is local, fill your wish list at Home Depot because $19.80 for 24", $25.19 for 36" and $28.79 for 48" is hard to beat for top-shelf parallel clamps.

[Jim Andrew]

I picked up several cabinet masters, and some C clamps today at Menards, we don't have a HD, and was also looking at their F clamps, and found some that have about the same size bar as the CM s , main difference is they have a pad like a C clamp. They were about 1/3 the price of the CMs and were in stock in 12". The next size longer were sold out, surprising, as they were not in the circular. But they had a blue tag, which means they were marked down somewhat.