All in one clamp guides

[Dave Lehnert]

Looking at the clamp guides that is used to cut down sheet goods. Looking at the emerson brand from amazon as well as Rockler or any other brand

89832

[Ryan Sparreboom]

Did you have a question?
I own one (just a cheap Samona) and it works great. Clamps tight enough and gives me a nice straight line with my circ. saw or router. I do have to square it with a large square first though....

[Dave Sweeney]

I have a couple of the Emerson's and they work great for what they are.

[Greg Hines, MD]

One thing that I did was make a set of gauges to use with this kind of clamp, for my circular saw, router, and jig saw. Makes it a breeze to set up cuts with any clamp-on guide like this.

Doc

[Chris Barnett]

Mine similar to those shown; work very well and when nothing else seems to fit.

[Wayne Cannon]

The All-in-One clamp guides work great. However, in the last year or two, I have experienced a number of quality issues with the ones with the nice white plastic Emerson branding graphic/ruler tape as pictured in your posting.

(1) They have added a click-lock feature that is more of a pain in the neck than a benefit. There is a significant stickiness in sliding the movable jaw when inverted or vertical that appears to be caused by this click-lock feature.

(2) The new stop design uses a flattened "L"-shaped clamping bolt instead of the traditional T-track bolt head previously used. The "L"-shaped clamping bolts "rock" (or tilt) slightly, allowing the stop to move a fair amount -- not a good thing for a stop.

(3) The new saw plates have a large rectangular cutout which prevents its use as a zero-clearance plate.

[Jamie Buxton]

I've used straightedges to guide tools for many years, using shop-built devices and manufactured ones. Based on that experience, here's the design features I'd look for.

Length. I want to be able to rip an 8' sheet of plywood. If the guide is built in two sections for shipability, that's okay, but the two sections must join together very firmly. You don't want the thing flopping around on you, when you're relying on it being straight.

Two-way restraint of the tool. For many years I used just a straightedge to guide the tool. If you're not paying attention, or if the power cord hangs up, or for some other reason, the tool can sometimes drift away from the straightedge. Very bad words ensue. It is a big improvement if the tool is somehow tied to the straightedge, so that it can't escape like that.

[Randal Stevenson]

When I first bought my EZ Smart in 2004, the perveyor was pushing either trugrip or progrip clamps. Now I believe both of those are out of business. Emerson still makes the all in one, but their website changed in the last year (seen several bad links on the web).

The old clamp and tool guides, were neither great clamps, or as good as other guides (hence my need and choice), but your needs may be different.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

I have a couple of Clamp n Guide. They clamp plenty tight to act as a guide for a circ saw or router. Don't expect them to give a square cut on their own. I mark where the cut is to be on a panel using a square and then go to the other side of the panel to make sure the marks line up.

I bought a 50" thinking it would be the only one I'd need (for cutting sheet goods). After about twenty times cutting a narrower panel and walking around the end seemingly sticking out into the neighbor's yard :rolleyes: I got a two footer also.

[Jay Yoder]

I have 2 of the all in one clamps work great, once they are squared. My only beef would be that they dont self square, which i dont know how it could be possible. I need to make some guides to speed the set up process.