12" parallel clamp?

[Jay Yoder]

Hey all. I have a quick question, how often do you use 12" parallel clamps? I have an immediate need for one now, but not sure about the future...I was thinking of buying the 6 pc pack of the UniKlamps on Amazon for $100. I also have the chance to pick up some Bessey K bodies for about 26 ea...is the heavier weight necessary in such a small clamp? I have seen them used for bending laminated curves, but i dont do alot of that, actually none, so i was just wondering what the thoughts were...thanks for your input.

[Lance Norris]

Jay... I use my 12" Jet parallels as much as the 24"ers. I use the parallels for lots of clamping duties. I just used them the other day to laminate a stack for a bowl blank for the lathe.

[Alan Schaffter]

Me too. I use the 12" alot.

[glenn bradley]

This is a great thread. I was wondering the same thing. I always seem to have a lot of the 24" hanging out in space waiting to grab me. With the folks blowing the old K-body out, I haven't found 12's at much of a bargain (Griz at $29.95 is about the best I've found and my Local Borg has 24's for that). I'm going to go check out some of the lighter weight Uni's and if in doubt, probably cut off some 24's.

[Will Blick]

The problem with 12" clamps are, they only go to 12" :-)

Whereas 24" clamps go to 12" AND 24".... we all probably struggle with this..... but for small jobs, the shorter bar is sure nice.....

IMO, this is the BEST 12" parallel clamp made today, except maybe for the new Bessey 2K's, but at 12", many of the new features on the K's are not applicable....and these 12" Stanley Baily's are on sale at Amazon for $20 right now, free shipping of course.... They produce over 1000 lbs of force ease, without ripping the skin off your hands... I have a pressure gage and have tested all the major brands. At this price, I reccomend you buy a couple to see for yourself!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31FLjEdANnL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

[Will Blick]

anhh, I saw it said only 3 left in stock, so I ordered 4, but it still says 3 left in stock.... not sure if they jack up the price after they are out of stock.... I sure hope not, :-( Reg. price I think was about $26?

Regardless, its the damn free shipping, no tax, that makes Amazon so amazing....

[Rusty Elam]

I just bought some at the local Rockler, they are clearance priced at $22.
I love the 12" K bodies

[John Williamson]

Anyone have a link for Amazon. I can't seem to find the 12".


Thanks.

[Will Blick]

Linky

http://tinyurl.com/6xg96p

[Doug Shepard]

If anything, I think the 12" might have a sight edge (by the slimmest of margins) over the other sizes as far as what I find myself reaching for the most.

[Jim Becker]

If you don't need huge clamping power, the UniClamps (which are not exactly "parallel" clamps...not as precise as K-Bodies or similar) are great for these smaller sizes. I have number of them and use them often. I will admit that I've wanted some 12" K-Bodies for some time now, but the cost has always pushed that off. So when I need that kind of clamping power, I'll tend to pull out a 23" K-Body (since I have a lot of them) and just try not to bonk myself on the forehead (again) with the exposed ends... ;)

[Bruce Page]

I use my 24" Bessy's a lot more than my 12" Bessy's.
But, I mostly use my little 12" Quick Clamps for small stuff.

[Tim Sproul]

Hey all. I have a quick question, how often do you use 12" parallel clamps? I have an immediate need for one now, but not sure about the future...I was thinking of buying the 6 pc pack of the UniKlamps on Amazon for $100. I also have the chance to pick up some Bessey K bodies for about 26 ea...is the heavier weight necessary in such a small clamp?



I have both 12 inch Bessey K's and 12 inch Bessey Uniklamps. The K's are much better. The head slides reliably. The Uniklamp heads stick a lot and don't always slide when I want them to. EDIT - 12 inch clamps are great for gluing up furniture legs. Ideally, 6 inch clamps would be better but I haven't run across 6 inch clamps that can provide serious pressure besides some specialty clamps like deep throated bessey tradesman clamps. I've been tempted to hack down a dozen of my 12 inch K's to 6-8 inches.

----

Some one mentioned that 24 inch clamps will clamp 12 and 24 inches. This is true. But often, using clamps that are a lot longer than needed (twice as long, for example) presents problems that aren't encountered when using appropriate length clamps. It isn't as if I could clamp any project using 96 inch clamps......:eek:

[Will Blick]

> It isn't as if I could clamp any project using 96 inch clamps.....

Agreed..... My solution to this was, buy 18" clamps..... I bought a bunch of the Stanleys 18", still very small, yet 50% more clamping capacity vs. the 12's. This is analogous to a 60" vs. a 40". So far, I have not been annoyed by any extra over hang of the 18's.

[Peter Quinn]

THe 12" uni's are great, I have a couple, always in use, almost never make it back to the clamp rack. I have a lot of 12" clamps of different sizes, very handy size in my shop, depends on what you do. Often a 24" clamp leaves 12" of extra bar IN MY FACE, so 24" is not always an advantage.

The uni's are light to medium duty clamps so keep that in mind. Real handy, just not as powerful or as large as most parallel jaw clamps. The K-bodies offer a whole lot more oomph for a little bit more money, so if you are trying to maximize your clamp budget, the K-bodies may be more versatile.

I say buy both and write a review!

[Shawn Buonarosa]

The new Bessey K bodys have a neat little feature.
They have a piece you can get that allows you to join two or more clamps together to make virtually any size you need. So you can pick up four 12's and two extension pieces, and its like having two 24" as well.

[Brent Smith]

I use both the K-bodies and Uniklamp. For smaller projects the Uniklamps are usually easier to use and more times than not do the job. The K-bodies are great for laminations and anywhere that you need a bit more pressure. To give you an idea of how useful I find the 12", I have between 8-12 of each size of K-Bodies except the 12". I have 24 of them!

[Dave Lehnert]

You do know the pack at Amazon is a mix of 6" 12" and 18"? Or you looking at another set.

[Jay Yoder]

Well, i snoozed and i lost out. They had 6 12" on Friday, and 0 12" saturday!! go figure...Dave, I did see that it was a set...i am figuring that an average price of $17/clamp is not bad. Anyone know if Woodcraft will be having their buy 3 get one free special on their clamps in the near future?

[Mike Henderson]

I use my 12" Bessey clamps a lot. I have seven of them and if I had storage room, I'd buy more. Seems I'm always gluing some small thing.

My next most used is the 24" clamps. When I run out of 12" clamps, I use the 24" clamps but they're not as nice for small work because of the long overhang.

Maybe I need to sell a few of the long clamps (to get some storage room) and get more of the 12".

Mike

[Jay Yoder]

Hey mike, If u sell maybe i will buy some! Could always cut em back right?

[Lance Norris]

Jay... I dont usually recommend a Harbor Freight item, but these are probably decent for the price. I have Jet parallels and they are great, but I also have a ton of money in them. If you watch for HF sale flyers, they usually run sales or offer % off coupons. Print the internet price and take that paper with you. Sometimes the price in store is more than the internet price, but if you have the printout, they will give you the lower price. I dont know where(or if)there is a HF in Wayne county, but we have one here in Stark at Whipple & Hills and Dales, west of Canton. I would also recommend that whatever you buy, stick with the same brand as you buy more. It just makes things easier, because of the height off of your bench for glue-ups.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93876