New Bessey K Body Revo JR. clamps?

[ian maybury]

Pardon if this has been noted before, but there's advertising e-mails coming through now for a new lighter version of the Bessey K Body Revo - the K Body Revo Jnr clamp: americanwoodworker.com/blogs/reviews/archive/2011/06/07/bessey-174-new-k-body-174-revo-jr-junior.aspx

Trouble is the lack of hard/comparative information in the material is making it tough to understand where they fit in relative to the current K Body Revo - the advertising talks of less weight and lower cost with high clamping forces but doesn't overtly compare them.

Hopefully it's that they genuinely are filling a gap in their product line - and that they haven't been forced into a cost reduction at the price of quality type exercise. I'm a big fan of the solidity of their current product. It's a bit ominous that they seem to be more or less pitching it as a mainstream clamp in its own right without reference to the current Revo - they certainly don't seem to be creating any hostages to fortune. The switch back to a wooden handle may not be a bad thing - plastics (in general - hopefully not the existing Bessey handles) are often quite short lived in that sunlight can make them brittle.

A quick look on their North American site looks reasonably promising: the existing Revo is listed at 1,500lbs clamping force, the Revo 'KR' (is it supposed to be KR or Jr i wonder? - most material seems to have it as Jr) at 900lbs, and the UniKlamp at 330lbs. The question presumably is whether or not there are definite/well enough separated markets at each weight/price point for each of the three models to continue in its own right.

It begs the interesting (and related) question for those already with K Revos and UniKlamps as to whether (or not) it might be worth adding a third range of clamps to the collection - it's a lot easier to buy the odd extra example to top up a current set than it would be to start a new one. Equally (for those starting from scratch) which line of clamps is the best starting point.

Does anybody have any hands on or better information, or any view on how its likely to play out? It'd be a pity if the lighter clamp cannibalised the sales of the current K Body Revo to the point where the volume was reduced so that they were no longer commercially viable - or the price increased significantly...

ian