Spring Clamps - Are These Any Good?

[Bill Adamsen]

Looking to add to my collection of Pony 3203 9" spring clamps which are great. But when I checked the price I hesitated, they're ~$10/each. I saw these nylon (plastic) clamps - also a 9" with 3" grip - for less than $1 each (in quantity) and wonder what sort of experience folks have had with them?

[John Donhowe]

A while ago I bought a mesh bag of assorted house brand (HDX) plastic clamps at HD. Those were pretty cheap (price-wise and quality)- one of the big ones broke at the hinge, just by opening it all the way! That said, I find them pretty convenient to use, and cheap enough to have them lying around for a quick emergency hold, 'til I can grab a stronger clamp.

The only irritating thing is that the jaws on mine swivel pretty easily, so to get the jaws to lie flat on the clamped surfaces, you usually need both hands- one to open the clamp, and the other to align the jaws.

[glenn bradley]

I think we would need to know more about that clamp to comment. I do not recognize it on sight. Do you have a link, brand name or source? There are often threads about diamonds in the rough at Harbor Freight and their large spring clap is one of them. For 2" clamps I just use Home Depot's $1 ones and have ones I bought a decade ago. The HF 3" version are $3 a pop at full price and I have some of those that are 10 years old as well. the swivel pads on the ones you show could be an advantage or a disadvantage depending how you use them; they clamp great on flat surfaces but, will pivot and launch themselves off of sharp shaped items or too-near-edges.

[Roger Feeley]

I have a dozen or so and they are handy. But you have to be aware of their limitations. Don't use them to hold glued parts together with any precision unless you hold the parts in alignment with pins or small nails.

To be honest I reach for them fairly often but I couldn't tell you why.

[Andy Giddings]

I bought some that are very similar from Amazon. They are designed for photographers to clamp backdrop sheeting etc. The ones I got hold up well for clamping small objects. The spring pressure is quite strong and at that price, you can't really go wrong. At least with Amazon, you can try them out and return if they don't suit. Hard to believe they can make them for the price http://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Duty-Mus...rch_detailpage

[Dan Rude]

I had some great ones from Rockler. The following year they had what looked the same brand of clamp. They were crap. Even though they were a $1, I took them back for a refund. I stocked up on the 2 & 3 inch Jorgensen metal spring clamps when 7 Corners Hardware closed. �� I have seen them on sale at Menards at about $2.50 for the 2". Dan

[Eric Schmid]

I don't usually buy tools at Harbor Freight, but I had a job that required a bunch of small clamps. Didn't like the price of the usual brand name spring clamps for what was likely one time use so I picked up a dozen or so 3" metal spring clamps from Harbor Freight for what I think was under $2 each. They seem to be no different than the Irwin or Pony that I passed on and they did the job just fine.

[Jim Finn]

I don't usually buy tools at Harbor Freight, but I had a job that required a bunch of small clamps. Didn't like the price of the usual brand name spring clamps for what was likely one time use so I picked up a dozen or so 3" metal spring clamps from Harbor Freight for what I think was under $2 each. They seem to be no different than the Irwin or Pony that I passed on and they did the job just fine.

I also have the harbor freight spring clamps 3" and they work well. I have about fifty of them. After about three years now I have had three fail but still use the others. Those that fail have just broken clean through on one side of the clamp. At Less than $2 each I am OK with this failure rate.

[Glenn de Souza]

You wouldn't think much could be improved in a spring clamp, but over the weekend, I picked up two of these Bessey Clippix adjustable mouth spring clamps at HD for $3.97 each. In three days I've used them about three times already. The adjustability is really handy, they adjust up to 4" thickness capacity. You might like having a couple of these mixed in amongst the regular kind.

bessey_clippix_200.jpg

[Jim Becker]

I have an use a bunch of them for when they provide appropriate utility. They are clearly not for when significant clamping pressure is required.

[Mel Fulks]

Few years back my Lowes was having a parking lot sale . Had a bunch of spring clamps made of black and neon red plastic
and they were real cheap ,maybe 35 or 50 cents. Think I bought all of them. Some have done fine others have broken off. Some of the broken ones can still be used. Reading this thread ,I'm guessing there had been some complaints.