Eric The Viking
Established Member
- Joined
- 19 Jan 2010
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OK, I weakened. Our local Lidl had a basket of these - small ones in packs of three for £6 (yup really), 150mm or 300mm shaft, or 400mm heavier-duty ones at £6 each.
The ultra cheap ones just looked a bit weedy. Very similar in appearance to my nice Urkos, but thinner bars and thinner castings. I really wanted some shorter ones but could only see the 300mm ones: I passed, and bought a pair of the bigger ones:
They look good. The spec is a bit optimistic: you can open the jaws to 400mm, just about, but the swivel disappears into the female Acme thread, leaving about one turn engaged. 380mm is a more reasonable max opening:
You can see its a chunky, single-start Acme thread. This is a bit stiff on one of the pair I bought, which I think is down to muck. Will clean and wax and try again. The swivel foot is properly formed, like my Record G clamps, (it's a turned piece, not pressed from sheet steel) and shouldn't jam under pressure:
The old records have a nice double-start thread. These will be harder to use to exert a lot of force, but should be OK for boxes and small carcases. I may drill the shaft on a diameter, to take a bolt as a T-bar, but it's probably not needed - the handles are fat for a good grip, but being plastic I don't know how strong they'll be. The pads are polythene, I think, gentle but easily damaged. Wooden blocks may be better if more force is needed.
The finish isn't wonderful: rust spotting on the plated shafts and black paint easily chipping, but Liberon wax should keep the worst corrosion at bay and I wasn't expecting gold plating.
The main reason I got them was extra depth on the jaws. Its hard to see (below), but realistically its 115mm, 120mm to the centreline of the screwthread, which is what the tag says. You could just about get 135mm from the fixed end of the clamp, if the threaded-end pad had something to bear on. My Urco ones are 55mm, so this is very handy for me.
Here's a final size comparison with one of my 300mm Urkos. They're suitably big and heavy. There's no safety warning on the tag about dropping one on your toe!
Hope that's useful to someone...
E.
PS: they had variable-speed scroll saws (pinned bladeholders) at £50, with 3-year warranty, but I'm on a strict diet until Christmas now.
The ultra cheap ones just looked a bit weedy. Very similar in appearance to my nice Urkos, but thinner bars and thinner castings. I really wanted some shorter ones but could only see the 300mm ones: I passed, and bought a pair of the bigger ones:
They look good. The spec is a bit optimistic: you can open the jaws to 400mm, just about, but the swivel disappears into the female Acme thread, leaving about one turn engaged. 380mm is a more reasonable max opening:
You can see its a chunky, single-start Acme thread. This is a bit stiff on one of the pair I bought, which I think is down to muck. Will clean and wax and try again. The swivel foot is properly formed, like my Record G clamps, (it's a turned piece, not pressed from sheet steel) and shouldn't jam under pressure:
The old records have a nice double-start thread. These will be harder to use to exert a lot of force, but should be OK for boxes and small carcases. I may drill the shaft on a diameter, to take a bolt as a T-bar, but it's probably not needed - the handles are fat for a good grip, but being plastic I don't know how strong they'll be. The pads are polythene, I think, gentle but easily damaged. Wooden blocks may be better if more force is needed.
The finish isn't wonderful: rust spotting on the plated shafts and black paint easily chipping, but Liberon wax should keep the worst corrosion at bay and I wasn't expecting gold plating.
The main reason I got them was extra depth on the jaws. Its hard to see (below), but realistically its 115mm, 120mm to the centreline of the screwthread, which is what the tag says. You could just about get 135mm from the fixed end of the clamp, if the threaded-end pad had something to bear on. My Urco ones are 55mm, so this is very handy for me.
Here's a final size comparison with one of my 300mm Urkos. They're suitably big and heavy. There's no safety warning on the tag about dropping one on your toe!
Hope that's useful to someone...
E.
PS: they had variable-speed scroll saws (pinned bladeholders) at £50, with 3-year warranty, but I'm on a strict diet until Christmas now.
