Paul Chapman
Established Member
At last Saturday's MiniBash in Salisbury I was lucky enough to win the new Veritas Surface Clamp in a prize draw \
/ This had been sent over and kindly donated by Rob Lee of Lee Valley, manufacturers of Veritas tools. I felt it was incumbent on me to publish a short review. I hasten to add that nobody has asked me to do a review and what follows is entirely my personal opinion of the product.
Here's the box
And here's the clamp
Also included are comprehensive instructions (a copy of which is available on the BriMarc website).
In a nutshell, I would describe the Veritas Surface Clamp as Lee Valley's version of the holdfast - a clamping device that's been around for years, the most common being the Record version, pictured below
However, I think Lee Valley have managed to come up with some innovative improvements on this classic clamping device, which I will try to explain a little later.
As with all Veritas tools, the Surface Clamp is very well made. It is precision machined from brass, steel and anodised aluminium. It can be used anywhere you can drill a 3/4" diameter hole. In this way the Surface Clamp links in with many of the other Veritas clamping devices, such as their round dogs. I'm a keen user of these, as you can see
(I'm a user, not a collector - honest :lol: )
How it fits in the hole is interesting and one of the key features of the clamp in my view. If you look at the components of the post you will see that there is a threaded rod which runs through the post. The end of the post has a 45 degree slope at its end. The removable end-piece of the post has a similar 45 degree slope on it
When the clamp is inserted in the hole and the brass knob tightened, this draws up the end-piece which slides outwards as the two 45 degree surfaces meet, thus gripping the sides of the hole
The advantage of this is that the post is gripped firmly in the hole without causing damage to the bench, which is important if your bench top is made from a relatively soft material, such as MDF, as mine are. The clamp will lock in a blind hole 1 3/8" deep or a through hole in material as thin as 5/8".
The workpiece is gripped under the clamp like this
The throat depth is 2 1/8" and the arm can accommodate material up to 3 3/4" thick. The arm grips the post via a couple of steel pins which engage in the slots of the post.
The most common use of the clamp will probably be to clamp work away from the edge of the bench, where a G cramp will not reach, like so
I would envisage using the clamp frequently like this. For example, when cutting slots with a biscuit jointer I find that the most accurate way of doing it is to use the bench top as a reference point for the base of the biscuit jointer. The problem, however, is that you can normally clamp one end of the work piece with a G cramp but the other end of the workpiece causes a problem because a G cramp won't reach. With the Surface Clamp that problem is solved.
Of course, you are not restricted to using the Surface Clamp on the bench top. When planing long lengths of wood in the vice, you could use the Surface Clamp in a hole drilled in the bench leg to support the other end of the wood.
I compared the Surface Clamp to the Record holdfast and said that I thought the Veritas clamp had some improvements. The two main ones from my point of view are, first, the Record holdfast uses a metal collar which is fitted to the bench. I have one fitted to my original Mate Tools Workmate
The problem with this is that the collar is not always in the right place and it's simply not practical (or cost effective) to have lots of metal collars all over your bench top. The Veritas Surface Clamp requires only a 3/4" diameter hole which means you can use it anywhere on your bench or on a makeshift bench top - for example a piece of MDF clamped to a Workmate when working away from the workshop.
With the Record holdfast the action of clamping the workpiece also locks the device in the metal collar. I find that these two things happening at once often causes the workpiece to be dragged along the worktop slightly. Often this will not matter, but sometimes it does. The Veritas clamp is locked in the hole before clamping the workpiece, so that prevents any movement of the workpiece.
In summary, I rate this as a cracking device. For me, I would envisage it becoming a standard workbench device in just the same way as my Record G cramps and Veritas bench dogs have become. It's so useful I can see myself buying another one very soon - I've had this one only a few days and already I'm using it
The Veritas Surface Clamp costs £42.50 including VAT and is available through Veritas dealers. Further information is available on the BriMarc website http://www.brimarc.com/home.php3?page=p ... pc=05G1901
Cheers :wink:
Paul
/ This had been sent over and kindly donated by Rob Lee of Lee Valley, manufacturers of Veritas tools. I felt it was incumbent on me to publish a short review. I hasten to add that nobody has asked me to do a review and what follows is entirely my personal opinion of the product.Here's the box
And here's the clamp
Also included are comprehensive instructions (a copy of which is available on the BriMarc website).
In a nutshell, I would describe the Veritas Surface Clamp as Lee Valley's version of the holdfast - a clamping device that's been around for years, the most common being the Record version, pictured below
However, I think Lee Valley have managed to come up with some innovative improvements on this classic clamping device, which I will try to explain a little later.
As with all Veritas tools, the Surface Clamp is very well made. It is precision machined from brass, steel and anodised aluminium. It can be used anywhere you can drill a 3/4" diameter hole. In this way the Surface Clamp links in with many of the other Veritas clamping devices, such as their round dogs. I'm a keen user of these, as you can see
(I'm a user, not a collector - honest :lol: )
How it fits in the hole is interesting and one of the key features of the clamp in my view. If you look at the components of the post you will see that there is a threaded rod which runs through the post. The end of the post has a 45 degree slope at its end. The removable end-piece of the post has a similar 45 degree slope on it
When the clamp is inserted in the hole and the brass knob tightened, this draws up the end-piece which slides outwards as the two 45 degree surfaces meet, thus gripping the sides of the hole
The advantage of this is that the post is gripped firmly in the hole without causing damage to the bench, which is important if your bench top is made from a relatively soft material, such as MDF, as mine are. The clamp will lock in a blind hole 1 3/8" deep or a through hole in material as thin as 5/8".
The workpiece is gripped under the clamp like this
The throat depth is 2 1/8" and the arm can accommodate material up to 3 3/4" thick. The arm grips the post via a couple of steel pins which engage in the slots of the post.
The most common use of the clamp will probably be to clamp work away from the edge of the bench, where a G cramp will not reach, like so
I would envisage using the clamp frequently like this. For example, when cutting slots with a biscuit jointer I find that the most accurate way of doing it is to use the bench top as a reference point for the base of the biscuit jointer. The problem, however, is that you can normally clamp one end of the work piece with a G cramp but the other end of the workpiece causes a problem because a G cramp won't reach. With the Surface Clamp that problem is solved.
Of course, you are not restricted to using the Surface Clamp on the bench top. When planing long lengths of wood in the vice, you could use the Surface Clamp in a hole drilled in the bench leg to support the other end of the wood.
I compared the Surface Clamp to the Record holdfast and said that I thought the Veritas clamp had some improvements. The two main ones from my point of view are, first, the Record holdfast uses a metal collar which is fitted to the bench. I have one fitted to my original Mate Tools Workmate
The problem with this is that the collar is not always in the right place and it's simply not practical (or cost effective) to have lots of metal collars all over your bench top. The Veritas Surface Clamp requires only a 3/4" diameter hole which means you can use it anywhere on your bench or on a makeshift bench top - for example a piece of MDF clamped to a Workmate when working away from the workshop.
With the Record holdfast the action of clamping the workpiece also locks the device in the metal collar. I find that these two things happening at once often causes the workpiece to be dragged along the worktop slightly. Often this will not matter, but sometimes it does. The Veritas clamp is locked in the hole before clamping the workpiece, so that prevents any movement of the workpiece.
In summary, I rate this as a cracking device. For me, I would envisage it becoming a standard workbench device in just the same way as my Record G cramps and Veritas bench dogs have become. It's so useful I can see myself buying another one very soon - I've had this one only a few days and already I'm using it
The Veritas Surface Clamp costs £42.50 including VAT and is available through Veritas dealers. Further information is available on the BriMarc website http://www.brimarc.com/home.php3?page=p ... pc=05G1901
Cheers :wink:
Paul
