Thread: Bessey Uniklamps

Robert,

The "lesser" clamps will do the job, no doubt about that.

I'll go out on a bit of a limb though, because until a few years ago, I had a scrappy collection, perhaps more motley than scrappy, of various clamps in a wide variety of sizes and quality.

After buying a few K's I focussed my spending on getting a full set. The difference in ease of use and effectiveness has to be experienced to be appreciated.

Like all tools, if you are going to be doing this for a long time, buy the best you can afford, or fewer of them and get by until you can afford them. In my view they are worth the extra dough, and another thing I get pleasure out of using rather than fighting or struggling with.

I have a "few" Chinese screw G clamps as well, collected from Supercheap or anywhere else that I could get them over the years, and they serve a purpose, but the K's do all the hard work!

Cheers,

P

Like Midge I also have always used cheapo F clamps and the like. They have their place for sure, but once you get a set of K body's you will never go back.

The UniKlamp looks pretty much the same, what is the difference?

I totally agree with buying the best I can afford.

That being said I am wondering like martrix:

"The UniKlamp looks pretty much the same, what is the difference?"

Regards Robert

From that link your provided Martrix, it looks like the Uniklamp is a lighter duty version of the K body.

K body has steel reinforced riveted head whilst the sliding bit has 4 hardened steel rollers.

As the others have said. The Uniclamps (UK) are a lighter duty clamp compared to the K's. I have 3 sets of k's, (12", 24" & 60") and have found that they will handle anything that I throw at them. I also have 4x 25" Duoclamps that beat the pants off any other "Quick" Clamp. I know that I will have to get more 24" K's as I find that they are the size that I reach for the most.

The moral of this story is to buy the best you can afford, as they will not fail you . . . and it is easier to buy in pairs then to buy a large quantity and explain to the minister for war on what you are spending her money on

The Uniklamps are good quality but quite light-duty. The K-bodies are very heavy duty indeed. Intermediate between these, Bessey also make a standard F-style clamp.



I have four of these about 400 mm long and use them all the time (far more often than the Uniklamps or the K-bodies that I also have). They are available at my local Bunnings for about $30 each. I use them especially for clamping things to the bench.

Cool, for some reason I thought the Uniklamps were better.
I only wish I could splurge on more K body's.

I say get yourself a set of 4 K60's to start with....

I agree with the comments about the K's - I've used them on my course and they are the best. I'm saving up for them. We've got some Duoclamps in the workshop and they are pretty good for quick clamps.

Agree with the K-bodys, nice clamps I have a pair of K150's and 1/2 doz K60's. Another pair of K150's and 1/2 doz K100's are on the way soon.

The KliKlamp is good to, they are feather light... I can easily hold my 12 in one hand, could hold 50 in weight in one hand they are that light!
I can use them one handed, but I have large hands.

Hi, I've got both the uniclamp and the K body clamps. The uniclamps are a lot lighter duty than the K bodys. I have some of the 300mm ones and then K bodys in the 600mm + sizes. I don't know if I would be that happy with the uniclamps in the larger size. I also find them a bit more difficult to slide the jaw than the k bodys but maybe thats just me.
To my mind the main adavntage of them over standard F clamps is the wider face spreads clamping pressure and you don't have to muck around with extra " packers" or pads to stop the clamp marking the wood.
My advice would be to go and pick one of each up before parting with the cash. If you havn't seen them in the flesh I think you'll be suprised at the difference in weight of the 2. ( I know I was when mine arrived).
If you don't have a shop that stocks them both pm me and I'll take a pic of the 2 side by side when I'm home.

Bruce T.

I bought 4 Uniklamps, and so far I've broken one of the indestructable plastic jaws. They are probably better for most users than the K series as they weigh a lot less, so you are not fighting the clamp to hold position & tighten, but I think the new Duoclamp does everything the Uni's do & don't seem to flex as much.

So in future my Bessey's are going to be Duoclamps for the lighter stuff & K's for the heavy duty work.