Clamps Reviews

Received these clamps in two heavy duty boxes. Both boxes were split out from the weight of the clamps. some had minor damage to the red portion and to the handles. several had the clamp pads knocked off and missing through the end of the boxes. Several also had the pads broken and split from the treatment. Plastic tape used to seal the boxes, could not hold up to the weight and split apart at the seams.
Great clamps tho.

I just recieved my order and I have to say that I think they could be boxed better. I did not have any major damage just scuffs here and there on some of the handles and i am still awaiting my free rack.

Received my order today. Although the 30 clamps came in one heavy box they arrived without any damage.

I read so many great things about these clamps, and the concept looked so good, I guess I expected more out of them than was really fair. They do hold the stiles together, but then so do my wooden Jorgensens. Most of the cabinets I install are in houses with walls that are not plumb or square, and I constantly have to shim to make them look good.

I found that with the center plate that screws in toward the stiles to bring the edges flush, if you don't have the backs of the cabinets shimmed and screwed at least part of the way, they pull the right and left edges of the stiles around toward you.

So I ended up using both my wooden clamps and the Claws and that worked nicely. I would buy them again, but they are not a cure-all for my cabinet hanging headaches. They certainly are the most innovative design anyone has come up with in a long time!

I purchased these clamps as I install Kitchens and thought these would work great. I have used them a couple of times and found them to do there job. There is a very small learning curve-i.e. not to tighten them up all the way befor making all adjustments-but other then that they are very good quality, and work like they should.

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Can you cut bevels with this guide? If so, how do you compensate for the offset?

The smart base provides two tracks. One for the straight cuts and one for the bevel cuts. The smart base provides anti splintering protection on and off the guide rail.

This tool is great for someone who doesn't have the time, patience, and/or skill to make their own saw guide. Many people have written that they could achieve the same results with a homemade guide made of a straight board and some scrap plywood, but that would take a level of precision and workmanship that I simply don't have (and where are you going to find a "straight" board nowadays!?). I also think the integrated clamping is very convenient and effective. The Smart Guide itself has proved to be extremely precise-to the point that I use a drafting pencil carefully sharpened before making a cut line and get results that are within 1/64" every time. That kind of easy repeatability (precision) makes it possible for me to produce square and correctly sized panels that I was never able to get on my table saw. Don't let my long list of caveats deter you-even knowing what I know now, or maybe because of it, I'd buy this tool again.

A few caveats:
1. Initially, I used this with a cheap DIY-quality saw and got horrible results.
a) Because it was a "small" base saw (versus a contractor grade "large" base...nominally 1.5" from guide edge to saw blade and 5" from the blade to the other edge of the base) it required a lot of time to properly align the saw to the base (Smart Base).
b) I also discovered that if I wasn't careful, the Smart Base would flex and the saw blade would lever away from the cutting line. This was because it was a "small" base saw which didn't cover a good portion of the Smart Base. Bottom line: don't use this guide system with a "small" base saw. Make sure your saw base is at least 6.5" wide.
2. I mounted the saw to the Smart Base using the provided machine screws. This was a bit of a pain (see above 1a) and required that I use a Dremel to get the nuts to sit flat (think about some of those saws with ribbed bases). However, I was glad when I later gave the cheap saw away and was able to easily remove the saw guide base. The other way to mount your saw to the Smart Base would be to use double sided tape (included). Hopefully the manual has been updated because it doesn't match the hardware provided with the guide. The machine screws that came with my guide required a 1/4" hole in the Smart Base and a 1/8" hole through the saw base. I think the manual recommends 11/32" and T-nuts which apparently, was the old way of doing it.
3. When making the first cut along the guide, you're cutting through a plastic strip (the "EAC-1") mounted to the aluminum guide and assuming you don't change saw blades this line should be your cut line from here on out. The first time I did this, I put both lengths of the guide together and clamped it to a 4x8' sheet of plywood-bad idea. The guides, when put together are 100" long, so unless you clamp the guide along a diagonal, some of it (the guide) will extend beyond the plywood. Any other time except this, this would be fine. But, when you cut through the EAC-1 it must be supported underneath so as to get a precise and clean cut that you can easily align to your planned cut line. My EAC-1 was jagged at the ends where it was unsupported and it projected the wrong cut line. I ordered a new set of edges and expect to have much better success next time (see below).
4. Another thing about the EAC-1 is that when you make this first important cut you need to be pretty steady in order to produce a nice clean cut and hence a nice clean cutting line. I recommend taking the EAC-1 off and making 2-3 practice cuts so that the first time you use the guide you're not trying to carry out any kind of accuracy dependent operation that will affect every future cut you make. I think my first attempt at this would have gone better if I'd had a better sense about how fast to push the saw along the guide, knew how much resistance I could expect, and whether there were any sensitive motions to avoid (i.e., flexing the Smart Base perpendicular to the cut line). Oh, and don't forget to use the Anti-chip insert...you'll want the EAC-1 to be really cleanly cut.
5. Finally, get a good blade to put in your saw. I assume the reason you'd be willing to shell out the dollars required for this guide is that you are serious about achieving a good result. Don't let a dull blade keep you from that. The recommended Freud Diablo (~$15) was a winner for me.

As far as the the clamp goes, it works OK. However, Amazon jacked up the price from about a $1 up to over $4 each. That's well above retail price. Talk about a rip-off

I used a whole lot of these when I set up my dust collection system, and I can say that the hype is justified. These thin metal clamps slip between the ridges on the flex hose perfectly to create a very air-tight connection. I also appreciate the phillips head on the tightening bolt - it makes it a lot easier to crank these down quickly with a drill/driver.

A word of advice - I found these clamps to be A LOT cheaper at Menards.

These clamps work well on ventilation hose that you would use in a dust collection system. They are much cheaper and they clamp tight. Regular hose clamps slip because of the ribs in the hose.

These work great for light wood and small peices, but they didn't hold larger pieces (18"x30") of 3/4 inch plywood very accurately. They've been invaluable (and much quicker than corner clamps) for smaller case work though.

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These clamps are cleverly-designed and well-made. They don't work well for very narrow or very wide boards, but they're great for everything in between (as long as the boards are no more than 7/8" thick).

Have a careful look at the pictures and you'll see that the two clips on each clamp are not symmetric. One is wider, so it acts as a stop to keep a corner butt joint aligned.

One small negative: it's easy to get glue on the clamps when sliding them onto boards.

I am a contractor and have used this saw extensively the past 2 years. It replaced its predecessor but has not held up like the first. It's been in the shop a few times for the quick change breaking, and now is having a motor problem that is going to need fixing. The variable speed has also stopped working. It's been small items but they add up. The power has been more than ample, the disconnect cord is very useful, but I'm not sure I'm going to stick with Milwaukee this time.

This is the best sawzall I have ever used.
there is very little viberation in the tool.
The quick change for the blades is wonderful and very time saving.
I don't know why I didn't buy this saw before.

I bought the Milwaukee 6537-22 to repair some damaged soffits.
My friend mentioned that the Sawzall, with the right blade, can
be used to trim trees. I had a 20ft tall Bradford pear tree with
two 5" diameter trunks that I wanted removed, and thought I would
try the Sawzall on it. It cut through the tree with no problem!
Very little vibration. Toward the end of one cut the blade bound
up, but the quick release blade feature came in handy: I removed
the tool from the blade, then pushed the section of tree over.
This is going to be a much used tool. A great product!

Because the screw issue has not been resolved (see other reviews), assembly can be maddening. It is too heavy: sturdy is good, but this gauge is awkwardly heavy. Without a T-slot (and maybe even a lateral table extension), anything but narrow stock will have this gauge falling off the table.

Reviews here imply this is a "must have" for precision work. Fastening a milled board to a conventional gauge (preferably with an adjustable rod, to eliminate lateral play) and clamping on a stop on occasion has a lot going for it.

The JDS 18-34 Accu-Miter Gauge does everything it claims it can do.It was simple to assemble and adjust it.Adjustments have held true so far.I've used it alot in the short time I've had it. Comparing it to 3 other miter gauges I have its by far the best, but I feel it should be. I paid the price for a quality tool and got one.

This is a rock-solid mitre gage. Easy to set up and use. There are two stops on the gage and both are easy to use and produce extremely repeatable cuts. Customer service at JDS is efficient and nice. (I accidently knocked the gage off of the workbench and one of the stops broke. JDS quickly shipped a replacement for a nominal fee, $4). It's an expensive gage. But, I do so much cross cutting that the cost is justified.

I've been using a Porter Cable 24" for doing half blind dovetails on drawers. I'll definitely keep it for this since it's much faster than the Incra if you're making more than one drawer. Having said this, I gave the Incra Ultra 4stars because of it's versatility. I just got one for XMas and did some box joints (1/4" over 13") and they all fit perfectly. I then did some half blind dovetails for a small box and again got perfect results the first time.
Adjustments were fast and easy. I'm upgrading my router table to include a heighth adjustment. Getting the bit heighth perfect was the only problem and that wasn't part of the Incra Jig.
I then went on to variable spaced dovetails and -perfect results. I should mention that I had to watch the new video to get this right. The instructions with the jig don't cover variable spacing or through dovetails so you're left hanging without the video. If they had included the video I would have given this 5 stars.
I really like the ability to use different dovetail bits, different spacing, etc. Gives my work a custom look. Next comes the double dovetail half blind joints. I'll let you know how this goes.

I have been facinated by the Incra Jig demos at woodworking shows for years. I was lucky enough to recieve a 24" ultra, the master template library, and the three videos as a birthday present.
The set-up was fairly simple if you take your time. I had one snag during set-up, I was missing one small bolt, I scrounged around and found the correct size at a local hardware store. I was up and running, cutting near perfect box joints and dovetails in just a few hours. I also was missing a template that was refered to in one of the videos. A quick e-mail to the incra (taylor design) customer support department had both the bolt and the template in the mail and delivered within a week, no questions asked.
Overall, this is an excellent product that does everything it promises, as long as you follow the instructions. The company was very responsve to correcting their errors and will get my business again.

First of all this as an exceptional tool. I am a joinery novice but am now creating professional dovetail joints without problems. I have two comments that I think would be important to new users.

1. The setup directions are very confusing. Incra includes directions for every jig variation and accessory variation all within the product manual. I actually had 4 (yes four!) different documents that I was being refered between and still couldn't find the exact document for my fence - until a change page fell out of one of the docs. I think that officially makes 5 separate docs. I guess Incra changes their products often and doesn't recreate assembly manuals.

2. Setup is everything. If you get the router bit depth and find the board center accurately, you're home free. I've started using a dial indicator and caliper. It may seem like an overkill but the extra time upfront allows me to create near perfect joints all day long.

I've installed several thousand square feet of 3/4 inch plank flooring as renovation to my existing house and in an extensive addition. Wish I had found this clamp earlier! The only challenge I had was in the final large family room where the starting wall had a long section of baseboard heater that the first row of flooring just slid under. This restricted my ability to hook one side of the clamp to that first board and pull in those challenging boards with a bit a twist. In this case, I use a spreader clamp off of a board from the far wall, or off a board that I temporarily shoot into the floor with my nail gun.

I would have given 5 stars except it works best for engineered or laminate type flooring systems. Still works great with real 3/4 inch hardwood, you just have to be carefull and make sure it doesn't slip off the tounge side. If I didn't do real hardwood it would have gotten 5 stars.

I got four and they are perfect. Just the right size so you don't scratch or mar prefinished flooring. I highly recommend.

While the strap has approx. 1100 lbs. of tensile strength, the crank mechanism is inadequate to produce much clamping force at all.

I found this product to be very useful. I created 4 cabinet doors with it and it performed quite well. The only issue I had was that one or two of the pieces of wood that I used had slight warping and the tension produced by these clamps was not sufficient to overcome the defects in the wood.

I have been crafting serving trays and never found a good way to clamp a side cut at a 30 degree angle. This does the job beautifully. I now own two.