I do not own a Bessey clamp. They look like a quality made tool. However, I'd like to ask what these clamps offer that would make my old pipe clamps (and assortment of hand me downs)  Do they clamp more evenly? What purpose are the small black inner rings for. 

 

Thanks in advance

 

Ron 

Edited November 22, 20178 yr by Ron Dudelston
tags added

Ron, I have pipe clamps and Bessey clamps.  There is no comparison.  The Bessey gives a more consistant pressure to your glue up and a quick adjustment to the piece by way of the unique handle.  The handle "moves" as a lock so you push the handle and the head slides on the rail.  When you get the head in place you just do a little push/lock and tighten the grip.  The black rings keep your workpiece and its gluey mess off the steel rails unlike a pipe clamp.  Also, look how tall the heads are.  The taller heads add equal pressure to the glue up.

 

Comparing pipe clamps to a Bessey is like comparing a Yugo to an Audi. 

I sure like the black rings idea. I have to clean my clamps to allow the pieces to move. One more question.  Do they put even pressure across the face of clamping surfaces? I may have to invest in a couple.

I bought a couple of bessy clamps recently.  I like them.

I've always used pipe clamps and some shop made ones.  The Bessy clamps have a nice feel to them.

 

Opening them up reveals some less than structural looking elements especially in the fixed head end  but appearances may be deceiving because they appear to  work well enough

 

About the whole evenness and parallel-ness thing:

Everything is relative.

I recall a test done on a huge granite table with a 1 inch square bar of steel and a super sensitive indicator.

The idea was to see is there was deflection in the bar projecting off the table by one inch ( the thickness of the square steel bar.

So the bar was fixed to the table and an indicator  places on the one inch overhang and a known pressure was applied to the bar.

Pretty much any amount of pressure on the bar  caused deflection.

The take away is everything responds to forces,  Applied to the idea that a clamp with jaws  some 4 or 5 inches deep won't deflect and remain parallel under pressure - - well - -  I get back to "Everything is relative."

 

 

 

I know I bend under pressure- any pressure 

Cliff is correct. They do a great job on panels, but like all other clamping, you need to clamp from the top and bottom to get the most even clamping pressure.

I have a good number of the "K" clamps and the Bessey Pipe clamps. Again like everything, there is a tool for the specified purpose.

 

On 7/16/2015 at 1:34 PM, Ron Dudelston said:

Ron, I have pipe clamps and Bessey clamps.  There is no comparison.  The Bessey gives a more consistant pressure to your glue up and a quick adjustment to the piece by way of the unique handle.  The handle "moves" as a lock so you push the handle and the head slides on the rail.  When you get the head in place you just do a little push/lock and tighten the grip.  The black rings keep your workpiece and its gluey mess off the steel rails unlike a pipe clamp.  Also, look how tall the heads are.  The taller heads add equal pressure to the glue up.

 

Comparing pipe clamps to a Bessey is like comparing a Yugo to an Audi. 

Not really...I'll take a 100 pipe clamps to one Bessey k-body...

 

Beam clamps? Will know soon...

 

K-body has one good feature. the fact that they over lap...

 

Edited October 29, 20178 yr by BillyJack

Using the Besseys is a real joy, and I won't be giving mine up. That said, really nice projects have been done for eons with pipe clamps...and I suspect they will be done for a long time to come (with pipe clamps). They are also called parallel jaw clamps, and that's becuase (theoritically) those deep jaws are parallel which helps keeps thing square as you tighten the clamp. If you look at them closely, you will notice a little toe-in at the tip of the jaws. The beam does flex slightly, and that toe-in (I suppose) is there so they will line up under pressure.

Nothing wrong with the workings of Bessey K-body, But many buy for the wrong reasons. K-body is one variety of many.

 

It's not how many clamps you have, but how many of the "right" clamps you have for your project...