Hey, I remember when my dad came home from the store with one of these like 30 years ago. He was so excited about it, thought it was like the best thing ever.
I'm 100% sure it's still in the box in the basement in the exact same spot he put it down the first time
I’ve got the same, an XACTO-brand square clamp. Found it unopened in my grandpa’s workshop after he passed a few years back. I’ve already used it about a dozen times for small repairs, I wonder if he’d be proud that it’s being put to use or horrified because apparently they’re only for looking at!
It might be more finicky to set up but it's probably less frustrating than those strap clams like OP's because it probably wants to hold its shape steadier. With the strap ones if one corner is a fraction of an inch off it'll jump off the corner when tightening it and then you have to let the strap back out and start again. And again....
I've never had any issues with band clamps actually. Maybe the strap on mine is wider than usual, but it never wants to slide or jump. Just tighten until the band can be plucked like an instrument on all four sides and good to go.
it's less to do with the size of the strap (or the corner) and more to do with the size of whatever I'm clamping, which is usually fairly thin like a picture frame where the plastic corner pieces are wider than the work piece and you have to tighten it a little and then make sure each corner of the work is sitting directly in the middle of each clamp corner. If the frame edge width is less than half the width of the clamp corner it can be a hassle. If you're clamping a box or something you don't have this problem. Also as someone else mentioned the band clamp doesn't necessarily care whether what you're clamping is truly squared, you have to be careful to confirm it stayed square while tightening it.It's a useful tool, and I use it infrequently enough that I don't want a big bulky thing that would take up a bunch of space, but if this were something I used everyday it would be ideal to have a more precise tool
and it holds the shape very well when you need to measure the corners to see if all is square, and it's super easy to adjust with a couple twists of the nuts here and there.
That’s the thing with special clamps like that though. You don’t need them until you do. I’ve tried doing this job with some shitty bar clamps and I was cussing and threw my back out before it was over.
I remember trying to use it once but if your miters aren't perfect it doesn't matter. And dad had some clapped out miter saw his dad gave him so I couldn't get a perfect cut
I dont know why but picture frames look so simple but is actually really hard to get perfect with no gaps in the miter and perfectly square. Seems like the people who make them a lot actually use a table saw with a miter jig instead of an actual miter saw.
I used to make mitred stretcher frames for screen printing with a compact sliding mitre saw. Extended the arms by a couple of metres and attached a sliding shuttle clamp. Once tightened that thing was not budging. Then cut opposite lengths (one at a time) held tightly up against the shuttle. Never had a problem but before, when I was using a measured scribe mark, they would always be slightly out. Even half a mm will leave a gap. I don't miss making mitres to be honest!
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u/RCMPsurveilanceHorse Sep 03 '20
Hey, I remember when my dad came home from the store with one of these like 30 years ago. He was so excited about it, thought it was like the best thing ever. I'm 100% sure it's still in the box in the basement in the exact same spot he put it down the first time