Harbor Freight Clamp Hack - Quick, Easy Fix!
Вставка
- Опубліковано 19 вер 2020
- Harbor Freight Tools makes a great, handy little ratchet clamp that is really affordable, but it's limited by a cheap design flaw.
In this video I show you how for less than a penny and in fewer than 5 minutes you can make this simple clamp even better. And Harbor Freight, if you're watching (they're not), you can incorporate this into your manufacturing at little cost and still be able to sell the clamps at $2, $3, or whatever.
The problem with the clamp is that if you apply too much pressure to the clamp the handle pops off. The handle rides on two small nubs or hubs built into the cover and the extra pressure causes the handle to either pop off the hub or it breaks it off, rendering the clamp useless.
But don't throw the clamp away! All you need to do is simply drill a hole through the cover of the clamp where the nub stuck out and force-thread a small machine screw through the hole. The handle will then ride on the screw rather than a piece of plastic and it allows you to apply a lot of clamping pressure without having the handle pop off.
It's a simple, cheap fix that you or Harbor Freight can do for less than a penny in virtually no time at all.
Share this video!
• Harbor Freight Clamp H...
Subscribe to my channel for more great homesteading ideas
ua-cam.com/users/ruggedhom... - Навчання та стиль
I was thinking nut and bolt but your solution is much neater. Thanks for the mod.
Bolt and nut is not a bad idea at all. Might even give the trigger more support when bearing down on it.
Thanks for the tip. Those clamps were nearly free with a coupon back when my job put me near the Harbor Freight nearly every day. My fridge is covered in free flashlights. I got a whole bunch of the small clamps a long while back for some veneer gluing. It was when I started using them for other stuff when they went bad. UA-cam must be spying on me because they suggested this video. I was going to throw out about a dozen that had started to break before I saw this. I just went out to the garage and drilled all the way through one of mine. I used a longer bolt and a lock nut. Better than new. A handful of pennies will save me a couple of bucks. Thanks.
The bolt and lock nut might even be a better fix as you’re getting support from both sides and both sides of the trigger are riding on a pivot point. I like it!
I've got a bunch of these and also have THE GOOD ONES ....well, for the price of the "good ones" (that do the same thing eventually) this is a nice easy CHEAP (my middle name according to my wife...LOL) fix that I'll certainly do !! I try my best to keep things out of the land fills and the ching in my pocket !! Thanks for a very helpful video !!
Cheap! We must be related
@@HomesteadDIY If I were a contractor I "might" be inclined to buy the expensive stuff, but as "Joe home owner" if find a lot of the cheaper tools will serve my purpose. I have a Kawasaki drill that's at least 15 years old that I have used to drive/remove screws on MANY decks and it just the other day started to smoke removing screws on an old deck...It cost me about $20 YEEEEEARS ago so I have nothing but respect for it !! Might even FIX it !!! LOL !!
Great video. Always gotta do something to a HF product to improve it.
Don't you, though. And for pennies HF could do it too, which is slightly annoying. But now, as soon as I buy a clamp from them (I really need to stop, but you can never have too many clamps) I just automatically do this.
Genius! Great video!
That reminds me of their ratchets---probably for less than a penny a piece they could add a sufficient amount of lube and make them perform so much better in the store when you test them out, which would lead to increased sales. But they don't, go figure. I have to dip them in ATF.
Bump is a knarl.
How old is that clamp? I haven't seen those with orange handles. About 5 months ago, I bought one and it was all grey. They had also redesigned from previous version I had. (I fixed my old one exactly as you did!! ) The new version was insanely strong. Uncanny for harbor fright...I know!
They might be a few years old. :) I have a number of the grey ones too, and I haven't found them to be much stronger (but they're older ones too). As a matter of fact I have one in my truck to return to the store because the top arm actually broke. It still has the "lifetime warranty" sticker on it so I'll be getting a new one. Maybe HFT stopped carrying this model precisely because you couldn't get too much clamping pressure with them.
@@HomesteadDIY , ha ha I kept my sticker on too. Which is how I found out about the newer ones. The newer ones only disadvantage, that I can tell, is they are a little clunky. Good that is their only flaw.
I got about 12 irwin clamps from Sears' out of biz sale for $2 each, and they are light weight. But I won't hesitate to buy Harbor Fright clamps if they are as good as the new ones. ( Just test them in the store before purchasing.)
PS not sure if you ever get their multimeters, but I made a video on fixing them.
Also, I made a vid on some motion sensitive cabinet lighting from their free flashlights. Those free coupons keep me loaded with flashlights! :-)
@@TheRainHarvester I'll have to check out your multimeter video. I recently bought one of the Cen-Tech models and I noticed that older ones had a 10v testing option, but the new ones say just 5v. I'll also check out your light video 'cause I got a ton of them too!