Waste of money: those fancy corner clamp kits

Bought a 4-corner clamping set for $120 last month thinking it'd speed up my drawer box assembly. First use the plastic joints cracked under moderate pressure and the whole thing shifted. Ended up going back to my old pipe clamps and a square, which cost me maybe $40 total years ago. Anyone else find a tool that looked good but just didn't hold up on the job?

2 comments

2 Comments

michaelcoleman22d ago

Funny how that happens across the board, not just with tools. You see it in kitchen gadgets too, some complicated thing that's supposed to save time just ends up breaking or being MORE work than the old way. The simple stuff usually wins because there's less that can go wrong with it.

troy_butler722d ago

120 bucks for a corner clamp kit and the plastic breaks on the first real job? That's rough but pretty common with those cheaper sets. The aluminum ones I see at the big box stores go for over 200 now and even those have a rep for twisting out of square if you bump them. I stick with my old Bessey pipe clamps and a good framing square, same as you. Saved a ton of cash and I can clamp about anything with different pipe lengths.