Bessey Clamps

[wcndave]

Are not the cheapest things in the world. anyone know where the current secret good place to buy them is?

i see DM have a sale where they are 4 for £170 for 1m, so about £42.50 each. £45 at Ax.

Ruts are doing Dakota at £20 for 50", so half the price, however I have read that one should steer away from lower quality clamps as they are pretty useless. is that still the case? are the Dakota ones that bad?

 

[mailee]

I have a set of the Dakota clamps Dave and they are ok but are not the quality of the Besseys. After a bit of use they tend to slip, this can be adjusted with small allen key grub screws which fices them for a while but then they start to slip again. Having said this I have had these for a couple of years now and only had to 'adjust' them three times. HTH. :wink:

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

Last time I got them I think direct from Bessey's website was the cheapest. I was after UniKlamps though, so may be different for the larger ones.

Good luck. Cheers _Dan.

 

[wcndave]

I have a set of the Dakota clamps Dave and they are ok but are not the quality of the Besseys. After a bit of use they tend to slip, this can be adjusted with small allen key grub screws which fices them for a while but then they start to slip again. Having said this I have had these for a couple of years now and only had to 'adjust' them three times. HTH. :wink:

Thanks, how much do you use them, and if you could do it again, would you buy the same? (even slowly and over time..) as I have ended up spending more by trying to save, and you can often not tell where saving is a false economy until you have done it. (eg for me cheap drill press is ok, however cheap table saw was not ok....)

 

[wcndave]

Ha, they are more expensive at Bessey than DM-Tools or Axminster, yet their site claims you save £33. Saving compared to what?

I never understand how the manufacturer can claim that you are saving, after all, they sort of decide the price...

 

[bighillman]

I originally bought the Dakota ones, but I used them for a couple of big jobs and then had to throw them away because the threads wore down so badly and then failed altogether. I'm building up a collection of Besseys now albeit a small one at the moment. I wish another company would produce ones as good as the Besseys but at a reasonable price, but I haven't found any others as good yet.

 

[mailee]

I think on reflection I would buy the besseys next time but only if I could find them cheap enough. (I think they are way overpriced) Otherwise I would buy steel sash clamps which are much cheaper.