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good use for broken harbor freight bar clamps

7K views 16 replies 16 participants last post by  nmkidd 
#1 ·
good use for broken harbor freight bar clamps

I have two of these that worked fine until the fixed end snapped off. being a cheapskate i kept them around figuring they might be good for something. cleaning up yesterday i looked at them and an idea struck me: why not use them as holdfasts? here it is:



what remains should be plenty strong since it's better reinforced and doesnt have as much torque applied to it. the dud end stays in place and is held beneath the bench through 3/4" dog holes. the only other modification (other than breaking the original product) is to remove the rivet at the other end (vise grips to the rescue!). to use it you just remove the moving clamp, pass it up through the dog holes, and reaffix the clamp. to make it easier you could probably rig a swinging pin on the bottom (fixed end) so you could make it pass through the top.
 
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#9 ·
so strange for the other part to break. oh well, it's HF after all. they're like radio shack is with electronics - even if you dont think anything like that could possibly break, they will prove you wrong!

anyway, for 1.99 they are hard to pass up - as matt can attest - and when they fail at least some of them can have a second life.
 
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