Finds: Stanley’s New FatMax Trigger Clamps
By Chuck Cage
Don’t let looks fool you — all trigger clamps aren’t created equal. A couple of features make these new clamps from Stanley really stand out: The jaws move three times faster on each squeeze of the handle, and you can position the smaller jaw anywhere along the bar so you don’t end up with the bar sticking up in your face when you’re working.
You can also install the small jaw “backwards,” converting the clamp to a spreader — no tools required.
It’s hard to convey how handy it is to be able to close the jaws from with open to completely closed with just a few squeezes. When you squeeze the trigger of a normal trigger clamp, the jaws move a millimeter or so closer. On the FatMax, they move an inch or more closer. It’s a big time saver, as you’re usually stuck holding a bunch of stuff together while you try and get the clamp closed on it.
We tried one of these out in the shop a while back and were truly impressed with it. If you get a chance, check one out in person.
It’s available in 6″, 12″, 18″, 24″, 30″, and 36″ configurations. We saw these released on the Stanley website, but we haven’t found them onsale online yet. We’d be willing to bet that they’ll appear in the big-boxes first, so we’ll keep an eye out for them there. So, we don’t have a price for you yet.
FatMax Trigger Clamp [Stanley]
October 4th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
You can never have to many clamps!
October 4th, 2006 at 11:23 pm
Can you apply as much force with these as with the others? It seems that with increased travel you would get decreased leverage on the grip handle to apply clamping force.
October 5th, 2006 at 12:15 am
Does the faster advancing mean you can’t clamp as hard for the same grip force? Or does this work like those automatic pliers to change its leverage according to resistance against a spring?
October 5th, 2006 at 12:16 am
Yeah, what Rob said. That’ll teach me to leave a window open for a few hours before getting back to it…
October 5th, 2006 at 10:05 am
I think of this style clamp as more of a ‘holder’ than a clamp. The last time I tried to clamp with a quik-clamp type I broke it. I stick with spring, bar and ‘c’ clamps. How about posting a strength test on this one?
October 6th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
[...] Finds: Stanley’s New FatMax Trigger Clamps As one commenter stated, “You can never have enough clamps.” And these clamps in particular are handy around the shop. The jaws close three times more quickly than standard trigger clamps, moving almost an inch closer with each pull of the trigger. That means you spend less time trying to hold everything in place with one hand while you close the clamp with the other. You can also move the “small jaw” to any place on the bar so you don’t end up with the bar sticking up in your face when you’re clamped on something small. [...]
October 14th, 2006 at 8:11 am
According to Stanley this clamp has 3-4x faster travel AND up to 50% more clamping force than equivalent clamps. It seems there is a patented mechanism inside that allows it to do both. Pretty slick.