Hands On: Stanley Fat Max Xtreme Auto Trigger Clamp
By Sean O'HaraConclusions
The Xtreme is hands down the fastest trigger clamp we’ve ever used. The spring is sturdy and closes at an easily-controlled rate, and once you get used to how it works, it’s easy to close accurately and quickly. It’s quite durable, and we even like the muted-gray color.
One possible deal-killer: the Xtreme can’t serve as a spreader, so if you need that feature you’ll have to give it a pass. Otherwise, we’d heartily recommend it. It turns out that the Xtreme works fine as a spreader, and we’d heartily recommend it.
Look for the Xtreme on shelves soon.
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May 17th, 2007 at 11:03 am
Nice review. Was looking forward to it after hearing about this one on the podcast. You can cheap out on a lot of clamps - but definitely not Quick-Grip type. I’ll be checking this one out.
May 17th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
I like the sound of the spring closing mechanism. Could be useful to try. Does the spring look like it could ever come out or get kinked, causing a total tool failure?
May 17th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Also, what is the clamping strength like? It looks like you could put a mean grip on something with it. That’s my biggest complaint with my current grip clamps (blue and grey, not Irwin, can’t remember the name though) is that you really can’t get a good drip with them.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Randy: The spring mechanism lays flat in a groove along the bar, and it rolls up into an enclosure, so I’d say total failure seems pretty far out — a good thing. We did a quick clamping test, but our rig isn’t really strong enough to give us a good comparison test so we didn’t write about it. Just from a “feel” perspective, I’d say it’s pretty powerful. Hopefully we’ll put together a better test rig for this soon and we can give you some finite data.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
So the spring is kinda like a tape measure?
Figured out the name of my current grip clamps. Wilton. Looked nice in Lowes and had a slightly different design. You just can’t get enough squeeze on the handle to get any more than a moderate grip with them though. They’re fine for light duty applications though, and what I grab first probably 75% of the time.
http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-60912-Multi-Grip-Clamp-Spread/dp/B00062NF6S/ref=sr_1_5/002-0492539-2910447?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1179437698&sr=1-5
May 18th, 2007 at 4:11 am
While the spring looks like it’s away from physical damage, I worry about it getting covered in paint, varnish, glue drips and other such workshop norms.
May 18th, 2007 at 8:43 am
Where is the video!!?? =)
In the podcast, you guys talked about a video. Lets see Chuch swinging that bad boy open like a gunslinger!
Tim
May 25th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
[...] The friendly folks at Stanley gave us a call to point out an issue with our review of their FatMax Xtreme auto trigger clamp. Apparently it does work as a spreader. Our bad. [...]