Customer Reviews

Bessey ZW-1 A-Frame Mobile Clamp Rack (clamps not included)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I wish I could post pics of this thing.

Basically you have 2 ladder type units that get bolted together at the top and are spread apart at the bottom with an X brace. The 2 ladder units were welded so far out of square I had to grind off both top bars and reweld them clamped square to my bench top. After wire brushing, sanding, and painting them I was able to bolt them together. Krylon gloss black looks better than the original paint, anyways.

The hardware bag consists of 4 casters, 3 bolts, and 3 nuts. I tried to assemble the cross brace with the supplied bolt, but the bolt head goes right thru the hole in the brace. Time to dig out some washers. The top holes didn't line up correctly, but I fixed that with a round file. The bolts were barely long enough to get a nut on, but I had to replace them so I had room for 4 of my washers.

This is my first review after shopping at Amazon for years, so usually I let little things slide. I got the unit free when I ordered clamps, otherwise Amazon would have gotten it's first return from me.

P.S. The Bessey sticker on the top was about 20 degrees off level!

The clamp rack that I received was not the one in the picture. What I received was poorly constructed and does not hold the clamps very well.
The old Bessey clamp racks were fine. Do not waste your money.

The rack and the 30 clamps arived without a scratch. Assembly is easy.

However, I would make one modification. Instead of installing the cross supports in an X configuration (across the bottom) as suggested in the instructions, cut them down and use them on the outside, between the two frame halves (like a ladder crosspiece). You will need four extra bolts. The advantage, though, is that you could release one side of each brace and fold the unit up to store it against a wall. Some adjustments to the placement of the clamp hanging rods may be necessary to allow the fold, but that flexibility is already built in with the use of hairpin clips to secure the rods.

Can't wait to take it to the shop and hang up all my other clamps (plenty of room to spare).

The rack is fantastic except for one thing. It stores plenty of clamps on one side but the back side is wasted. It should have the same storage capicity on the back as on the front there fore doubleing it's capacity.

Nice rack And I would agree with one of the reviews about the wasted back space. I took a 5/16" drill bit and drilled holes throught the back bars and slid in 5/16" steel rod which doubled the use and didn't effect the rolling action.

big piece of junk!! Take Your Wife To Dinner for the money !! Bessey better fire the engineers

I would not recommend this clamp rack because the two rack pieces do not fit properly. I tried to assemble the rack and could not get the 2 rack pieces to fit and the 2 screws would not go through the holes. I called the representative and asked if I got two front rack pieces instead of a front and a back. He stated that the rack pieces were "universal" and they should fit. I told him the screws were too short to fit through the holes and he said I'll send you some longer screws. End of telephone conversation. I could not return the rack unit because I had thrown the box away. I won't make that mistake again. I was able to finally assemble the rack unit by moving the front piece to the left about 5 inches and drilling 4 new holes. However, this clamp rack is not worth the cost or the headache of trying to assemble it.

Heavy duty, I wish I had one more.

I received my rack in conjunction with purchasing the Bessey 30 clamp set. The deal was advertised that you get the rack for free. But the 30 clamp set doesn't qualify for free shipping, so I had to pay shipping for the rack, just under $10.

The rack was shipped from Phoenix to my Bay Area home via FedEx ground. When the box arrived, the box was in two pieces, and the FedEx person told my wife that all the parts were there. But there were only three pieces: the front, the back, and a bag of hardware. I knew that I was missing at least the bottom and the instructions. So I went through the forms on the Amazon web site and requested the missing parts. They sent a whole new one, and it turns out that there were no more parts than what I knew were missing. Now for the really strange part --- when FedEx delivered the second package, the driver left the missing bottom pieces on top of the second box. So when I returned the first box, I was able to include a complete set of parts, including the assembly instructions, which I had finished reading.

Now for more weird stuff --- the rack was black, not orange as in the picture. And the back was as high as the front, not shorter as in the picture. And the wheels were mounted further from the corner than were they in the picture. And there was no card on top, which I wasn't really expecting. So most of the changes had neutral value, except for the longer back (better) and the narrower wheel base (worse).

After putting the clamps on the rack, I've discovered that it is difficult to hang clamps from the very top, unless you swing the clamp body toward the rear of the rack along its side. This allows the handle to be inserted in the narrow top opening between the frame and the top rack bar. This also means that only those clamps on either edge of the top opening are accessible. The shortest 6 inch clamps also can have problems --- their body is so short that they become top heavy and don't hang like their longer brethren. You can see this in the picture if you look closely.

The assembly was straight forward, although I did substitute my own 3/8 inch bolt for their 1/4 inch bolt in the bottom "X" because the center holes were the same size as the end holes, the end holes being sized for the 3/8 inch wheel studs.

All in all, it was worth the ten bucks. And with the full back frame, I'm entertaining the idea of adding cross bars to the back frame giving me even more rack space.

Note to Amazon: use better plastic straps that don't break when you try lift the box via the straps. This was the likely root cause of the initial shipment failure.

hi i have just received my set of 30 clamps and have just gone from scratching around looking for something to use to having an abundance of clamps.the packaging was sufficient they all arrived in excellent condition except for a little scratched paint, but oh well. like it says in the title just wait until they reduce the price on these i paid $279.94, but this price is still not as low as it was when i first saw these clamps it was somewhere around $249, so be patient and you will save some money