Customer Reviews

All in One Clamp U-99 99-Inch Ultra Wide Grip Clamp with Double T-Track

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I can not begin to describe how well this clamping tool guide works. It is easily adjustable to clamp on any width work piece but, obviously, this one was made to rip 8' sheet material. The guide has three levels of clamping force but the first level is enough to secure the guide so that it will not move during ripping.

This guide absolutely does not bow to the side as you rip. You can press the base plate of your circular saw tight against the side of this guide and rip away. For the first time I can rip a full 8' sheet of plywood and the cut is consistent width the full length. This is virtually impossible to do with cheaper guides like the thin-gauge, two-piece one from Johnson.

This guide has two t-slot tracks as well so you can design jigs and stops to attach to the guide. I purchased the optional 9"x12" HDPE saw plate for circular saws that runs in the T-track of the guide but I haven't used it yet. I don't know if I will ever have the need to. If the guide doesn't bow sideways, and believe me, this one doesn't, you can get a straight cut without the need of linking your circular saw to the guide with the optional plate.

The guide has slots that allow you to insert optional ruled scales (SAE or metric). However, I have purchased these and they are no good. The measuring scale is made of thin plastic laminated on paper and is off by 1/8" within 48". See my review for the "All in One Clamp I-99 99-Inch Scale (English)" product. This applies to all the E. Emerson all in one measurement scales that I have purchased. However, the extra wide surface between the T-slots on the Ultra Wide clamp leaves plenty of room to add a quality adhesive backed measurement tape such as those sold for table saw rip fence rails. I plan to purchase one of those to enhance my Ultra Wide.

This clamping tool guide is well worth the price and I'm glad I finally made myself try it. Do yourself a favor, through that cheap two-piece tool guide away, or that not quite straight piece of scrap lumber and buy one of these. You'll be glad you did when you start getting really straight cuts from your circular saw.

I also have the 54" Ultra Wide, the 50" standard width and the 36" standard width. See my reviews for those too.

You could buy a straight piece of aluminum angle at any metal supplier and get a straight cut. What really makes the difference with the U99 is the clamping mechanism. The jaws at each end have an agressive grip that doesn't budge, and there's no slack to mess up your careful layout. I have a couple of shorter clamps (not Emersons) and they have a little play in one end or the other. With the U99 I've found that a spring clamp is needed at one end for set up just because it's so long. I spring clamp the free end on the mark then line up the other end and lock the Ultra All-in-one in place.

Can you make something that works as well? You probably can, but I prefer to spend my time making things rather than making jigs. Also the shop made circular saw fences I've seen only work with one saw, I have three. The U99 is ready to use right out of the 9 foot long box.

I now have three of these clamps. This one got broken by the carrier in shipping. I figure it got slammed on the end pretty hard as these are pretty tough. The blue ends are made of reinforced plastic and while durable with the right amount of force can be broken.

Nonetheless, I called the company and they shipped out FedEx the replacement part. They spent enough time on the phone so they were sure I knew how to disassemble and put back together. Pretty easy actually. Now thats customer service and support.

I sometimes use two of these together side by side when routing out dado's. They adjust easily and solidly clamp to most any size wood or table. I bought this to cut down a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood to manageable size and also to clamp onto my work bench when the need arises. This is solid enough you learn to rely on using the clamp when working on projects.

There is no bend and you cannot find a better straight edge on the market.

I just added the wide jaws and would recommend those as well. It just adds a little extra.

Highly recommend the product and the company too!

I am a general contractor and do many of the smaller jobs as well. I have owned a competitor's 48" brand for years and love using it on the bottom of doors for a straight cut. I had been looking for an 8'version so I could use it to rip down the width of doors plus plywood accurately. When I ran across this, I was excited and purchased it immediately. I have used it on several applications and I can tell you it is worth it's weight in gold. I must say that there is a slight glitch in it's use but once you understand it, it is not a problem. The slight glitch is that sometimes you have to "reset" the locking mechanism with your finger to re-establish the locking ability. Once you figure this out, it's not a problem. I mention this for two reasons, first to save you the frustration you will feel when you think it's not holding properly. Perhaps this is a design flaw because my name brand 48" does not have this issue. Secondly, I noticed that the only "1" star rating so far on this product mentions this complaint. Even with the need to snap the locking pin in place from time to time, I am so pleased with what this guide does for me. It is well worth the cost because it does get the job done. I just wish they would offer a case to hold it for storage. Hope this helps....

The aluminum had some slight dings from shipping. Not serious, but I needed to scrape them smooth.

The adjustable clamp is oddly not intuitive and did not seem to work the first time I tried the product. But I flipped the rail over and it was obvious how to set or release the clamp. Once I had it snugged against the far end of a sheet of 4 by 8 birch ply, the locking (fixed) end clamp did the job.

Works and works well and the 99" length makes the last bit of a cut easier to keep straight.

I also bought the option saw base-- can't use it. It is too small for many of the newer pro-style saws, has the holes in useless places and the worst instructions I've seen in quite awhile. They show the saw installed for use with motor side away from the part the rides the rail: that is as if the saw guide was to be used to the right of the cut. The very tiny photo shows the plate installed so that the guide rail is to the left of the cut. In either case the right side of my saw base would be almost at the edge of the plastic base, leaving no room for screws. The instructions tell you that if you have to custom drill holes that they should be counter sunk on the bottom of the saw base, but the ones that are pre-drilled are counter sunk on the top side. Who knows.

Anyway the reviewers who complain about the clamps probably did not take the extra time to figure out how to "lock" the adjustable clamp before tightening the fixed clamp. Good product --but no instructions are by definition not good instructions.

As an experienced cabinet builder I was hoping to find a nice, fast, strait edge for "on the job" type of cuts using a circular saw. This item is great the first couple of times but after prolonged use, (in my case one week) the bar underneath starts to get little grooves marked on it and then you can't slide the clamps easily. I have this one as well as the shorter one for 48" and they both do the same thing. How it works is there is a bar that runs the length of the guide underneath and it has a carriage that rides on this bar with three steel plates that are at an angle to the bar. When you push in the plastic clip at the back it "preloads" these metal plates and they get at more of an angle to the bar. When you fold down the lever at the end this pulls the bar through the angled metal plates and they catch and clamp on the bar. The bar appears to be made out of chrome plated steel and after very few uses you start to get grooves on the bar and even when you pull the plastic "slide" at the end of the bar to release the clips and have the lever all the way up you still can't slide the carriage back and forth easily as it catches in all these grooves. This adds way to much time to the setup. Also my carriage broke within two weeks of having it. The job I was at I had to cut in the garage and the temp was about 40 degrees, I don't know if this contributed to the plastic breaking or not but I don't feel this is a quality product by any stretch of the imagination.

The bottom line,

If you are a homeowner and will use it very little and have all the time in the world this will be fine for you.

If you plan to use it more that a few times or expect it to be a fast setup forget it.

It does make a nice strait cut and does not bow, now I just clamp it with my clamps and don't use the built in one.

Also the clamps that come with it are too small, not to clamp well, but to get a good initial alignment. Go for the bigger clamps.

This clamp is the best tool I ever owned. Fantastic tool makes your cutting work so precise and accurate. My God where was I before buying this clamp. I can't add more go ahead and grab one if you need to cut sheets of 8 feet or smaller you wont regret it. By the way this clamp is NOT as heavy as it looks.

I own these clamps in all of the sizes offered. I've never had a problem with the clamping mechanism like some have stated. Keeping the locking rails clean via compressed air or at the least, brushing the rails off with a shop bench brush works quite fine. The U99 is the most used in the shop for cutting plywood and marking up long stock. The shorter clamp rails make excellent router and saw guides as well. After owning these for over a year, I would highly recommend them. Unfortunately, my neighbors love them too!

I bought the 99" U-series clamp guide so I could rip down 4x8 plywood for garage cabinetry. I also bought the 'wide jaw' accessory. These are metal pieces that attach to the face of the clamping jaws - you can then attach a 1" x 1" scrap of wood to each clamp. The storypole gets cut on your 1st pass & then shows your saw offset (usually 5" or 1.5"). Line up the storypole, double-check your measurements and cut.

The guide helped give me very straight cuts through 3/4" plywood. I was making several cuts and wanted to maintain parallel / square cuts. I had no issues with the clamp bowing due to my pressing the saw against the guide - impressive.

Clamping force
The guide has 2 clamp settings and can clamp very hard onto your board. 1 sheet of plywood was bowed away from the guide. No surprise - the clamp made the bowing worse when I clamped down. I had a helper walk behind me and press the guide down with 1 hand. If I were alone, I would have flipped the plywood over.

Wide jaw acessory
I don't advise using the wide jaws without wood attached as they are a bit slippery. The standard jaw grips well. I used the wide jaw with storypole on my first setup and never took it off - it was a great help in speeding up setup.

Board width / working space
The clamp is about 4" wide, and my circular saw offset is 1.5" on one side and 5" on the other. That means your board needs to be wide enough to account for this space. The smallest board I ripped was 12" wide. I need to rip some 1x8 poplar... which I'll be doing on my uncle's table saw.

Overall - this is a great tool.

If you need to work with 4ft by 8ft stock or slightly larger stock you need to look at this tool. this tool lets you make straight cuts in the material so you can fit you table saw. The only problem I have is finding place to store the guide when not in use.