Irwin Industrial Tools 512QC546DT 12-Inch Quick-Grip Bar Clamp

by Irwin

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Irwin Industrial Tools 512QC546DT 12-Inch Quick-Grip Bar Clamp with Bonus 6-Inch Mini Bar Clamp is a 2 piece set for small clamping applications. Irwin Invented the Quick-Grip one-handed bar clamp over a decade ago and reinvented the process of clamping. The 12-Inch Quick-Grip bar clamp has a patented pistol grip design that enhances comfort and ease of use. This clamp can be converted from a clamp to a spreader with the Quick-Change latch. The Mini clamp also has a patented pistol grip design that enhances comfort and ease of use. The quick release trigger allows for fast and easy release and repositioning.

Product Description

Versatile quick-grip bar clamps are ideal for clamping or spreading. Quick advance trigger moves jaws twice as fast as standard clamps. Head or tail can be used anywhere on the bar for ultimate positioning. Heat treated steel bar with resin head and tail provide lightweight strength and durability. Clamp pressure: 250 lbs. Throat: 3 1/4in. U.S.A.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 2 x 11 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B000022452
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Item model number: 512QC546DT
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,601 in Home Improvement (See Top 100 in Home Improvement)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Clamp in the Market!, September 14, 2000

By 

yuvak tuladhar (Richmond , CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Irwin Industrial Tools 512QC546DT 12-Inch Quick-Grip Bar Clamp (Tools & Home Improvement)

I went out and bought a 12" 512QC Quick-Grip Bar clamp/spreader just a few days ago and felt I should have bought it a long time ago. I can do most of the clamping with one hand now. I am not a professional but this tool let me do my work much x faster. The grip is very strong. In one click you can loosen it and the other handle on top tightens it. The Rubber grips protects wood from being damaged. You don't need to insert anything between wood and the grip. I want to buy the bigger length ones when the need arise. Also this is very lightweight and strong. I think every wood working enthusiast or pro should have it

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most popular size and most frequently used, February 24, 2003

By 

Bob Feeser "MillCrafters.com" (Springfield, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Irwin Industrial Tools 512QC546DT 12-Inch Quick-Grip Bar Clamp (Tools & Home Improvement)

The big benefit to these is that you get true mobility out of them. While holding a piece of work, lined up, in one hand, you use these quick grips in the other hand to secure the work. If it slips while clamping, it is still a one handed tool to release it, and reclamp it again. Enables you to maintain a professional flow to your work. I feel awkward when using regular clamps in comparison. They require two hands. You could use a spring clamp to hold it together, then get another clamp to give it a final hold, but the quick grip saves you from having to do that.
Having these clamps in a few different sizes is beneficial as well. Small ones are more frequently used, and don't get in the way. The 33 1/2" is great when you need to hold larger projects together, and you can't effectively use two smaller ones to substitute. Additionally the macro clamps give you deeper jaws for a farther reach, enabling you to use them for securing work, to your radial arm saw table for example. They are fast enough to be used for almost any application. Sometimes I use them to secure work when sanding with a power sander. A couple squeezes and they are on, and one squeeze and they pop off.
After getting the smaller ones, and using them, I immediately order two of the 33 1/2" for larger projects, and for tie downs on equipment, including the drill press, and occasionally the radial arm saw.
Their is a small rubber stopper, which you can readily remove, in order to reverse the end, and make it a spreader as well. Something not needed very often, but difficult to achieve without one of these.
One note is that these have built in rubber pads, that completely cover the metal internal end. That is an advantage when you do not want to mar the wood. That and the fact that you can squeeze these with one hand, creates a mechanism that is easy to use, but not something that you would want to use for strength clamping. As a safety measure, these clamp sufficiently for most operations, but a threaded bar clamp, is stronger. So for those operations where extreme strength is needed, these are not the clamps to use. You sacrifice mountain holding strength for the ease of use. For example if I was using a large bit on the drill press, and drilling into metal, I would clamp it with something more. Even the slightest movement in an operation like that, could cause a snag, sending the piece into movement. If you are using just one of them, at the end of a 24" board, and decide to rout the other end, it will move on you. Securing it with two of them, and it is super tied down. You get my drift.
The big advantage of quick grip clamps, is that they handle wood beautifully, even for glue up operations. Hold workpieces more than securely to do the job in most applications, and are so handy that they deserve more than 5 stars. I would feel lost without them. It is another tool in the must have category.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I think these clamps are only so-so, May 3, 2007

By 

Ernest Bullock (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Irwin Industrial Tools 512QC546DT 12-Inch Quick-Grip Bar Clamp (Tools & Home Improvement)

I am a handyman / residential contractor / woodworker. I own several Irwin QuickGrip clamps in various lengths from 10" to 36". I use them on occasion but, because other clamps I own I perfer, the Irwins get only light use.

I have found the 12" size is useful as an "extra hand" during the temporary positioning and holding of piece work. For example, the short versions are OK for holding boards down for sawing, or checking clearences in a partially constructed assembly.

But, as a class, I have found these clamps to have weak clamping power. I don't believe they can squeese much more than 40 pounds before the head slips on the smooth rail. The result is I can't use them for two common tasks I have: gluing, or forcing warped items into alignment prior to fastening. These Irwins are just are not strong or reliable enough for those jobs.

Another minor, but troublesome, characteristic of the longer versions of these clamps is this: if you hold the clamp vertically head-down and press the release lever the jaw instantaneously drops open and the head hits the floor -- or your foot. Ouch!

So the short 12" size gets my luke-warm endorsement (3 stars). I would not repurchase any longer QuickQrip as there are much better clamps available for similar money.