My drafting table clamp broke mid-sheet and I rethought the whole setup

Last Wednesday the vice clamp on my old table snapped while I was pulling a 36 inch tracing. I grabbed a cheaper ratchet clamp from the hardware store in Dayton just to finish, and honestly it held better than the one I'd babied for a decade. Anyone else had a basic tool outperform their fancy gear after a sudden failure?

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alex_taylor1028d ago

You ever notice how the cheap stuff sometimes just works harder because it doesn't have any fancy moving parts to fail? I had a similar thing happen with a cheap bar clamp I picked up at a garage sale, it outlasted two expensive quick-release clamps that both seized up on me. The key is to check the ratchet teeth for burrs and give the screw a light oil now and then, those cheap ones don't like rust. My rule now is to keep a basic backup within arm's reach, even if it's just a 20 dollar C clamp.