C-CLAMP repair

[Jack345]

I have some "C" clamps that are missing the pad on the ball joint.Is there a repair for C clamps ? these are about 6" opening jaw. Thanks.

 

[Ken-Pa]

Take a nut that'll slide over the ball & a flat piece of steel plate . Weld the nut to the flat plate . Then slip the nut over the ball & tack weld the hole closed a little so the nut won't fall off the ball .Then you can cut the flat steel piece round or square to fit your needs . It worked for me .Just make sure to use no less than 1/4" plate tho .HTH ! God bless, Ken

 

[Bspauld]

McMaster /Carr has repair kits for C clamps,the pad and circlip

 

[Crem]

Nice hint Ken. Thanks.

 

[Ken -Pa]

You"re quite welcome . Just be careful not to weld the nut to the screw of the clamp tho . Another way you could try is to take a nut, larger than the ball size , split it with a cut-off disc , then bevel the cut edges of both pieces so that you can fillet weld them back together around the screw above the ball . That way you will not have a bunch of weld close to the screw & ball . Then weld the nut to the piece of 1/4 plate . I"ll have to try that one myself next time I need too .Let me know how it turns out & maybe send me a pics . I hope it works out for you . God bless, Ken

 

[Crem]

Ken, I tried out your idea on a clamp today and it worked out pretty well. I found a 5/8" nut with a flange on it. I then found a half nut with a little smaller diameter than the clamp ball and cut it in half so that I could get it behind the ball. I welded the half nut back together and then to the larger nut. I then screwed a threaded rod in the large nut to fill the hole and sawed it off flush. The inside end of the threaded rod also presses against the ball when tightening. The nuts and threaded rod are shown in the picture.

 

[Anonymous-0]

A fillet weld is a weld made where 2 pieces are usually at a 90 deg. angle like if you were fabbing a special size of angle iron from 2 pieces of flat bar. If you took an L shape, a fillet weld would go on the inside corner. A weld with beveled edges is usually a groove weld. Dave

 

[Brian G. NY]

I made a similar repair years ago. It was a large C-clamp and I used a "Ny-Lock" nut.
I burned the nylon out and was able to pean the upper part of the nut over the ball to keep it from falling off. I think it was a 1/2 nut and I ran a short piece of threaded rod up into the nut, welded and ground it flat. I even went to the trouble of counter sinking the end of the rod where it contacted the ball to get a better fit. Never did weld a pad on it but it worked great on steel as it was.

 

[Jack345]

I used a mag wheel lug nut and a control valve. cutting both off and welding to make a new pad. Will heat and crimp end so does not fall off.