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July 8, 2011 7:27 p.m. bravenrace SuperDork

belteshazzar wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:

ransom wrote:

bravenrace wrote:

And I'll add that in our testing, we found that the sizing was so critical that even two different brands of hose with slightly different diameters could warrant two different clamp sizes.

I would love to find where to get those second-best worm clamps with springs and rolled edges. I think that's the right side of the trade-off for the home shop containing a variety of hose sizes...

Summit should have them. I've seen them many places.... usually any decent place that carries T-bar clamps (my personal favorite) will have the sprung worm gears as well.

Napa has them, and the t-bar ones, and stainless worm gear clamps that also have a stainless screw, and the tool to remove spring clamps before you put them in an envelope and mail them to bravenrace.

Funny. But somehow I think the engineers at all the heavy truck and off road equipment companies know a little more about these than any of us. Don't use them if you don't like them, but there's no question that they are the best clamp available.
July 8, 2011 7:53 p.m. Hal Dork

pete240z wrote:

Corbin Clamps.

I prefer these over the new flat spring types and definitely over any of the screw type( I tend to overtighten those all the time). It doesn't hurt that I have accumulated at least 4 different pliers over the years to use on them.
July 8, 2011 9:26 p.m. tuna55 SuperDork

bravenrace wrote:

but there's no question that they are the best clamp available.

You continually refuse to accept that we may have different definitions of "best" because of which qualities we find important for each of us individually.
July 8, 2011 10:40 p.m. ansonivan Dork

Quick release o-ring connection. Expensive and worth it.
July 8, 2011 11:42 p.m. Streetwiseguy Dork

ansonivan wrote:

Quick release o-ring connection. Expensive and worth it.

Quick release oring connection...with band clamps holding the hose to the fitting. The only justification for those types of connections is to allow assembly lines to cut down on emplyee caused warranty claims. A few years of dirt and crud in the (usually) invisible release tabs and you are screwed. Then you are stuck with trying to clamp a hose to a fitting that wasn't designed to be clamped to.

To the OP- With the right tools, the spring clamps are fine. They are not as convenient in some cases as gear clamps, but they really do work better.
July 8, 2011 11:50 p.m. ansonivan Dork

Unless something more clever turns up you'll be stuck with this injection molded bastard. Better make peace now or start riding a bike.
July 9, 2011 12:52 a.m. Trans_Maro Dork

ditchdigger wrote: What I hate most about worm gear clamps is the excess band that sticks out of them. They all end up as little blades in the engine bay ready to slice open my hand/arm when it slips from a ratchet or something.

Umm..

Fold the end under with a pair of duckbill pliers.

Looks cleaner and no slashing later.

I do it on my customers cars.

Shawn

P.S. Forget the dorky opinions about hose clamps, I've got you all beat.

The screws on my electric outlet covers are all clocked.

Now that's dorkdom.
July 9, 2011 1:04 a.m. ransom HalfDork

bravenrace wrote:

Funny. But somehow I think the engineers at all the heavy truck and off road equipment companies know a little more about these than any of us. Don't use them if you don't like them, but there's no question that they are the best clamp available.

I conceded that they might be the best. But they're only the best if you have and use the exact right size. And as you pointed out, that's not easy since buying a different brand of hose may ruin the fit for a given application. I'd have to keep 50 of them on hand to cover everything from vacuum lines to radiator hoses at every size increment I might run into.

I suspect the wrong size spring clamp is much worse than a worm drive clamp.

My point was only that while they might be best for production lines, they're not suitable for my ad-hoc shop, except where I'm R&Ring something and can keep a proven clamp and hose combination.

As a matter of genuine curiosity, do you know how to determine when a hose has let a spring clamp go too slack? Is there a spec for that, so you know when to go to the next size smaller or lareger spring clamp?
July 9, 2011 1:59 a.m. rotard Reader

Eh, how re-usable are they, anyway? I'd imagine that you screw up the spring rate the first time you open the little bastard up to remove a hose.
July 9, 2011 7:05 a.m. belteshazzar SuperDork

that^^^
July 9, 2011 9:06 a.m. littleturquoiseb HalfDork

belteshazzar wrote:

... and the tool to remove spring clamps before you put them in an envelope and mail them to bravenrace.

lol does not do justice to this quip ... I actually almost dropped my laptop and fell off the throne while reading ...

IAADMLAFOTTWR?

Anyway thanks to bravenrace for the lesson on why spring clamps never work for me ... I never have the right size on my non original hose or the right tool in my trunk size box to make it happen anyway, so after I swore at it's constant clamping force and bent it into a pretzel with my channel locks, I can curse the manufacturer for saving pennies and time on the line with it's theoritically perfect, lab tested, never going to go back on when I'm broke down on the side of the road anyway when the 5pack of worm gear clamps always will have one that works for less than a dollar.
July 9, 2011 10:20 a.m. pete240z SuperDork

Trans_Maro wrote:

The screws on my electric outlet covers are all clocked.

I did the same thing in my house. Styx http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNYKxiRJ2LA

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