# Universal Clamp from Dubuque, Iowa



## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

Nice surprise..I had forgotten that I ordered a set a week or so ago. I'm sitting around in the 100 degree heat in the shop and the Mrs comes out to ask if I had been messing around the front porch.. Nope! It's a long box with my name on it. (Total blank from me!) So I opened it and VIOLA! My Universal Clamps from Dubuque! 
Wow! These things are about a gazillion times better than the junk from HF even though the HF junk works, but they just don't hold a candle to the Universal Clamps . Ok, maybe not a gazillion, but the difference is striking. The main difference is a couple things. First, the rails. 







Guess which one is the Universal and which is HF...Not a tough one. 








Then there's the finishing of the surface of the working parts. HF's seem slapped together and cheaply painted while the Universal's look like someone actually made them one at a time.







There's absolutely no catching on the rails or the acme threads. Universal wins hands down except for the price, but considering I usually only buy a few at a time when I need them and not by the truck load I can cough up the extra bucks every now and then for the Universal Clamps from Dubuque and I won't have to beef up the rails with chunks of wood.

Oh yeah, I forgot the attachment for 45° angles.. They just slide right over the clamp pads. Easy peasy!








Now that I'm finally getting organized I'll need a special place just for the attachment or I'll, you know..lose em..

Sadly the folks from Dubuque are aging so these things are limited. I fully expect that within a few years they'll no longer be made and the price will jump 10 fold or more..


----------



## _Ogre (Feb 1, 2013)

just put them over on that workbench >


----------



## AwesomeOpossum74 (Jan 27, 2017)

Yes, they are awesome clamps. Only thing I like about the HF clamps over them is the sliding bar vs. the butterfly screws. The butterflies on the Dubuques are very nice, but they get in the way if you're clamping close together. Would be nice if the other style was an option on the Dubuques.


----------

