Lee Celtic
Well-known member
Ok so I don't know what you guys consider as Vintage.. this clamp was invented and made almost exactly 30 years ago..Hope thats old enough..
A small engineering company called Turton Engineering started making them in 1986 and as a student I was lucky enough to be able to visit the Cabinet Maker show at Alexandra Palace in London the same year.. Unfortunately the firm dissolved a few years later and the Crab Clamp was no more.
I actually met the designer and took a chance by buying one at a cost of £19. (a year later I was earning £30 a week so it was expensive)
I used it for years as it was so handy around the workshop.. the design has more to it than meets the eye.. The 7" opening cantilever helps to apply a lot of pressure to the work piece through the revolving jaws. The jaws themselves are special too, they revolve on a pin giving four different surfaces for clamping . they can be configured to grip pipe side by side either in line or across the clamp and also clamp two pipes at 90 degrees using small V's cut into the jaws for welding. One face of each jaw has a small hole for a soft jaw insert.
The only thing that let the thing down was the power coating.. if it chipped the rest rusted off in weeks.
The one I owned had an engine block fall on it bending it a little so it didn't function but today I found a replacement I can now copy for my own use. Whats more is I got it for 50 pence as the seller didn't know what he had.
A small engineering company called Turton Engineering started making them in 1986 and as a student I was lucky enough to be able to visit the Cabinet Maker show at Alexandra Palace in London the same year.. Unfortunately the firm dissolved a few years later and the Crab Clamp was no more.
I actually met the designer and took a chance by buying one at a cost of £19. (a year later I was earning £30 a week so it was expensive)
I used it for years as it was so handy around the workshop.. the design has more to it than meets the eye.. The 7" opening cantilever helps to apply a lot of pressure to the work piece through the revolving jaws. The jaws themselves are special too, they revolve on a pin giving four different surfaces for clamping . they can be configured to grip pipe side by side either in line or across the clamp and also clamp two pipes at 90 degrees using small V's cut into the jaws for welding. One face of each jaw has a small hole for a soft jaw insert.
The only thing that let the thing down was the power coating.. if it chipped the rest rusted off in weeks.
The one I owned had an engine block fall on it bending it a little so it didn't function but today I found a replacement I can now copy for my own use. Whats more is I got it for 50 pence as the seller didn't know what he had.
