Boys and Girls,

 

While I’m on my Bessey bandwagon, let’s toss in my opinion of their Parallel clamp extenders.

There’s not much preamble I can add since I originally published this at LJ on Feb 6, 2022 other than in that 18 or so months, these bloody things have gone up by 35.8% here in Australia.  Procrastinate at your own expense. 

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Bessey - K-body clamp extender (Rating: 4)

Boy and Girls,

I hate reviewing products that I haven put through the wringer, however, this was too big to put in the laundry, let alone the washing machine.

While I needed them desperately a few weeks ago, it has been on back order for over 3 months and just arrived yesterday (circa 2022-02-03). Consequently, the project it could have been tested on is completed and I can only go through the motions of evaluating it without the appropriate real life stresses (other than on me).
This adds weight to my philosophy of buying in case I might need it in the future… "have and not need rather than need and not have".

I am a fan of the Bessy K Body clamps and there's only two of my pipe clamps that manage to diminish the size of my longest Besseys. Long clamps are a blessing but can be a pain in the arse for small jobs.
If you don't have the short ones, the long ones tend to overbalance if not planned and laid out properly,

and the last thing you need is an impromptu oopsie during a quicker than expected "dry", during glue up.

I have a reasonable collection of short clamps, however, if you're lacking, I would recommend buying longer Bessey Revo KREV clamps or upgrade your K-Body REVO with the Variable Jaw so you can simulate the short clamps… though the protruding rods can more than tickle your midriff if you don't watch your step… and I have both… generous midriff and wobbly steps.

If you are the proud owner of a collection of K-Bodies these extenders can give you a longer clamp than those available for mega shekels… currently, the longest Bessey K Body on the market is 2.44m (98")... if you can find them.

At this point I will again emphasis that I have not conducted a proper field test, and dsb1829 has done a more in-depth review of these extenders in use. His review was done in 2008 and while I doubt the design has changed/improved, I am posting this review more as a head-up for newbies that may not search through the archives or those too old to remember or too proud to fess up to buying the cheapo alternatives.
He gave it 3 starts on the basis that they went out of parallel, however, I was more generous with my 4 as I feel that some error may be introduced due to the physical length of the extended clamp rather than the extension mechanism, which is what I'm reviewing… well, hopefully that's my out in case some obnoxious member decides to litigate against me in the future.

Back to my story…

I stuck a couple of K Bodies together and they felt solid…

The connectors "top" were flush with the bars,

so you can comfortably rest the job on the bars for support.

I then grabbed my longest plank, 240mm x 19mm x 2.4m pine and tried some pressure test,

My knuckles turned white, the board creaked, but the conjoined Besseys held their form. The board did bow, however, I put that down to the length of the board… and in honor of me.
 
Again, I can't vouch for any distortions, however, clamping along the thick length, the bars stayed parallel and "kissed" the board,

 along it's full length.
I didn't think of measuring or even looking for any ° displacement from parallel of the heads and only discovered "that potential" issue after reading dsb1829 review… my bad, but then again, SWMBO insists I'm bad.

Consequently you can create long clamps for a lot less shekels than the purchase price tags of the long ones… Just don't combine them all and leave yourself short of shorts and soil your shorts.
In the future when I get a chance to conduct a proper field test, I have this psycho feeling in my left big toe that I might promote these extenders to a 5 star rating.

If you're a convert, I'm not trying to be nasty, but don't be dumb and only buy one extender… one clamp (even long ones) can leave you lop sided.

Had to share this with my hoard of 2 subscribers on YouTube, so feel free to take advantage of the fumblings of a lame duck as he attempts to visually inform the nescient of this product.

Keep safe, jocks... and your jocks, safe!