Lock Grip Welding Wrench Clamp (9")

Welding is a three-handed job done with two hands. The parts have to be aligned, held against each other and held against gravity, while one hand holds the torch and the other holds the filler or steadies the work. Something has to do the holding, and clamps that need a hand to keep them shut are no use at all. A locking clamp is set once with the adjusting screw, snapped shut with a squeeze, and then holds under great pressure with nobody touching it — which is why locking pliers and welding grew up together.

The wrench-style jaw profile on this pattern is shaped to sit against the work and hold flat stock, angle and section squarely rather than pinching at a point, and its slimmer head gets into corners and joints where a bulkier clamp fouls on the very seam you are trying to reach.

The mechanism is the same over-centre toggle used across the family: the screw sets the opening, squeezing the handles drives the linkage past its pivot so it locks itself, and the release lever frees it.

Nine inches is a handy size for this work — enough grip for structural section, small enough to place several around a joint. It is steel plate material, nickel plated.

The buyers are welders and fabrication shops, structural steel workers, vehicle body and chassis repairers, gate, grille and railing makers, plant and machinery maintenance, and hardware dealers supplying welding trades.

Three practical points. Buy more than one. Fabrication is held together by several clamps at once, and a single clamp holds a point rather than an alignment. Keep the clamp back from where the arc will be — spatter welded into a toggle linkage is what stops these working, and heat conducted into the mechanism does it no good either. And check the alignment after clamping and before tacking, because clamping pressure moves things, and a joint tacked out of square has to be cut apart again.

Keep the screw thread and pivots free of spatter and lightly oiled. Ask us on WhatsApp for a price, or for several with C-clamp lock grips alongside.