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4.5
These clamps are seriously heavy-duty - best I've ever seen - and they work great with 1/0 welding cable, though it is a very tight squeeze trying to get a cable that large to push through the built-in strain relief springs in the handle and past the clamp spring. No way would I have been able to do it with a 2/0 cable or larger. When they say "For use with cable AWG:1/0, 1, 2" they mean it. I'm sure had I used a 1awg or 2awg cable it would have been a whole lot easier but I was looking to make the beefiest set of cables I could get away with.A couple notes about assembly. You'll want to be sure to follow the directions that can be found on the back of the package (I'll try to provide a photo of them) and insert the cable though the opened clamp first before stripping the end and attaching the jaw. To be able to do so you'll have to secure the clamp in an open position. FWIW I used a ~13" piece of paracord with the ends tied together into a loop using a fisherman's knot and that gave me a loop sized so that as I squeezed the clamp open I could make an extra wrap on the side of the handle opposite where the cable goes though to make use of the little notches so that the cord would stay in place better and not slip off. I'll try to post an image of it so hopefully you might be able to see what I mean. All that said, you might just find it easier to use something else to hold your clamps open like duct tape or whatnot.When it came to crimping the jaws to the cable the instructions say to use "pliers or a vise". Well, I used a 12" set of channellocks (tongue & groove pliers) to start the bend on the end of each tab but I have to say it wasn't easy. I seriously doubt I would have been able to complete the crimp with just the pliers alone. Perhaps if I had a 16" or 20" set I might have been able to? I dunno? The jaws are thick tough little buggers to bend. Once the tabs were folded over just a tad with just enough room to still slip the stripped cable end in there I then completed the crimp using a bench vise, and even then it wasn't easy. After getting a good solid crimp connection I then used a propane torch and soldered the connection.Lastly, securing the jaws to the clamps was also a bit of a pain to do. The instructions' step 3 & 'figure #4' doesn't really show it very well. After pulling the cable back into place so that the hole in the jaw lines up with the hole in the clamp I pressed it firmly into place using the channellocks. When doing so I positioned a rag between the pliers and the handle so I didn't mar up the epoxy insulating finish. I suppose if you used a cable size smaller than the 1/0awg that I did the crimped end might fit down into the clamp a little more easily, but Only after pressing the jaws firmly into place like that was I able to get the little screw with the plastic sleeve on it to protrude enough through the handle to catch a thread with the provided nut. Then it's a bit of a fight to get it to tighten up. The acorn nut will sink itself into the hole in the handle while you tighten the screw with a flathead screwdriver. Once you get to the point where you are no longer able to keep anything on the nut to keep it from turning then you're done.Well, I hope I didn't scare anyone away making it seem like it's not worth the effort, because it certainly was. I now have a set of cables even better than my last 25' 1awg set which served me well for more than two decades before they were reportedly 'borrowed' (without asking me first) by a family member and never returned. As long as I can manage to not let something like that happen again with these I suspect they will be the last set I ever need and should serve me well in every foreseeable situation.I hope you found this review helpful. If anyone has any questions or better suggestions that what I provided please add a comment.
