Woodpeckers have come out with what they’re calling finest mobile clamp storage solution on the market. Judging by its looks and how much it can hold, I think they’re on-target with that claim.
The new Woodpeckers Clamp Rack-It Mobile is a clamp rack with a ~6 square feet footprint and 500 pound capacity. It’s equipped with Woodpeckers’ clamp racks and can hold as many as 114 woodworking clamps.
There are 4 casters (2 swivel and 2 fixed) and 2 extended handle bars.
The Woodpeckers Clamp-It Mobile is made with 11 gauge cold-rolled steel for the base, and 13 gauge for the arms, uprights, and stretchers. There’s a large shelf on the bottom, and a small shelf on top.
Price: $800 (clamps not included)
One Time Tool Ordering Deadline: 6/17/2019
ETA: 9/30/2019
More Info(via Woodpeckers)
Compare(Rockler Clamp Rack)
Discussion
Let’s talk about the price. $800 is a heck of a lot for a clamp rack. Let’s say it’s fully loaded. There looks to be 4 parallel clamp racks on each side, which each able to hold 6 clamps. So, that’s 48 parallel clamps, valued at around $2000 if you consider the lowest prices for Bessey clamps. Add in a couple (of a couple of dozen) of other woodworking bar clamps, and that’s a lot of value.
The Clamp Rack-It Mobile looks to have ~$360 in their Rack-It storage arms and brackets.
I haven’t seen these racks in person, but I did see the larger wall-mounting racks at a Woodworking Show, and they’re far beefier and heavy-duty than I thought from online photos alone.
Is the Woodpeckers Clamp Rack-It Mobile worth $800? With ~$360 in value going towards the racks (by my estimate), and ~$440 towards the base, I don’t think it’s too unreasonable. They’re not setup to mass produce tools like this. If they’re contracting it out, it’s a one-time contract given the One Time Tool nature of the product. That’s going to add to the cost.
How much would it cost you to build something like this (that also looks like this)?
That said, you must have a lot of clamps for this to be worth it. Sure, you *could* load it up partially, but then you’re spending a lot for functionality and capacity you don’t need.
I own a Rockler Pack Rack clamp rack. Its footprint is ~5.2 square feet, from specs, and it’s a little flimsy. I bought a parallel clamp bar that mounted to the top, and it’s okay. I haven’t added a plywood base or shelves to it yet. At the time of this posting, the Rockler rack is on sale for $135.
I bough the Rockler clamp rack thinking that I could use it in my workshop, and if I didn’t use it very much it’d go into the basement. So far, I don’t have any regrets, but there’s no ignoring that the Woodpeckers is in a whole different league of quality.
Is the Woodpeckers solution worth 6X the current sale price of the Rockler Pack Rack? That depends on the user. For those with bigger workshops? Maybe. For someone who can say they’ve been searching unsuccessfully for a heavy duty mobile clamp rack solution that can hold their dozens of clamps? Yes. For the beginner woodworker, more casual woodworkers, or anyone that has a dozen or two clamps at most? No.
It’s important to remember that Woodpeckers’ One Time Tools aren’t for everyone.
I am tempted to say that maybe Woodpeckers should have dialed back the design a little, for the sake of pricing. But if they made the rack less sturdy, or lowered its capacity, what would be the point? It would then be a little better than existing models, but still considerably pricier.
Size-wise, a 24″ width makes sense, and is in the middle of what’s available in their Clamp Rack-It range. The length is simply the twice the length of their Rack-it system arms and the width of their uprights, which look to be strong and sturdy.
Although the design appeals to me, it offers way too much clamp storage capacity for my needs. But, I can see some potential. The uprights look to have holes for mounting… something. If the footprint was smaller, the Rack-It arms not quite as long, and one side was designed for modular tool and parts storage… I’d find it more personally appealing, but it would still be priced too far above the “just okay” solution I found in Rockler’s rack.
I like store-bought solutions that save me the time and effort of having to build elaborate DIY solutions to common workshop needs. But in this case, given the excessive capacity of the Rack-It Mobile (which is good for bigger workshops, not so much for single users like myself), and the price tag, I see this more as a source of DIY inspiration than as something to add to my shopping list.
I think that the Woodpeckers Clamp Rack-It Mobile looks to be an excellent yet simply designed and adaptable clamp cart. As-shown, it’s holding maybe $2500 in clamps?
As it is, the Clamp Rack-It Mobile is a solution to problems and needs I don’t have. And if I did, I would probably have built my own clamp rack using their Rack-It clamp arms and 80/20 as framing, or construction lumber and plywood if on a tighter budget.
In other words, I think it’s a neat product and of interest to post about, although it’s not something I would personally buy.
I’d like to see Woodpeckers delve deeper into mobile tool storage products. This isn’t something I could use, its high pricing notwithstanding, but maybe their next “what if we…” product might be.
Here’s their promo video:
