MagTab Welding Magnet Review - Welding Clamps, Welding Magnets, welding tools

What is the one thing a welder can never have too many of?

Vise grips?

Grinders?

Hammers?

How about WELDING CLAMPS?

If I were to count all my welding clamps including C clamps, Vise grip Tongs, pipe clamps, and Pony clamps, I easily own over 50 of them…and you know what?

I wouldn’t mind having a few more.

Welding clamps and welding magnets can speed up fabrication or at least make it more fun.

This page is about a small tool made by StrongHand Tools called the “MagTab” welding magnet.

You may remember an earlier page where I wrote about stronghand portable welding tables.

I talked about how StrongHand Tools makes all kinds of clamping devices as well as tables, toggle clamps, welding magnets, and many other innovative ways of holding metal for fabricating and welding.

Well, Someone at the Stronghand company saw the page and sent me this little MagTab welding magnet so that I could try it out and let them know what I thought about it.…

I have to say, I really like the stuff from StrongHand Tools.

Why? Because they market to the average Joe Welder/Fabricator who needs quality tools that are not cost prohibitive.

Good stuff that works …what more could you want?

When I first got this thing in the mail, I will admit...I thought it was going to cost 25 or 30 dollars...

And I thought ..."no welder I know is going to pay that much for a little clamp".

I was surprised to learn they only cost about 15 bucks...

If you didnt see the earlier page on StrongHand Tools, here is the video...

What is a Magtab Welding Magnet?

So just What is a MagTab?

The Magtab is a small welding magnet clamp that holds small tabs in place for tacking and welding. Let me state the obvious here before I forget...Magnets only work on stuff that is magnetic...like carbon steel.

It wont work very well on aluminum or stainless unless you are pretty innovative.

Everyone knows how welding clamps help to align pieces for tack welding but sometimes clamps take too much time to use…especially for small tabs that don’t require much force to hold in place.

So what most of us welders wind up doing is holding the tab with one hand and tacking with the other.

Does that work? Most of the time, it works for me, but sometimes, I have to break it off , grind the weld, and do it all over again because the tab moved on me before I could hit with a tack...and don’t even pretend that has never happened to you…

And when you are tig welding, holding with one hand means you have to try to fuse it without filler wire...

And even that works ok sometimes. But when you have a little gap, it doesn’t work very well.

It reminds me of a 4130 tubing project I tig welded a while back that had a whole bunch of tabs on it. This little booger would have really come in handy for that job.

The MagTab welding clamp magnet holds small tabs in place easily.

The swivel feet automatically align themselves with the shape you are welding …whether its pipe, square tubing, or flat bar… and the magnets are strong enough to hold stuff in place without any trouble.

I even tried holding a huge ball bearing that weighed about a pound….

…and it held.

The one thing that impressed me was that it was fast and easy to use.

I like that.

I really like stuff that is simple and easy.

In fact, using a MagTab is probably faster than holding and tack welding the parts by hand. That is something you can’t always say about welding clamps… even though they are really necessary sometimes, welding clamps usually slow you down a little bit,

Usually when something is better, it is not faster…..and if its faster, it’s not better.

Have you ever heard this saying on a shop sign?…

”We do 3 types of work…good, fast, and cheap. Pick any 2.

If it is good and fast, it won’t be cheap…

if it’s fast and cheap, it won’t be good,

and if it’s good and cheap, it won’t be fast.

When a tool comes along that makes things faster AND better, that is surely a good thing.

Especially if it only costs about 15 bucks.

So I am going to have to give 2 thumbs up on the MagTab by Stronghand Tools. I plan on using mine for years to come.

exit the magtab welding magnet page and go main welding tips

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