In our shop, we’ve got close to ten pairs of cleco pliers – most of them costing about $7.95 and obtained at various trade shows like AirVenture. I like to have them spread all over the shop so that one is always close at hand. They do migrate however… and for some reason they often end up collecting in clumps on one bench. We’re not sure they aren’t sentient. Dumb little devices, they simply grasp a cleco, compress it, and then release it.
But yesterday we walked up on probably the most complex and awesome set of cleco pliers we’ve ever seen. Made by Planepliers.com, and marketed by Flyboy Accessories, these little babies lock in the compressed position and are released by a bump of the ball of your and. Furthermore, they have a magnet embedded in the jaws to retain the cleco when you aren’t gripping the tool. If you’ve installed a lot of clecos like I have, you know that there are times that you just HAVE to have a cleco “pre-loaded” in the pliers so that you can reach for it after putting some critical part in place. This tool will help you do that.
OK, so it’s awesome, but so is the price. $139 is the MSRP. OK, we’ll wait until you’ve caught your breath… Feel better? OK, so it’s expensive, and no, we didn’t take one home from the show. But let’s be honest, you want one as bad as we do – don’t you?
If we manage to get a pair for the shop, we’ll report back.
I’m always game for a awesome new tool, but $139 for cleco pliers! I guess I’ll just keep using my three cheap pliers I have around the shop.