2026-09-27 Manfrotto Art. 035 Super Clamp

    This is a Manfrotto Art. 035 Super Clamp. It is relatively cheap, very versatile for reasons that will be explained later, very tough and very well finished.
    There will be a lot of images with this story, as the Super Clamp is a little hard to show in all its beauty.

    In the foreground is one of many specialized studs. It has a normal US ¼” by 20 threads–per–inch tripod thread at the right end, an ⅜ inch European tripod thread on the left. 

    Perhaps we should start with why the stud has the six-sided nut shape on both ends. If you depress that silver rod projecting up from the clamp the stud can be inserted into the clamp so the top is flush with the near side. Releasing the rod allows a very large lock to fill the space between the ends. As a result the stud cannot rotate and cannot come out. There is a second threaded lock below the clamp handle. This “two-lock” fail-safe is similar to hanging lights in a studio or theatre having to have both a clamp to a rail and a secondary chain threaded through the lamp to the rail. 
    But I digress…to rigging, stagecraft and particularly lighting.  Anytime you suspend a light, or any item that if it fell could injure anyone, you have to be absolutely sure it can’t fall. The clamp is so rugged it is extremely unlikely to fail, but anything attached to the clamp must not be able to fail either. This rather unique stud/lock system is industry approved.
    It does lead to some curious work-arounds. There is a stud that allows you to attach two Super Clamps together side-by-side, but to get to 90 degrees to each other, Manfrotto had to issue a special stud that has one of the heads rotated in relation to the other end.
    Anyway, back to the clamp itself.   

    As it comes, the body jaw has a V-profile so it can lock against round pipe. That rather strange plastic insert has two pegs that can be fitted into those two holes at the “V” of the jaw to make the clamp work on parallel sided surfaces (from 0.5 to 2.0 inches thick). 

    When not in place the plastic insert is stowed on the shaft of the lower protruding stud lock.
    
    

    Take the absolute genius of the jaw action. The jaw is a solid casting that is coated with a finish that allows tightening a completely ordinary washer against a cam to close the jaw. 
    

    A very rugged brass bolt and nut makes the action very smooth.
    

    Almost hidden inside the clamp a single spring forces the clamp open as the screw is backed out. So closing clamp action happens as the screw is wound through the nut.     

    Opening the clamp jaws happens as the screw is backed out.
    

    There are limits to the jaws opening. At this point the screw is almost backed out of the nut.
    

    The maximum load  is cast into the Super Clamp. 15 Kg is 33 pounds.
    

    When “many specialized studs” was mentioned earlier in the story they are only part of the “Super Clamp” system. Imagine all the lighting and rigging jobs you could do with access to all these bits!