How to make a DIY grabber using Laundry Clamps, String and Rod

For their mechanics class projects, my daughter was asked to make a home-made grabber tool that could be used in picking waste from the yard as well as help her get things that were way too high in the classroom lockers. So all parents had to display their DIY tactics and I was somehow confused over what to do. I however researched through the Internet looking for Youtube videos on how to make a grabbing tool and finally, I was able to nail it.

Making your Own Reacher Grabber using Laundry Clamps

Being able to make your own DIY grabbing tool has really helped me in a big way. For one, I have been able to save lots of money at the hospice where I work since we do not need to buy those flimsy grabber reacher tools again. At the same time, it has made me learn that I could be quite a handy person. So, what will you need to make your DIY reacher grabber and what is the procedure? Let’s look into that in a jiffy.

Materials needed to make your DIY reacher grabber

  • Two laundry clamps
  • Hollow Metallic or pvc rod 32 inches long
  • String 40 inches long
  • Screws
  • Drill

Procedure to make the grabbing tool

  1. The laundry clamps will be doing most of the works of grabbing so they need to be strong enough
  2. On one end, the grabbing end, screw one of the laundry clamps. On your handle part, fit the other laundry clamp
  3. Put the string into the hollow part of your rod
  4. Have the string connected to the two clamps and tighten it so that once you trigger the grip clamp, the grabbing clamp also grabs whatever is near it.

For a better understanding of the procedure, you can watch this youtube video.

Advantages of the DIY grabber

  • Made from locally available material. I believe everyone can make one of this
  • Cheap since there is nothing you need to buy if you have the materials locally at home. If you bought them, they would also not be very expensive.

Disadvantages of this DIY reacher grabber

  1. Judging from the material used to make it, the Diy grabber that is shown in the youtube video would not be able to pick up so many things. If you use it to pick heavy products, you can be assured of failure and breakages
  2. Cannot be used to pick metallic objects with ease as you would have possibly done with the unger professional grabber since the DIY does not have a magnetic force to pick on things.