Reassembling a fixed clamp?

Hi guys,

So I've been looking long and hard (and hopefully not in the wrong places) but I haven't been able to find anything about putting back together a fixed clamp after completely disassembling it.

I took it apart in order to clean the gripper jaws and was just curious about how it worked so I took apart the entire thing and... I can't put it back together in working condition anymore.

I've taken two pictures: one of the clamp in its disassembled form and the other between the working clamp and the non-working one.

Here is the first:



And here is the second:



In the second picture, the right clamp is the non-working one. You can see that the bottom of the clamp head where the bar is protrudes when it's not supposed to. I haven't quite figured out what the problem is but I have spent a good hour on this and I am definitely not the handyman... As reference, I did not have any problems whatsoever with the clamp before my operation on it.

I don't need to fix this urgently as the second-hand machine that I got (an Exthree EX2600) came with 4 fixed clamps for badminton and the previous owner upgraded to the set which I just dismantled. However, these definitely seem to be the better ones so I would love to get this fixed. If not though, I guess I can revert to the other ones and make sure that I no longer mess with things that I am not comfortable with.

In any case, suggestions and comments would be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to tell you about the brand of the clamps as I didn't personally purchase them but looking at pictures on the Internet, they seem to be quite generic compared to the OEM manufacturers (Eagnas, Pro's Pro, etc).

Thanks again, guys!

 

Thought I'd try to ask around first before I disassemble another one in case it also breaks down. I'm sure that the parts go where they're supposed to. The only difference is that when I initially took it apart, there was a sudden snap before all the pieces fell apart. The problem now is that when I try to screw it back together, the clamp jaw refuses to stay apart because of the spring pressure.

The video is a good idea though, will probably do that when I disassemble the other one. Didn't know it'd be so hard to put back together, otherwise I would have never done it

 

I wish I could send it to the US to put it back together but I'm not sure the cost will be worth it. As for the spring... if only that were the case, then it'd be much easier to fix.

I put the parts according to how they were when it was dismantled. The other clamp also shows the spring and that small cylindrical piece in the same places that I put it. Now, I'm just wondering if that spring was compressed at certain angles to achieve the clamping effect but I also don't see how that would work.

Maybe a short clip is in order?

 

Thank you, stradrider! That makes a LOT more sense now, given that I couldn't get the clamp jaws to stay open. I will look around the area where the clamp jaws suddenly snapped and hope they are still around.

 

... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand FIXED!!! Thanks again to everyone for giving ideas, suggestions, and pointing out missing pieces! Guess it really wasn't so hard after all, after figuring out there was a missing piece or two.

 

I'm sure you'll find those missing pieces in no time at all. Practice definitely makes perfect!