Paul, I have one of these portable tilters which I bought used. If it ever had the clamps you mentioned, they were long gone, so I never had any experience using them. I had never used any clamping fixtures with the tilter until last year. I learned an important lesson a long time ago. I had a LARGE upt. on the tilter, and I was setting it back up. It was on a concrete floor, an easy surface for castors to roll on. As I levered it up, the back castors hit the floor first and pulled the piano away from me before the piano was vertical enough. Down went the piano on its back. Fortunately no harm was done to me or the piano. The correct technique, as John Ross mentioned in his post, is to NOT stand the tilter all the way up. As the piano rises, be aware of the exact moment that the castors touch ground. Stop lifting the tilter at that point. The prongs of the tilter will keep the piano from taking off. They are pointed slightly up and "dig in" to the bottom of the piano, as John put it. Now push the piano gently away from you. The back of the piano is still caught by the prongs of the tilter. The piano will "tip" off the tilter and the front castors will come down safely. You can control the piano with one hand and the tilter with the other. Working from the back treble side of the piano, keep your left hand on top of the piano. (I assume you have removed the lid). You can push the piano away from the tilter with this hand and also control the piano from coming down too violently on the front castors. The right hand keeps the tilter in contact with the bottom of the piano by pushing the tilter away from the piano at the handle. I have tried clamping the tilter to the piano recently. I read an article, perhaps by Susan Kline, recommending that technique. I just use two C-clamps or two short bar clamps. I have tried this on really big pianos. It's not worth the trouble with anything under a 50" upt. Bob Andersn Tucson, AZ
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