I have a few small six-inch F-clamps which, for whatever reason, have their clutch plates (or quick-release plates?) on the WRONG side of the clamp bar. On these clamps the clutch plate is on the back side of the bar...

In contrast, ALL of my other F-clamps have the clutch plate on (what I call) the inside of the bar, under the handle. This means that all of my muscle memory for clamps is that THIS is where I should reach to release the clamp's quick release. And this also means that I virtually never use those other six inch clamps, and I have considered getting rid of them.

(They were a gift; I would never buy clamps like that on purpose.)

This solution turns out to be pretty straightforward. I used a small strip sander to grind down the bump at the end of the bar. You could also use a file, as the metal is fairly soft. This bump is what prevents us from removing the handle of the clamp. It only took about 2-3 minutes of grinding on the belt sander to remove the hump.

I can now slide the handle off of the end of the clamp bar.

There is a fairly powerful spring inside the clamp handle which is pressing against the clutch plates. I do not want this to come out of the tool and maybe get lost, or be difficult to replace.

So I just slide out ONE of the clutch plates at a time. I want to keep the tool as intact as possible.

(NEXT TWO PHOTOS) The clutch plate has an off-center oval hole that the clamp bar slides through. I reverse this plate, and then slide it back into the clamp handle, again being careful with the spring. I then repeat that with the other clutch plate.

Congratulations, it's now fixed!

We can then slide the handle back onto the clamp bar, and you can see that the clutch plates have now been flipped around such that the long part of the plate extends out on the INSIDE of the clamp, as it should be.

I now need to make sure the clamp stays together. I drill a small hole at the end of the clamp bar. Use a bit of light oil to lubricate the drill bit and it should drill fairly quickly.

I then inserted a small machine bolt + nut. I used some threadlocker to try and help keep things in place, and tightened down the nut firmly.

Here you can see two of the fixed / repaired / modified clamps. The clutch plate has been swapped around, and the small bolt will keep the handle in place ... but if you REALLy wanted to, you could reverse the procedure and return it to the factory setting. Though I have no idea why I would ever want to do so.

Here I show how all of my various F-clamps now have their clutch plate on the inside side of the clamp bar.

The lesson here is to not be afraid to modify your tools. Make the tool suit your needs! I took some clamps that I hated and would avoid using, and rejigged them into something that is now a pleasure to use. And it turned out to be easy!