After weeks of using the liquidator...

[windowsurfer]

Regarding the angle of the end clip moulding to the pressure, H Man has a video on one of the many liquidator posts that he has heated and reduced the acuteness(is that a word) of the angle of it and made it flatter and said it works well, might try that to make it more forgiving.

 

[Dave B]

But then it won't work so well on slim seals hence the original angle as tried and tested over months to get that angle that works on all types of seals

 

[Duncs]

i,ve used mine two weeks now changed the rubber straught away

no problems at all

love the less detailing

not impressed with that plastic handle abit flimsy could do with abit of weight to it

did find you had to break the rubber in to get best resuilts but i use mine when ever I need

to trad

 

[Dave B]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyq1E9nBh8Q[/media]

I have been up drinking since 4am for the boxing (dissapointment) and still can use a liquidator as quick as this

No detailing needed and could be a lot quicker if sober

Change the rubber for facelift and you can use it like a normal modded channel

 

[Dave B]

If I could be arsed to get my 14 out the motor it would be twice as quick

 

[fenderjaguar]

But then it won't work so well on slim seals hence the original angle as tried and tested over months to get that angle that works on all types of seals

See my issue with that is I'm walking around with an awkward-to-use squeegee blade, when it's only completely neccessary for like 10% of your windows? It's like carrying a 5 metre ladder round, when a 3.5m will do for nearly all your work. This is why I'm carrying only a 10" channel round in the bottom of my pocket.

Polznbladz is right when he says you have to change your technique. But really, it was far easier for me to learn to modify existing aluminium channels to have this less extreme kind of dog ear that was more suitable for my style, rather than change the way I've cleaned windows for the last 16 years. I don't think I would have got this off to such a tee, without actually seeing and using a liquidator in person though, so I'm thankful for that.

http://i.imgur.com/rDRUGtG.jpg

Yeah, that's a very small one.

http://i.imgur.com/UL0s6aY.jpg

That's the other thing....the liquidator channels are aluiminium, but why so heavily overengineered? they are almost as heavy as the unger S-channels (ok, I'm exaggerating). These pulex/contico channels are light as a feather.

0.5mm bent further forward, and that would dragging like crazy ala liquidator:

http://i.imgur.com/cRB5rpK.jpg

I find the dog ear only just needs to be making contact with the rubber. If that was the liquidator, you'd be able to see it bending that rubber round to a concave shape. It doesn't surprise me to hear people like herman are softening the clips up and bending them back. I could do that with my 14" liquidator channel, but since it's so much heavier than the contico alu channel, I'd rather use that, I can really feel the edges of windows with it.

 

[windowsurfer]

Thats a different way to dogear, but I like it fenderjaguar

 

[fenderjaguar]

Thats a different way to dogear, but I like it fenderjaguar

Yeah, I hadn't seen anyone doing that, but I thought maybe they had? I was just to hack saw a 3mm incision. It seems like you won't have as much trouble bending forward with the plyers like that. The only issue I see it maybe slightly less strength and it could catch on your BOAB as you put the squeegee away.

 

[Dave B]

It looks different and if it works well done mate

Nothing more satisfying than using your own channels effectively but anytime you cut a line to bend a channel you weaken it which is why i have my own modified way based on polzn bladz ones as they have no slot cut in them

 

[fenderjaguar]

It looks different and if it works well done mateNothing more satisfying than using your own channels effectively but anytime you cut a line to bend a channel you weaken it which is why i have my own modified way based on polzn bladz ones as they have no slot cut in them

Thanks. Yeah, I realise there could be less strength. To be honest, it was more of an experiment with an offcut from a bigger channel. The main channel I use has no incision, it's just more difficult, almost feels like you could bend the whole channel out of shape if you're not careful

http://i.imgur.com/587S91C.jpg

And this is really thin aluminium. I can't imagine being able to mod, say, an S-channel. Couldn't even get my hack saw through it. Suppose brass is pretty soft

 

[Dave B]

All my modded ones are unger s channels except 1 ettore

Need to bend it correctly but fine when done properly

I don't use brass as if dropped it will easily bend out of shape whereas stainless wont

 

[Dave B]

View attachment 4318

These are what i use at the moment

Mixture of modded and moerman

The very small one is a modded liquidator prototype i cut up to make a 5 and a bit inch channel for top openers

Since the pic the 14 liquidator is now in my 30° swiveloc and i have a 10"mod in my 0°

 

[paulio]

I'm still having the problem of leaving lines while fanning all the time with the liquidator, I can't figure it out.

Are other people getting lines and just ignoring them? I have the original batch of channels and had to do the clip pinching mod, could I have overdone/underdone it and that's causing my problems?

It's so frustrating because it does a great job on the sides but the lines it is leaving are making it unusable for me. Maybe using the moerman swivel handle would help as its a slightly different angle?

Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated guys.

 

[captainzoom]

@paulio

Did get lines in the beginning, even when switching sides. Seems like my Liquidator also was from the first batch, because the rubber was really loosely held. But since doing the "teacup" mod, adding some more soap (more than i was comfortable with before) to get better slip and constantly try to be aware of my angle. Things have been looking better, and I get no lines. Still get the occasional skipmark though, due to sloppy technique.

I'm more comfortable with the fixed handle at the moment. But I've got no problem with the swivel handle either.

Check out polznbladz vids for tips on technique if you haven't already. (Helped me)

https://www.youtube.com/user/bobhatt123

 

[fenderjaguar]

I'm still having the problem of leaving lines while fanning all the time with the liquidator, I can't figure it out.
Are other people getting lines and just ignoring them? I have the original batch of channels and had to do the clip pinching mod, could I have overdone/underdone it and that's causing my problems?

It's so frustrating because it does a great job on the sides but the lines it is leaving are making it unusable for me. Maybe using the moerman swivel handle would help as its a slightly different angle?

Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated guys.

It's really nothing to do with the clips pinching. That might affect jumping, but not these lines.

Really, only way to stop those lines is to either use a much lower angle squeegee (like 0 degree, or hold a 30 degree as close to the window as possible), or bend the clips back so they aren't as extreme. I find that with the dog ears just making contact with rubber, that's perfect. Now people will say at that point "it won't do certain seals anymore". Actually, it will! You just need to be much lighter handed with it.

This goes back to what I was saying before; do you want to change your technique for every single window, or do you want to pull an awkward extremely light handed technique out the bag for that small number of windows that actually require it?

And also, I've seen evidence to suggest that the clips get bent back with use ANYWAY. So if people have noticed these lines go away, it might be because of that.

Also, I have to say the lines aren't so bad unless they are baked on by the sun, but I've said all that already.

Oh btw, tried the red razrblade rubber. It's the hardest rubber I've ever seen, could barely cut it. Perfect for the liquidator, since it's nearly the same width as the moerman or pulex rubber. Useless in my modified dog eared contico/pulex channels though, since I need the smaller unger rubber for that. So I'm going back to using the 14" liquidator channel, with the clips bent back a little.

Also gone back to the ergotec, but it's so much better with the notches cut in. I know it looks a little rough, but it's perfect. So much better than it being jammed in. I used a real s-channel as a template for these. And although I did it by the rack of the eye, it is accurate to the nearest mm. Just thought I'd capture these to show you people using this channel with the ergo that it would be partly jammed in against the metal channel rather than biting the rubber properly (best shown in picture 2)

http://i.imgur.com/rCc7Iv5.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/0bPs0by.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/3mwDwpV.jpg

It's also impossible for it to move more than 1mm now. And yes, people have had problems with it moving

 

[Tuffers]

I guess I can't argue with that, boarcity!
Maybe I need to be moer heavy handed :thumbsup:

I see what you did there

 

[rugbywolf]

The issue is that the dog ear is setup for the most extreme situation. And that setup isn't needed for the majority of windows. Setting it up for the most exteme situations by default creates a few problems; It wears out the ends of the rubber too quickly, because that part of the rubber is being forced against the glass/rubber seals too much. It simply isn't needed when you're blading across open glass where there's no edges. And it isn't even needed for the edges on the majority of windows.
I've also found that it has a habit of pulling the end of the rubber under the dog ear when turning, and this causes problems by making the squeegee hard to turn and also leaving lines on the window in some cases in itself (I say that because it's not just the ends of the rubber wearing away that does that). Now, the lines are especially an issue in direct sunlight, because the sun bakes them on. I'm sure most of you aren't thinking these lines are an issue because they are drying up, but I find if you go inside and look at the window, it shows up. And it shows up even worse in direct sunlight as well, naturally.

Really, I find this is minimised by holding the squeegee closer to the window, or using a near 0 degree angle handle (I've actually bent my own plastic contico high rise handle to near 10 or 15 degrees or so). Really, I can't understand why people ever started saying the liquidator channels were good for 40 degree angles? When you have your rubber almost flat on the glass with a 0 degree, it's so much easier to turn, because the rubber can't be pulled underneath, that's why it jumps. But I obviously don't like using a squeegee at this angle, because it's hard on your wrist, when you have to compensate when cleaning windows just above your head.

Really, I think the answer to this is either an adjustable dog ear. I could imagine this being done with a self tapping/semi thread locked screw pushed through at the dog ear from the other side). Or you could have several different sizes of dog ear, and put the most extreme ones on for any extreme rubber seals you encounter. Or carry 2 squeegees, one with a light dog ear, one with an extreme dog ear.

In any case, I've really had to stop using the liquidator, most of the time. It's excellent for what it can do and I've learnt a lot from it, and am now fashioning my own channels with a less extreme dog ear. But I still carry a little 10" liquidator round, for the extreme rubber seals. I just hope they make them with different sizes of dog ears for different kinds of rubber seals.

Sorry, for the wall of text, I'm a fast typer

I bought a 10 inch Liquidator and put it straight into a standard squeegee handle, but it wouldn't work. I'd read a lot on here about the first batch, so carried on trying out different handles, and rubbers. I didn't want to start modifying it in any way, in case there may have been something I hadn't worked out as yet. Like you, I was of the opinion, and said so, that if this was 'probably the best squeegee channel in the world' it should work with anyone who is reasonably proficient with a squeegee. Being an eternal optimist, I went ahead and bought the 14 inch. I took it out of the packet and straight into a standard squeegee handle, and it worked - beautifully. I used it all the next day and had no problem with it, not bad considering I was not use to a 14 inch, only ever having used 12 inch, and didn't have to change my method in any way. I had noticed, however, one thing about the 14 inch, but I'll come back to that in a minute. When I got home after that first day with the 14, I got out the 10 and changed the blue tips over. That didn't work, but the 10 inch tips worked on the 14 inch. When the 10 inch arrived I noticed that the rubber was cut a tad longer than the channel, what I noticed with the 14 was that it was cut a tad under. I cut a new rubber, slightly under, for the 10 inch, and it worked. So that was the problem all along. I remember seeing the vid polzn bladz did about cutting the rubbers, but hadn't watch it. So he says cut the rubbers to exactly, and before you put them in, which made good sense. Normally I use a Wagtail, but so far have only used ordinary squeegee handles while sorting the Liquidator out, so now I had the Liquidator working properly put it into a Wagtail, and it worked great so far. I haven't finished sorting it yet as I've been off work for a couple of weeks, and I wasn't going to write about it, but saw your comment.

The lines that you sometimes get when fanning is caused by letting the channel glide over partially dry glass which causes it to stall, you have to keep as much of the channel wet for as long as you can.

 

[Dave B]

I think you hit the nail on the head rugbywolf

When using the bigger size liquidators i use one longer than half the width of the window and start pretty low down the glass and go up across down across like Bob (polz) does

It keeps most of the blade wet and makes it easy to use

I think the bigger sizes work best (can't wait fo my 22")

I put the rubber in the channel then channel in handle and then put the end on a wooden block and cut straight down with a scraper blade tight against the plastic tip

Then do the same against the angled edge of the tip

Perfect length then both sides with no movement while trying to cut it

 

[rugbywolf]

I think you hit the nail on the head rugbywolfWhen using the bigger size liquidators i use one longer than half the width of the window and start pretty low down the glass and go up across down across like Bob (polz) does

It keeps most of the blade wet and makes it easy to use

I think the bigger sizes work best (can't wait fo my 22")

I put the rubber in the channel then channel in handle and then put the end on a wooden block and cut straight down with a scraper blade tight against the plastic tip

Then do the same against the angled edge of the tip

Perfect length then both sides with no movement while trying to cut it

Good point daveyboy, it changes the method of rubber cutting now.

 

[fenderjaguar]

I cut a new rubber, slightly under, for the 10 inch, and it worked. So that was the problem all along. I remember seeing the vid polzn bladz did about cutting the rubbers, but hadn't watch it. So he says cut the rubbers to exactly, and before you put them in, which made good sense.

Exactly how much shorter are you cutting it? like, picture?

Because yeah, I watched that polz video before I even got a liquidator. I cut mine ever so slightly shorter, but I don't have it hanging over. I suppose I've been reluctant to cut it too short, because you can't put it back on again, once it's cut, and I'm frightened of wasting a perfectly good blades...

 

[Dave B]

Mine is 100% flush