Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: GEMclean services on October 05, 2011, 07:32:40 pm
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hi iv got Gardiner carbon poles and with the sliding up and down the glossy coating has come off now this leaves your hands like an x man carbon fibre palms someone else must have had this , anyway can you re laquer it ??i bought some for car paint work and was going to give it a coating but thought id get some thoughts on the idea.
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i have an elite carbon pole mate and i use PTFE spray form www.toolstation.com for £3:00 or www.screwfix.com , which helps maintain the sections which do suffer through daily use . MIKE
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never heard of that ill have a look cheers
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hi iv got Gardiner carbon poles and with the sliding up and down the glossy coating has come off now this leaves your hands like an x man carbon fibre palms someone else must have had this , anyway can you re laquer it ??i bought some for car paint work and was going to give it a coating but thought id get some thoughts on the idea.
All pure carbon fibre poles will produce black carbon dust once they become worn. This occurs from the outer and the inner layer wearing due to friction of extending the sections and is accelerated by the presence of grit and dirt.
The best form of defence is to regularly clean the sections out to prevent excess dirt and grit from staying between the sections. A simple hose down from the base of the pole with all section partially opened will usually suffice. Also keeping the pole hose clean makes a large difference to the wear rate. I keep an old towel at the back of the van and when I finish each job a wipe the pole hose as I coil it back up to put back in the van - adds about 10 secs to the process and makes a big difference.
The use of PTFE dry-film lubricant (not oil based wet lubricant) as mention above is very good at maintaining the smooth working of the pole and will help prevent the effects of wear, but it will not re-surface the carbon.
A high quality lacquer will certainly re-finish the carbon surface, but will need to be applied very thinly to avoid making the section hard to extend. A lot of the wear (and carbon dust production) occurs below the joint stop tape and so ideally each section would need to be dis-assembled, joint stop removing and the clean before spraying. You would find that the lacquer would wear off very quickly from the very base of each section as it rubs along the inside of each section. The best way of helping to prevent this on an older pole would be to wrap a single wrap of PVC insulating tape around the section at the base (similar to the joint stop tape) this will provide a 'buffer' of PVC between the two carbon surfaces.
Even if you do all of the above though you will not stop the pole from producing some carbon dust as the inner surface of each tube is also subject to wear and will produce a certain amount of dust (this is why even carbon poles that have a painted surface will produce carbon dust as they wear).
The simplest solution to this issue is to wear protective gloves at all times. I personally wear disposable nitrile gloves all year round (under warmer gloves in winter) as they provide, not only protection from carbon dust, but also maintain good hand hygiene which is essential when pulling hoses along the ground (animal faeces, etc.) When I stop for lunch or to interact with clients, I peel them off and I have clean hands. Even when using non-carbon poles a good commercial Risk Assessment/Method Statement would include the use of gloves as standard protection from the elements.