Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: dai on October 15, 2009, 09:52:27 pm

Title: Wagtail whirlwind
Post by: dai on October 15, 2009, 09:52:27 pm
A new one from Wagtail.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iWL3kYadgA

www.wagtail.com.au/_product_38666/Wagtail_Whirlwind
Title: Re: Wagtail whirlwind
Post by: Murdie window cleaning on October 15, 2009, 10:31:49 pm
He'll never make a living from window cleaning.... Way to slow  ::)
Title: Re: Wagtail whirlwind
Post by: jonnyald on October 16, 2009, 07:34:34 am
whats the pad on the new one hes using?  m a big fan of wagtail and use it evryday  but i just watched Willie erkins new video ,of the wirlwind and it just looked the most crappy con of a new invention  and i cant believe it would ever work in practice
Title: Re: Wagtail whirlwind
Post by: dai on October 16, 2009, 09:45:41 am
whats the pad on the new one hes using?  m a big fan of wagtail and use it evryday  but i just watched Willie erkins new video ,of the wirlwind and it just looked the most crappy con of a new invention  and i cant believe it would ever work in practice

I haven't seen the new one, the main complaint with the old Wagtail combo was that it didn't hold enough water.
Personally I never found this a problem, I just use mine with the B.O.B and putting a spot of dishwasher rinse aid in the water makes that water go a hell of a long way.
I do the insides of a large pub/restaurant with just two mug fulls of solution in my B.O.B gets the job done with plenty of water to spare, and using less water means less mess to mop up.
Title: Re: Wagtail whirlwind
Post by: jonnyald on October 17, 2009, 08:07:54 am
the new whirlind  makes a mockery of the name "whirlwind"  .      all it seems to be is a  bit of carpet material hanging from the squeegee and in  Willies video the reverse side of this carpet simply  drags over the glass before the blade follows.

surely the combo wasnt like this ??  put up a foto of a combi if u can please
Title: Re: Wagtail whirlwind
Post by: dai on October 17, 2009, 09:20:07 am
here's mine. the pad is held in permenant position with velcro
Title: Re: Wagtail whirlwind
Post by: jonnyald on October 17, 2009, 09:27:57 am
cheers for that foto dai -  what are those reddy coloured bits ,what do they do ? and is the pad like a roll of material ?   im thinking i might try and  modify one of my wagtails    to try to make it into a combo ,wot dyou reck?
Title: Re: Wagtail whirlwind
Post by: Mike #1 on October 17, 2009, 04:44:14 pm
nice and clean applicator dai what have you been cleaning
Title: Re: Wagtail whirlwind
Post by: Mike #1 on October 17, 2009, 04:47:29 pm
impressive he was fast , job done though he has'nt wiped the sills or detailed !!!!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Wagtail whirlwind
Post by: dai on October 17, 2009, 05:24:03 pm
The red tabs do nothing now. When new you could flip the blade out of the way for extra scrubbing power.I have since pop riveted the two sections together to make one solid unit.
The pad is flat and used to be held with Velcro, it is now glued on with copydex.
It was a bit manky when I took the pic, nothing a bit of fairy and a good rubbing won't put right.
The pad is only as thick as applicator material, and this was what turned a lot of guys away from them. You really do need a B.O.B when using the combi, and keep topping it up., But you can do a hell of a lot of windows with one top up.
Before I had one of these I used a backflip, but the Combi only weighs a fraction of one of those.
Title: Re: Wagtail whirlwind
Post by: lee_dewing on October 17, 2009, 06:21:02 pm
dai,

where did u get your wagtail combo squeegee from or did u make it yourself?

does anyone know where to get a wagtail whirlwind in the uk.

I know wcw sell wagtails but not seen whirlwind on their site :(

thanks lee.
Title: Re: Wagtail whirlwind
Post by: C.C.S. on October 17, 2009, 06:46:50 pm
hi just purchased the blue ribbon one 16'' and want to change the pad in something better ,what do you suggest.i read a post about lidl pads but i think they are 14''.thanks
Title: Re: Wagtail whirlwind
Post by: jonnyald on October 17, 2009, 07:25:07 pm
the lidl pads are about 20 inches long . lidl sell about 3 diffrent pads , the grey balcony floor scrubber is the very best of them IMO ,  ive been using it about3 weeks on a flipper wagtail
Title: Re: Wagtail whirlwind
Post by: dai on October 17, 2009, 08:21:49 pm
dai,

where did u get your wagtail combo squeegee from or did u make it yourself?

does anyone know where to get a wagtail whirlwind in the uk.

I know wcw sell wagtails but not seen whirlwind on their site :(

thanks lee.

No I didn't make it. It was the original concept they had. It had some inherent design faults and they stopped making it.
The original idea was that you could turn the blade out of the way if you needed to scrub harder, the plastic tabs on the picture were to hold it in place when you were using it as a single pass tool. these plastic tabs were prone to break. In reality, you never needed to turn it at all, all you do to scrub harder is tilt the handle down towards the glass so that the blade doesn't touch. I pop riveted the two sections together and did away with that facility.
I think that Wagtail shot themselves in the foot when they abandoned the combi, the original concept just needed  a few tweaks.
The secret is in the design of the aluminium channel, it is brilliant, it is IMO simply the best single pass tool ever invented, and absolutely fantastic for inside work because it does the job with just a tiny bit of water.
The technique of using them is to go across the top of the pane twice with the pad running from one side to the other.
This puts enough water at the top to give you a start. You then snake down the glass in the usual way, the pad puts more water on, and the blade about a centimeter behind takes it off  again.
This is a bit like terry Burrows two handed method, but of course you only need one hand to do it
Title: Re: Wagtail whirlwind
Post by: lee_dewing on October 17, 2009, 10:43:16 pm
thanks dai.