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Steven White

  • Posts: 71
Advice needed: Ultralite modular pole
« on: November 08, 2014, 05:36:29 pm »
Well glad I opted to go modular for a 75ft clean and not pay 3 grand for a swift. The bottom sections are not wide and can be gripped easy, it's as light as a feather and one guy can put it up (at the swift demo you could see the sections were so long you needed two guys) . It has one major draw back though - one guy can't bring it back down, because getting the sections apart is a nightmare. I started by using a dry spray on lubricant on the joints. It started chucking down with rain, getting dark and I was all a panic and to make matters worse because the poles were wet my hands were slipping and I broke a section. Next day I went to WD40 and had to keep ringing for help and asking passers by to help grip the top section while I tried to twisted the bottom out. Next day I got a bench clamp and wrapped a wellington boot round the pole laid down. Still a lot of huffing and a  puffing, it worked to some extent but I put a slight crack in section 3. So now I ordered a can of silcone spray, vascilline, grip gloves, and two of those rubber band wrenches plumbers use. I do the job again in January. Apparently the problem is worse when the weather is cold!!!! The guy I bought it off said one winter he drove off with the pole strapped to the top of his van! I want to ask a question: Are the poles fine to take apart when new and only with age become a problem? Would using a fine grade sand paper on the joints help or weaken the pole, maybe they roughen up over time with microscopic scratches when twisting the sections apart and it helps to smooth it out with sand paper??? Any other advice or techniques?
Steve White (SWS Window Cleaning)

Smudger

  • Posts: 13459
Re: Advice needed: Ultralite modular pole
« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2014, 05:52:19 pm »
Never heard of the ultralight pole,

But we use a Gardiners super light modular, and use modular carbon sections for gutter vac'ing - only ever had one occasion where they rung together and that may have been pushing the sections together too hard, normally the pole breaks down without a problem, years ago their was a thread about modular poles and to avoid this problem people wound electricians tape around each section at the start of the taper to stop that final ringing together.

Personally I make sure they are clean and grit free when putting together, I assemble and disassemble the pole on the ground

Darran
Never argue with an idiot, they will only bring you down to their level, and beat you with experience

Steven White

  • Posts: 71
Re: Advice needed: Ultralite modular pole
« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2014, 05:59:46 pm »
Hmmm... interesting possible solution. Thanks mate
Steve White (SWS Window Cleaning)

ChumBucket

Re: Advice needed: Ultralite modular pole
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2014, 06:06:09 pm »
I never had a problem with my Gardiner modular. Others though used to tape the sections to stop them going too far into each other like has been suggested above.