I have had my clx 22 for nearly a year couple of weeks ago i noticed the red started running off the top section and dripping into my van now, wear and tear i guess?
the main problem though is the clamps, the top 2 sections will be tight when extended even a little bit but when i bring the pole down i always have to retighten the clamps, its not ideal with gloves on. anyone know what i can do about this?
i took it all apart and cleaned everything last week but do i need to replace the nuts/bolts or is it that the sections are knackered?
thanks
scott
Hi Sungless
At a year old I would expect to see wear on a CLX pole - this is typical of a composite material pole. The reason that you are having to adjust the clamps when the sections are closed is that the very top 2" of any section will wear first and this means that the diameter of the section has become less which means the clamps when adjusted to clamp on the rest of the section will not clamp on this part.
Why do these top areas of sections wear most at these points?It is because, when used on low level work, the clamps are closed on this point. On low level work most of the strain on the pole is on a lateral plane - basically the pole is used sideways a lot more on ground floor work than on first floor work. This puts more twisting motion on the clamp and section at this point and hence the abrasion over a period of time leads to increased wear at this one point. Poles used mainly on high level work tend to get more wear in the fully open position as this is where they are clamped most often.
What can be done about it once the section has worn in this area?There are 4 work-arounds that can be used as opposed to replacing the worn sections:
1. When closing the pole, simply do not fully close this section, by doing this you will be clamping on a fresh area which will solve the problem (this is what I do when it happens on an older pole to me as all of the other 3 solutions involve work!).
2. Similar to above you can wrap about 4 wraps of insulating tape over the worn area so that the section cannot fully close on to it and the clamp holds on a fresh place.
3. You can fit a new clamp, but at the same time saw off the last 15mm of this worn section (at most you may lose 2cm) before re-fitting the clamp to the section.
4. You can re-finish this small worn area. To do so mix up a little two-pack rapid setting epoxy resin (Araldite Rapid or similar) and smear a very thin layer over the worn area. Allow to dry and then sand smooth any ridges. This will have built-up this area and it will work like new - here is a video link showing how to do this -
http://youtu.be/ArdGzztbvJ4