Roller Cleaning

[John]

Anybody used one of these contraptions? Are they any good?

Item No. 516809

Cheers

John

[Peter Andrews]

I've not used one, but think that cleaning the cleaning kit is going to take longer than just cleaning a roller / brush, and £19+ will also buy several new rollers and a couple of brushes!

Peter

[daviewulz]

Do you get a plastic tent to use it in or does paint get slung for miles around?

[Gully Foyle]

Yes.

No.

I threw mine away in the end.

For a while I just got a new roller for each paint job but then invested in an "easy clean" roller with a plastic jobby (no idea what it's called but it's cone shaped and you pull the roller through it a couple of times to remove the paint). Marvellous it is - gets the roller clean in just a couple of minutes and only cost about a fiver IIRC.

[Brian Sharrock]

Do you get a plastic tent to use it in or does paint get slung for miles around?

I've _actually_ used this item .... and am a 'delighted' customer. I bought the items years ago at an 'Ideal Home' show, at Olympia. The demonstrator had a convincing demo/patter of painting something with black oil-based gloss paint, then using his 'Dandy' cleaner and wiping the bristles onto an astounded viewer's shirt front! Nothing came off- the bristle were clean and dry and _immediately_ used to paint something (else) with white gloss paint.

Over the years; I've learnt to set up a 'cleaning station' when using the appliance(s). I have commandeered an old plastic pedal bin which is the ideal height for placing the device _within_ for spinning off. I use this in conjunction with an old work-mate on which I place the containers for water/white-spirit and it's a 'handy place to lay the drill, chuck-key and brushes onto. The sequence is ;- spin off the majority of the paint (inside the plastic pedal bin); place the brush/roller into the cleaning fluid (water/white-spirit); spin off the fluid; flick bristles/roller whilst intoning, "That'll do nicely!". It is very fast and I now clean brushes before I stop for even a cup of tea.

Some caveats: The brush cleaner incorporates a very strong spring clamping arrangement - the brush handle _must_ be solid. The 'el cheapo' "hundred brushes -all you'll ever need" for a fiver' type are usually hollow handles and they'll be crushed to shards. { Don't ask me how I know this }. Use good quality brushes with solid handles; you know it makes sense and you'll be able to keep them clean for evermore.

The roller cleaner works well, but ... cleaning rollers is messy. You have to take the roller off the applicator first then push the roller tube onto the Dandy holder :( I haven't found a way of doing this without getting paint onto my hands :(.

It helps if you can have two drills available ; one for the brush adaptor and one for the roller attachment. BTW, I only used water-based paints for roller application.

HTH

[Owain]

Disposable gloves?

Owain

[ARWadsworth]

And they are cheap. Petrol stations usually have them near the diesel pumps : )

Adam

[Roland Butter]

Wrap the roller in a plastic bag if you're going to be using it again the next day. Otherwise sling it.

[Peter]

Take the roller (circular) holders off of a cheap roller and fix them to a length of steel rod (ermm screw threaded) Use an electric drill, spin into an empty bucket for 20 secs, spin into a bucket of water for 30 secs, then spindry into the empty bucket again..

One clean roller. Works a charm and saves me at least £3 a day.

P

[<me9]

I give them a quick clean with water in the tray, then bung them in the washing machine (the old one). Works a treat.

[John]

but uses gallons of water, the MAIN thing I am trying to avoid in this day and age!

Thanks anyway

John

[Peter]

You, methinks worry about the wrong things. Are you married to Mary? P

[Mary Fisher]

And electricity. Good for you.

Mary

[<me9]

I just put them on a rinse, with very little powder. Not much electric, and I'd prolly use as much water rinsing them by hand.

[Weatherlawyer]

You also have a farm with lots of sheds that allows you to store the containers that your exacting lifestyle calls for. Do you have a room to store the lists of the lists you compile?

In other words it is a lot of work, a lot of mess a lot of materials'equiptment and a lot of space for something no respectable painter has ever considered.

*******

If you decorate your house once an year, cleaning the brushes and rollers the old fashioned way and storing them in some out of the way place is adequate. You have brushes for white and brushes for everything else and nothing untoward happens.

If you decorate your house once every five or ten years, throw the kit away when you finish using it and buy new each time. That way bristles falling off the new brushes will be your only problem. There won't be earwigs and rust in the rollers and you will know where to find them.