Squeegees not 'squeegeeing'

[PKMech]

Installed new squeegee blades on our Kustodian Plus a few months ago after purchasing from a third party recommended from this site. They only had the blue available, although I prefer the brown ones. Was willing to switch back to the blue for the large monetary difference between getting the brown from Kegel and getting these. At first everything was great after a few adjustments to seal the softer blade to the lane better. However, over last 6 weeks or so, the blue squeegees have been less effective in cleaning oil (especially once it has sat on the lanes for more than a day), particularly off the back ends. I have been able to remedy the problem by lowering the squeegee every few weeks. After making the adjustment the backends look good. Had to lower the squeegee again Sunday evening. Granted the lanes had previously been cleaned Saturday morning and we were packed on Saturday night (mucho carry down). Doesn't seem right that I have to keep making this adjustment and I am now running out of room to make it. Are these squeegees junk or could I simply be putting a bandaid over a larger problem?

[coachlon]

We've used the blue blades since we purchased our + in 2004. Every 90 days the bar is flipped 180 degrees to help it wear evenly. We oil at least 40 lanes every day. The blades are replaced every year.

[Mechanick]

What lane machine do you have? if your lane machine was supposed to have the brown blades on them, maybe you shouldn't have put the blue blades on....I would have tried to find the same brown blades from a third party company, or bought the brown blades from Kegel. I have bought the blue blade from Nilfisk Advance and have not had an issue with them....but this is the blade that is supposed to be on my machine.

Another thing I do is insert a core from the duster cloth between the squeegee bloades when not in use so that the blades keep thier shape better.

[Popeye]

Are you sure it is a problem with your squeegee and not your pad roller? Make sure the cloth is unwinding enough to let the pad sit well on the lane. Put machine on lane with cloth unwound and open door to see if the cloth is loose and not restricting the pad from being all the way down. Just a thought!

[Popeye]

Another thought... How is your vacuum motor working? And the condition of your vacuum hoses (tears or clogged)?

[PKMech]

Will be in today to check out everything. I will try flipping the blades as well. Have done that in the past but never as often as 90 days. Will give the pad and hoses a check. Vacuum motor is relatively new (replaced sometime last spring). The problem seems to be with how soft the blue blades are relative to the brown ones. We have used the blue in the past but I switched to the brown based on a lot of feedback from here. I don't recall the blue ones giving me this much of an issue though. I should have also mentioned in my original post that the pattern of oil being left behind is consistent with the grooves in the the front squeegee blade itself (faint oil streaks running parallel to the boards). Hence why my first instinct is the blades.

[Popeye]

Sounds like the blades are too far down now. Check your pitch adjustment too. I had a problem with my blades leaving cleaner behind when the pitch was off.

[rivmike]

Put a 3-4' long straight edge from the lds wheels to the squeege blades. You should have 120 thousants gap at the drive wheels. Also the straight edge should touch both blades equal.

[PJ]

Right now EBN has a special squeege blades Blue $78 Brown $67 and also casters for the Kustodian.

[the antiqueman]

figures, just bought a set from distributor for $ 225, was told to buy brown ones for my kustodian kosi machine, not really impressed with the brown ones so I talked to distributors' tech and he says brown is for wood lanes, not for my hpls, have to "over" adjust them or they leave a strip 6 boards wide down middle of the lane,nice,at least after readjustment they are clean now but more drag on the lane than i like to see,also distributor says the brown ones are an improvement over the blue ones,tech tells me brown has been out since the 90's,now I know why I don't use that distributor anymore

[8270king]

Brown blades are for older non painted machines (silver box)

Blue blades are for the newer painted machines

[PJ]

figures, just bought a set from distributor for $ 225, was told to buy brown ones for my kustodian kosi machine, not really impressed with the brown ones so I talked to distributors' tech and he says brown is for wood lanes, not for my hpls, have to "over" adjust them or they leave a strip 6 boards wide down middle of the lane,nice,at least after readjustment they are clean now but more drag on the lane than i like to see,also distributor says the brown ones are an improvement over the blue ones,tech tells me brown has been out since the 90's,now I know why I don't use that distributor anymore

Been running the brown ones on Kustodian model c on DBA IQ's no problem.

[PKMech]

Machine has been cleaning well since I last posted. The squeegee hasn't needed any more adjusting either. The only hang up is we need to be sure to strip EVERY DAY or there will be oil streaks left behind, particularly towards the outer boards and worse on the right outer boards. Boards from about 9 to 9 clean pretty well though. My first thought was a weakness in the vacuum motor or the filter being clogged in the recovery tank (lack of suction, perhaps). Everything works there though and the filter was cleaned recently anyway.

Are you sure it is a problem with your squeegee and not your pad roller? Make sure the cloth is unwinding enough to let the pad sit well on the lane. Put machine on lane with cloth unwound and open door to see if the cloth is loose and not restricting the pad from being all the way down. Just a thought!

Had to change the duster cloth tonight and looked at the roller pad. The cover is kind of loose all the way around, particularly at the right end (ten pin side). Took the cover off and the foam is very compressed at that end . I also noticed that the middle of the pad was plenty wet with oil/stripper recovered from lane. The outside of the pad was dry. At first thought it would seem because I was cleaning a house shot off the lane...I thought the center of the pad is simply saturated with oil but the outside is dry because there is less. But shouldn't the whole thing still be wet since there is stripper being applied to the whole lane? Either way I'm going to see to getting the cover and roller replaced. The compression at the end seems to be what is causing less effective cleaning on the right side. (Thanks for the suggestion Popeye) As far as I know the pad roller and cover are the original and most likely need replacing (machine was purchased sometime around '03-'04). Once I get the roller changed I should be able to raise the squeegee back up without issue (at least that's the plan )

[MASTERMIKE]

Yes,
your whole pad should be wet...

Sounds like its quite old, should be replaced yearly or so depending on how many lanes...

if thats the case your cleaner might be just passing right under it

mike

[rivmike]

Don't get the wrap, get the reg. foam roller and change it every yr. The most important part of the mach. is cleaning! Without that the oil pattern is nothing. After a yr. the foam compresses and the wrap gets loose and wrinkled causing inconsistant cleaning.