Ding, dong, my "Whizz" is dead (brush/sleeve cleaning recommendations wanted) - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

**slickshift** · 01-11-2006, 12:51 PM

Yup, my Whizz Brush and Roller Spinner has finally had it
I've been putting it off for a while now, I'm a cheap SOB I guess, but it won't even hold a brush for a full spin anymore
It just flops around in there like...well...like something hard that flops around in something...that won't hold the other something....oh never mind
You get the picture

As my brush for cleaning is shot too, I'll need a system
I thought I'd check in and see what ways you guys and gals clean brushes and roller sleeves

Still use the old brush, comb, and spinner?
Or something else?

**ProWallGuy** · 01-11-2006, 01:57 PM

Wirebrush under water
Kick out excess on boot toe
Spin between hands
Comb out
Put card back on

**slickshift** · 01-11-2006, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProWallGuy

Wirebrush under water
Kick out excess on boot toe
Spin between hands
Comb out
Put card back on

I'm sorry, you're going to have to relinquish your Tool Homo card

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProWallGuy

Spin between hands

But you get a pass on the Cheap Stingy ******** Club admission fee
Welcome to the club!
(And I thought I was bad rinsing and re-useing liners...

)

**slickshift** · 01-11-2006, 05:06 PM

OK, that's one for
Brush and comb, but too cheap to buy a spinner

AAPaint · 01-11-2006, 05:30 PM

I've never used a spinner. I mash my brush out under water, wire brush, rinse some more, kick it out and throw it in a shuck. If it's bad, I'll take a little EZ brush cleaner to it by dunking and working it around a few times, then wire brush again, rinse, repeat.

For rollers....well, they spin great on the roller frame!!! Try this. Set a 5 gallon bucket on the ground, put the handle inside the bucket with the roller sleeve hanging over the outside opposite where you stand. Take the hose to the roller and it will spin like a mad dog...clean in two minutes. I never could figure why anyone needs a special do-hicky to spin rollers.

When you get good at spinning rollers, you can hold the frame in your hand with the roller parallel to the ground and spin it with the hose without getting a drop on you. You have to hold the frame right where it bends closest to you with the roller extending outwards....works great.

BTW, when you said your whizz was dead, I thought you meant a whizzie roller, a.k.a. hot dog roller, a.k.a. cigar roller...I call em whizzies, one of the best tools a painter can have.

jmic · 01-11-2006, 05:43 PM

I've often said I have to go take a whiz, but I've never called it a whizzie.

Jee I just don't believe it.

Joe

**slickshift** · 01-11-2006, 05:49 PM

OK, that's
2 for brush and comb, no (or using body parts as) spinner
1 for no brush, comb, spinner, just urination

**slickshift** · 01-11-2006, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AAPaint

For rollers....well, they spin great on the roller frame!!! Try this. Set a 5 gallon bucket on the ground, put the handle inside the bucket with the roller sleeve hanging over the outside opposite where you stand. Take the hose to the roller and it will spin like a mad dog...clean in two minutes. I never could figure why anyone needs a special do-hicky to spin rollers.

When you get good at spinning rollers, you can hold the frame in your hand with the roller parallel to the ground and spin it with the hose without getting a drop on you. You have to hold the frame right where it bends closest to you with the roller extending outwards....works great.

Yeah, I've tried those
Kinda fun on a hot day in your own backyard

But you can't spin a sleeve in the customer's home
Well, not when they are there anyway

Do you wrap them and bring them back to "the shop"

I often do
Really because it's less likely to get an eco-greenie customer riled
I know that latex was invented to go down the sink, and you know that latex was invented to go down the sink, but I really don't want to explain that to some knee-jerk eco-weenie
(I am very ecology-minded, it's just that I'm an informed eco-weenie lol, I know more than they what really happens to there recyclables at the local Waste Transfer Station)
But still I'd rather use hot water, so I'll spin them in a 5 gallon bucket at home

I've also....sssshhhhh, don't tell Michelle...if I've got a few from during the day, and they are the plastic lined kind, thrown them into the washing machine

I'll throw in my whites after, just to be safe

**slickshift** · 01-11-2006, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AAPaint

... I thought you meant a whizzie roller, a.k.a. hot dog roller, a.k.a. cigar roller...I call em whizzies, one of the best tools a painter can have.

I have a few, I find I rarely use
Perhaps I'm not looking at situations in the right light
(the old dog/new trick thing?)

I have some sponge ones, and some fiber ones, I have found nothing in between (like a 3/4 nap type deal)
What do you end up using them for?

PlainPainter · 01-11-2006, 06:02 PM

How can any painter get along without a brush spinner?
Sure I mash them in the sink, comb - but when all is said
and done - the brush spinner is key. I use a product called
brush stuff made by Flood co. - well it's been discontinued.
But You would fill the brushes with this goop before painting.

Then at the end of the day, I was at a house without a water
spigot. So I brought a gallon of water in a jug. Combining
mashing the brush in a pail that I would pour water into, then
combing - then spinning. I could get a 4" purdy latex brush
absolutely clean with just a gallon of water!

-Plainpainter

AAPaint · 01-11-2006, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slickshift

I have a few, I find I rarely use
Perhaps I'm not looking at situations in the right light
(the old dog/new trick thing?)

I have some sponge ones, and some fiber ones, I have found nothing in between (like a 3/4 nap type deal)
What do you end up using them for?

Oh yes...for touch ups without having to dip a 9" roller. For all your spot priming needs.....sheesh. I use them for just about everything when I don't want to deal with washing a 9" roller and sleeve or when I know the 9" will take up more paint to get it wet than I need to do the whole job. Rolling doors is a given....I'm tellin ya man, you get good with em and you can paint anything with a quickness. The sleeves for em are cheap a.k.a. disposable if need be in a crunch for time. I use them everywhere, walls, ceilings, doors, whatever...I can fly with those little suckers. Good thing is, you can dip it in your cut pot..more clean up saved. Just dip and slap like you do a brush. Forgot the 3x3 closet?? Whizzie it!

Use the foam naps for smooth ceilings and doors (can be a pain with the sliding) and use the furry ones for everything else. Doing bump outs on walls after the drywall guy has patched....another great use. You don't have to texture out 50 different 3" spots with a brush and you don't have to bother with the 9".

Almost forgot.....only drawback is learning to roll without leaving pecker tracks everywhere. Just lean a little pressure on the side that's in the direction you're painting and you won't get tracks. The other side with lighter pressure will smooth out any tracks it makes.

Exroadog · 01-11-2006, 07:36 PM

I used to spin by hand and foot tap. Finally got the "spinner". Best way in my opinion. Especially if you "recycle" your sleeves.

**ProWallGuy** · 01-11-2006, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slickshift

I have a few, I find I rarely use
Perhaps I'm not looking at situations in the right light
(the old dog/new trick thing?)

I have some sponge ones, and some fiber ones, I have found nothing in between (like a 3/4 nap type deal)
What do you end up using them for?

A rep at a convention gave me a Wooster Jumbo-Koter:

I love it, use it more than I'd ever thought I would.
Mainly, I use these covers for it:

AAPaint · 01-11-2006, 08:03 PM

Oh yeah!! Whatever you do...if you get the 6" or the 4" (I have a few of both) do NOT, and I repeat, do NOT get the covers with the little plastic button on one end...you can't roll into corners with them, you'll just tear up the wall.

**slickshift** · 01-12-2006, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProWallGuy

A rep at a convention gave me a Wooster Jumbo-Koter:

I love it, use it more than I'd ever thought I would.
Mainly, I use these covers for it:

Oh, hmmm...this handle doesn't have a "cage"
The covers just pop over the chrome tip

**slickshift** · 01-12-2006, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AAPaint

Oh yeah!! Whatever you do...if you get the 6" or the 4" (I have a few of both) do NOT, and I repeat, do NOT get the covers with the little plastic button on one end...you can't roll into corners with them, you'll just tear up the wall.

Thanks for the warning
I haven't seen the covers with buttons, but I will stay clear

**Teetorbilt** · 01-12-2006, 08:06 PM

I think that any pro painter ought to have a used washing machine somewhere. I bought a used one for $50 five years ago and it's still working! We also don't do a lot of painting so it may only be used once or twice a week. Still the best thing going. Toss in rollers, brushes, rags, small pails and let Edison do his thing.

**slickshift** · 01-12-2006, 10:19 PM

Sounds like spinners, washers, and toe tapping are still the brush/sleeve cleaners of choice

DecksEtc · 01-12-2006, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teetorbilt

I think that any pro painter ought to have a used washing machine somewhere. I bought a used one for $50 five years ago and it's still working! We also don't do a lot of painting so it may only be used once or twice a week. Still the best thing going. Toss in rollers, brushes, rags, small pails and let Edison do his thing.

Never thought about using an old machine. My girlfriend and I are in negotiations to buy a fixer-upper. All the appliances are pretty much garbage - you don't want to smell the fridge! I was planning on selling/junking all of them but now I'm inclined to keep the washer if it's working or even repairable. Even though I don't do a huge amount of painting either, it would be good to use for all my work clothes. It will stop her complaining about me throwing them in with her clothes!

**slickshift** · 01-12-2006, 11:47 PM

I wouldn't mind having a washer for work clothes, rollers...drops...

I wouldn't mind having an old oven either
I'd like to try powder coating
gf won't let me use the house oven for that
lol
Actually, I don't think the EPA will let you use an oven used for food prep for that
lol