DAPPH
as dyslexik as I'm daft
- Messages
- 6,417
- Location
- Near to Cross Hands Llanelli SouthWales GB
Being a physical disaster /wreck on the way to the big burn up these days I've been trying to find a way of cleaning my glasshouse & caravan myself rather than pay someone to do it. You know how it is with us proper engineers we like to do it as a hobby and sod the cost within reason .
So to this end some 9 years ago I purchased an extending soft bristled caravan washing brush with a 6x 12 inch wide thick fibre washing head for the astronomic sum of £27 .
It plugs directly into a Hoselock hosepipe connector and as the head unscrewed you could slip a couple of soft wax car wash shampoo sticks in the pipe work , turn the water on and get going.
But that is for fit & able people . At a guess the tube work fully extended carried about 3 pounds of water , add to that the 2 .5 mtr extended lance and brush head at nearly four pounds and the angle of dangle moments of force about a point , suddenly what looked a good idea is rather heavy . Now add in the weight of a full hose pipe and the effort of dragging it about as you move around the caravan or greenhouse.
This year aged nearly 71 and 80% disabled I found I was struggling doing the caravan washing so paid an arm and a leg to get it done supposedly professionally They power washed off most of the decals .
So early this year just before my second dose of covid I got to playing in my mancupboard . Picked up a secondhand light weight alu extending car wash lance that weighs about 1.5 pounds for £3.
But it still connects via the standard Hoselock connection on a standard hose pipe .. gets a bit too clonky on the glass walls when washing the glass greenhouse roof & is quite heavy for me the days .
I devised a work-around using 6.4 mm micro watering system hose , simple push to connect/ disconnect LPG gas connectors & spigots plus a bit of jiggery pokery to give me a 7 mtr reach of the 6.4 lOD light neoprene rubber tube that now has a very effective soap stick dispenser straight into the hosepipe connector .
With my lass on safety duties I cleaned & rinsed off the outside of the glasshouse in a mater of minutes .. Stood by the door end asked Alison to turn the water off as it was finished .................... and the whole bloody thing flew apart where I'd made the 6.4 hose connections .. I had to laugh if it had happened any sooner Alison would have wet herself laughing at me getting soaked trying to catch the free flicking about due to the /4 inch thick jet of water .
Well it's back to the sketch pad .. I've got to design a way of retaining the 6.4 neoprene hose ends inside brass or plastic fittings. The rather expensive Delrin capable super glue I'd used though well cured for a week or more failed to retain it .. suspect it was the continued pressure actual stretching the tube till it broke the bonding into th brass sleeve . The other end at the lance appears to have been the first to fail as the tiny spigot sheared off.
I'm thinking of turning up a compression sleeve jacket & use stainless steel insert inside the tube to stop it collapsing when a compression retainer band is put on the outer side of the tube . Doing similar inside a Delrin connecting cylinder device at the soap dispenser end . I might even have to up the size of the tubing to allow me to put the reinforcing inserts inside the tube.
Pictures to follow .
So to this end some 9 years ago I purchased an extending soft bristled caravan washing brush with a 6x 12 inch wide thick fibre washing head for the astronomic sum of £27 .
It plugs directly into a Hoselock hosepipe connector and as the head unscrewed you could slip a couple of soft wax car wash shampoo sticks in the pipe work , turn the water on and get going.
But that is for fit & able people . At a guess the tube work fully extended carried about 3 pounds of water , add to that the 2 .5 mtr extended lance and brush head at nearly four pounds and the angle of dangle moments of force about a point , suddenly what looked a good idea is rather heavy . Now add in the weight of a full hose pipe and the effort of dragging it about as you move around the caravan or greenhouse.
This year aged nearly 71 and 80% disabled I found I was struggling doing the caravan washing so paid an arm and a leg to get it done supposedly professionally They power washed off most of the decals .
So early this year just before my second dose of covid I got to playing in my mancupboard . Picked up a secondhand light weight alu extending car wash lance that weighs about 1.5 pounds for £3.
But it still connects via the standard Hoselock connection on a standard hose pipe .. gets a bit too clonky on the glass walls when washing the glass greenhouse roof & is quite heavy for me the days .
I devised a work-around using 6.4 mm micro watering system hose , simple push to connect/ disconnect LPG gas connectors & spigots plus a bit of jiggery pokery to give me a 7 mtr reach of the 6.4 lOD light neoprene rubber tube that now has a very effective soap stick dispenser straight into the hosepipe connector .
With my lass on safety duties I cleaned & rinsed off the outside of the glasshouse in a mater of minutes .. Stood by the door end asked Alison to turn the water off as it was finished .................... and the whole bloody thing flew apart where I'd made the 6.4 hose connections .. I had to laugh if it had happened any sooner Alison would have wet herself laughing at me getting soaked trying to catch the free flicking about due to the /4 inch thick jet of water .
Well it's back to the sketch pad .. I've got to design a way of retaining the 6.4 neoprene hose ends inside brass or plastic fittings. The rather expensive Delrin capable super glue I'd used though well cured for a week or more failed to retain it .. suspect it was the continued pressure actual stretching the tube till it broke the bonding into th brass sleeve . The other end at the lance appears to have been the first to fail as the tiny spigot sheared off.
I'm thinking of turning up a compression sleeve jacket & use stainless steel insert inside the tube to stop it collapsing when a compression retainer band is put on the outer side of the tube . Doing similar inside a Delrin connecting cylinder device at the soap dispenser end . I might even have to up the size of the tubing to allow me to put the reinforcing inserts inside the tube.
Pictures to follow .