To Rotobrush or not to Rotobrush?

[Sibhusky]

Jacques is a lone voice on this one.

 

[Polo]

Roto brushes are great for certain things but as a first or even second brush, after scraping, they are not so great. Post scraping, use oval brushes for wax removal and roto brushes for polishing and overlays.

Now before anyone gets their panties in a twist, I'm not saying roto brushes won't remove wax, it's just that oval brushes do a better job removing wax from the structure and roto brushes do a better job of polishing the base.

 

[Sibhusky]

I alternate them after I scrape. I'm certainly scraping well, because they are too expensive to get them all gunked up with wax. Scrapers are cheap.

 

[Yo Momma]

Jacques is a lone voice in this one.

Jaques video is Hilarious! Great vid and solid technique, we're talkin' "Old School" skills on this one...........

 

[Jacques]

Jaques video is Hilarious! Great vid and solid technique, we're talkin' "Old School" skills on this one...........

Believe it or not it works every time. For me the expense of a roto is unwarranted and I would not like to be kicking up dust. One can get a fine polish by hand with good brushes. Again the key is proper scraping first! Here's to yo Yo!

 

[SpikeDog]

No one has weighed in yet on the non-business end of the roto brush - the electric drill.

I like cordless drills for rotobrushing, but there are some definite speed limits to your basic cordless drill. My first cordless drill would be lucky to see 1400 rpm, and my Milwaukee M18 tops out at 1800 rpm. Toko brass rotobrush recommends only 800 rpm with a light touch, but a black nylon Toko is recommended to be run at 2500 rpm. Swix horsehair is listed at 1000-2000 rpm, Swix blue nylon at 2500.

I run my black Toko nylon at the drill's top speed of 1800, but I'd have to run a corded drill to get to 2500 rpm.

 

[KingGrump]

Most corded 3/8" drills will get to 2,300/2,500 RPM. Most are pistol grip which I find to be more ergonomic in operation vs the usual T handle designs of the cordless units. The trigger lock also takes a load off the fingers. The down side is cord management and they ain't cool.

Cordless drill wise, most tops out between 1,500 and 1,800 RPM. Some Makita 18v hammer drill units will go to 2,100 RPM. Standard Dewalt units will do 2,000. I travel with a small Makita 18v unit that will hit 1,800. At home I use a older Hilti 15.6v unit that tops out at 2,300. That is the highest RPM cordless drill I am aware of. Hilti's current 22v offering tops out at 2,200, They are big, chunky, heavy and cost the earth.

 

[ScotsSkier]

Harbor Freight, 3/8 inch variable speed corded drill. 0-3000rpm so you can vary to suit the brush. You can usually find it with a coupon for about $13. All you need for the business end. And a lot lighter than a decent cordless one.!

 

[Sibhusky]

I switched to a corded drill fairly quickly. The darn battery was always needing swapping on the cordless and I eventually learned how to deal with the cord.

 

[Drahtguy Kevin]

Harbor Freight, 3/8 inch variable speed corded drill. 0-3000rpm so you can vary to suit the brush. You can usually find it with a coupon for about $13. All you need for the business end. And a lot lighter than a decent cordless one.!

I don’t know, man. Another $13? This sport is expensive...

 

[hbear]

I just use a corded drill as well, hated having batteries going dead and having to worry about charging them before a race weekend.
Figured I need an outlet for my iron, no big deal to need a plug for my drill too, now with a grinder need power for that too so stuck having to find a plug when I tune anyways.

 

[Blue Streak]

^^^ @Max Capacity look up the No scraping technique here on Philpug............. you'll never go back to scraping again............ at least I didn't. Once I found this I was totally done w/ that messy procedure! .......... and it's easy peasey! No more yelling at you for the mess in the Basement/Garage!

If you’re talking about tapping the wax on the iron and rubbing it on the skis, instead of the old drizzle the wax routine, you are right on.
I switched, and I’ll never go back.
No scraping!
Just tap it on, iron, cool, and brush.

 

[Chris Walker]

Hmm...I hadn't even considered the drill aspect. Candidly the biggest reason I started considering rotobrushes is that my pop got me a fancy cordless drill for Christmas and I hardly ever drill things because I'm not your typical handyman. Well, I rarely do more than 3 pairs of skis at a time; I'm hoping the battery will last long enough for that. And even the wimpy RPMs of my drill seem like a lot more strokes than I can manage by hand.

 

[KingGrump]

seem like a lot more strokes than I can manage by hand.

Let's not go there, eh. This is a family friendly site.

 

[Chris Walker]

Let's not go there, eh. This is a family friendly site.

Brush strokes! Brush strokes!

 

[James]

Some Brass roto brushes will shed wire at a very alarming rate! Pay attention to the speed limits.

I don't use brass rotos much...but when I do I spin them fast and spray bristles everywhere.

 

[weatherman]

Roto-brushes changed my life. They save immense amounts of time. For a drill I started with cordless but quickly found them inadequate. I have a corded Hitachi drill. That little dial on the trigger allows you to set a max speed. You can dial it back for the steel brush, otherwise it is full speed with horsehair or nylon. At first I thought it was an important feature to have, but I rarely use that steel brush. I think any corded drill would do fine.

 

[Frankly]

Being old school, even hand brushes are kind of secondary to me. For free skiing on harsh snow is it even possible to notice the difference?

And for racing, especially a fair to middling U16 how much time are we talking about? Is gaining 0.05s from rotobrushing and expensive waxes really justifiable?

Again I don't have a kid racing nor did I build their soapbox derby cars....

 

[Sibhusky]

I never waxed when I skied at Camelback. The occasional edge with was all I needed, you didn't dare go that fast anyway, too many bodies to dodge.

But certainly on a closed course a racer can win on wax... If they're at the competitive top level. Unlikely for fair to middling, but it's all about the points and your distance behind the winners. So, if you get yourself a second closer to the winners, you lower your points, you get better starts. You get better starts, you get a better course. You get a better course, you get better results. Then you start making the quota cut. It all adds up.

 

[Chris Walker]

And for racing, especially a fair to middling U16 how much time are we talking about? Is gaining 0.05s from rotobrushing and expensive waxes really justifiable?

Again I don't have a kid racing nor did I build their soapbox derby cars....

Well I couldn't hold a candle to a middling U16, but .05s becomes important to me when I lose to one of my buddies by .04s. But I don't buy the really expensive waxes. Bragging rights among the slowpokes only goes so far.