FAQ About Clipper

Q: I cannot snap my blade on my clipper, what am I doing wrong?
A: You must hear two clicks when snapping your blade on.   Have your clipper turned on while snapping on your blade, snap down once and then again firmly until you hear that second click.  They will loosen in time.

Q: My blades are getting hot too fast, what should I do?
A:  These are professional clippers with lots of torque and power.  You will experience more heat, your blade man or service man should know how to adjust the tension on your blade to loosen (DO NOT LOOSEN SCREWS ON BACK OF BLADE) this will help.  Oil, oil, oil, this will help keep your blades cool. We manufacture a product oil in a can we like to call it. 

Q: How do I get my blades to stop rattling?
A: Usually this is caused by the little ears or wings being spread on the blade socket.  Using needle nose pliers simple squeeze these slightly toward the center of the socket to make a tighter fit.

Q: What’s the difference between Steel blades and Ceramic Blades?
A:  Steel blades are both lower and upper steel and Ceramic is lower steel/Titanium and upper (cutter) ceramic.  Ceramic will stay cool and sharp longer, but ceramic cutters break easier.

Q: What blade size should I use on my dog, horse, cat, Llama, goat, or rabbit, etc?
A:  This is a hard question to answer because every pet owner loves their animal shaved and groomed a certain length and way.  The best advise is to contact your local groomer and seek their advise or perhaps purchase a grooming guide.  Our clippers usually come with a standard size #10 cutter blade (size could vary).

Q: How and when should I clean my clipper blades?
A:  You should clean your clipper blades after every use.  Hold clipper in a downward position, Dip blades in Laube blade dip while blade is attached to clipper and still running.  Wipe off excess solvent.  This will keep blades clean and oiled and ready for your next groom. 

Q: Which motor is right for my application?
A: The heart of a good hair clipper is a mechanical motor that drives the blade. Let's look at the three common types of clipper motors, and the pros and cons of each:
The Magnetic Motor (high speed, low torque)
The magnetic motor is found in almost all of the most inexpensive clippers on the market. This motor design is simple and generally reliable, with few moving parts. The motor consists of a spring and an electomagnet working in tandem to vibrate the blade back and forth. While the magnetic motor provides less power than the other two motor designs, it may be sufficient for occassional uses. Use on dry hair.
 
The Pivot Motor (low speed, high torque)
The pivot motor is similar to the magnetic motor, but uses two electromagnets and no spring. While the blade speed is actually reduced, pivot motor clippers produce at least twice the cutting power over magnetic motor clippers. This added power makes cutting through wet hair a breeze. Pivot motor clippers are used by professional stylists and are ideal for everyday cutting. 
 
The Rotary Motor (high speed, high torque)
Rotary motors are the engine behind the most powerful clippers on the market, and come in AC and DC powered units. Many DC powered units are cordless, powered by batteries. Although DC units are less powerful than AC units, the freedom of cords can be a welcomed delight. Rotary motor clippers are often expensive and used for bulk hair removal applications along with dog and horse grooming.

Q: Why do my blades get hot so fast?
A: “Why do my blades get hot so fast now?” is the most asked question that I hear. I will cover some of the reasons for blades heating up and how to prevent it. 
 
The biggest reason for hot blades is the clippers are faster now.  Most clippers were about 2000 spm (strokes per minute), and now they are 4000 plus spm. This is like going from a moped to a high performance car.  With the added speed you get more heat.  What is the best way to keep two metal parts from heating up…..  LUBRICATION!  Keeping your blades clean and lubed will increase the life of your blades and clipper.
 
To help illustrate this point, rub your hands together slowly.  You will start to feel a little warmth, but not anything unbearable.  Now rub your hands together faster.  The heat is more intense and is generated quicker. After a minute or so they start to feel sticky.  Now if you put some lotion on and do this again your hands stay much cooler and are easier to rub to together.  When I do this experiment with people they usually say “I use one of the cooling/lube/etc sprays.”  That is great, but it is hard to have a product that can cool/lube/clean equally.  The spray products are not intended to take the place of regular cleaning and oiling.  They are to help you get through grooming that animal as quickly as possible.
 
The sprays naturally dry out the blade guide (plastic part on top of the blade).  The sprays contain some type of cleaner, which is for removing oil, so all the oil is sucked out of the plastic blade guide. When this happens you will hear a high pitch squeak from the dry plastic rubbing on the steel.  Also the blade will seem to cut slower from the increased friction.  To get the guide roiled may take several drops of oil.  Once the guide is reoiled, the clipper will speed up again and the heat will be less.  The greatest cause of blade heat is from the blade guide being dry and increased clipper speed. 
 
The sprays also leave a sticky residue after the blade runs for a while.  When the blade starts to slow down again and not cut, it is the spray getting sticky again.  When you respray it, this loosens up the sticky stuff so the blade speeds up again.  An example of this is when you spray a hot pan with cooking spray.  When the cooking spray hits the hot pan it sizzles, then gets brown and sticky.  The spray now has a crusty appearance and does not coat the pan as it should.   When blades have dirt/gunk in them, this will cause the two cutting surfaces not to meet. If the blades are continually run in this condition the gunk bakes on the blades.  A lot of blades are not really dull when a sharpener gets them, but are in need of a good cleaning.  The sharpening process removes all the gunk and gives you two new clean surfaces that will mate correctly with less friction. Dirty blades get hotter faster, which can remove the “temper” of the blade.  Temper is the hardness of the blade and its ability to hold an edge. 
 
When the Super fast clippers (5-10,000 spm) first came out, I was getting blades in that were blue from the overheating of the blades and also had this brown tinge to them from the cooling sprays. The solution given to help with the extreme heating problem was to loosen the tension of the blade, which does help to generate less heat, but can create a new problem of blades “catching” the hair.  By “catching”, I mean you make one swipe and the blade quits, then you slide the cutter to remove the hair stuck between the blade teeth. The reason the hair is “catching” is the blade is separating just enough to not allow the hair to cut, so it wraps around the teeth instead. Sharpeners do try to set the blades as light as possible, but not so light as to cause this problem.  Another problem of too loose of tension is screws in the blades vibrate out because there is not enough tension to hold them securely. 
 
As a blade gets hot, it can quit working, but will usually start working again once it cools off.  The reason for this is when metal heats up it expands, which creates more friction.  The clipper can’t move the blade as fast so it seems to be dull.  How many times have you handed a blade to the sharpening person and they test it and it works?   
 
The easiest way to help with the blade heat problem is to have 3 or 4 of the same number blade and rotate them out when they get warm.  Some people put them on a piece of tile, in a window or under a fan to let them cool while they continue to work.  The customers I have that do this increase the time between sharpenings dramatically. Some people say it waste time to keep switching out blades, but when you look at how much slower and harder you have to work with hot blades it is actually faster.  
 
The clipper vac systems really help keep blades cool, but they also give a false sense of not having to oil blades.  Anytime two pieces of metal rub together they will need to be lubed.  Think of the blade as a mini engine.  If you don’t keep the engine oiled it will seize up and be costly to replace or repair.  By keeping your equipment well lubed and clean, will greatly decrease your maintenance cost and amount of sharpenings you should need.