Give me your opinion on the DriMaster

Charlie Lyman

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Charlie Lyman
I have a ton of upholstery to do. I am thinking of getting one. Is it truly worth it? Give me your opinions, good and bad.
Thanks
 

cbcsi

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Jan 4, 2009
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I Like mine a lot. However I think you lose a little speed and you use more water.
 

Blue Monarch

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Dirk Wingrove
Try one out if you can. Guys either love them or hate them it seems. I sold mine. Wasn't comfortable for me.
 

Johnny

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I like mine (new model). Faster than my Hi-Dry and the no-trigger/constant flow is easier on my tendonitis.
_______________________________________

STOP GLOBAL COOLING!
 

Jim1

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Jan 1, 2007
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40
How about when the Valve start's to leak or needs to be repaired,

I had the Old style and the valve's could'nt be repaired I was told, Just seems like a alot of money to throw away, I was looking at the new one's myself, Has any one tore one apart and tried yet.

Jim
 

handdi

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Randy
we like our new one 4 months old i guess
clean furn that would have turned down in the past
cleaned some pretty nasty crap also worked good


i give it 2 thumbs up
 
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Jim1 said:
How about when the Valve start's to leak or needs to be repaired,

I had the Old style and the valve's could'nt be repaired I was told, Just seems like a alot of money to throw away, I was looking at the new one's myself, Has any one tore one apart and tried yet.

Jim


I have the black head with the on/off valve on the head of the tool. It started to leak. I called hydramaster and they said a rebuild kit for the tool was $40.00. I bought the Hydrokinetic tool after the old drimaster snagged a office chair.

I too wanted to try the new drimaster as I seen one at MyteeMikeyFest. Looks like a nice tool.
 

Shane T

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Shane Tiegs
I have the old style and like it for some delicate or not very soiled fabrics but its generally not my first choice. I'm not comfortable cleaning in a back and forth motion with it as it tends to catch on some fabrics. For those who use the DriMaster with a large blower do you also use a vacuum release? Those small vacuum slots are very restrictive and the blower gets quite hot when running a constant 14 or 15"hg.
 

Johnny

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Shane T said:
I have the old style and like it for some delicate or not very soiled fabrics but its generally not my first choice. I'm not comfortable cleaning in a back and forth motion with it as it tends to catch on some fabrics. For those who use the DriMaster with a large blower do you also use a vacuum release? Those small vacuum slots are very restrictive and the blower gets quite hot when running a constant 14 or 15"hg.

Never noticed that. You must run a blower bigger than my 47.

STOP GLOBAL COOLING!
 

The Great Oz

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Nov 25, 2006
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seattle
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bryan
We love the original Drimaster, but keep other tools for cleaning the next-to-garbage upholstery. I was skeptical of the new prototype, but the market version is impressive, and I'm likely to buy them when we wear out our old ones.


Always use a vacuum relief when cleaning upholstery with a truckmount! :shock:
 

Shorty

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I have the old model in white, it's old.

When I was in Vegas for Connections last year I bought the new wider model.

The older model although narrower, had wider vacuum slots.

Not wider length wise, but from front to back if you get what I mean.

Larger bits of rubbish could enter the tool.

This made it great for fringe cleaning.

The solution knob at the far end of the hose was always a pain in the arse.

As was the on/off valve under the handle.

The plastic/perspex sight glass was a bonus being so easy to remove to clear the tool of any rubbish.

Even pulling the entire tool was very easy.


The new wider tool I like a lot, but it has a few things I am not happy with.

The vacuum slots are much narrower than the old model.

It is noisy, it screams at a high pitch with my little truck mount.

To pull it to pieces to clear any obstructions is a right pain in the arse, so many bloody screws to undo and replace.

I think from memory there are ten bloody fiddly screws to undo just to clean out any debris which helps make the tool scream louder than me. :lol:

The end knob is gone, great.

The lever under the handle is changed to a knob that is housed by a small shield, great.

This knob also acts as the on/off knob.

It doesn't catch on fabric like the old lever action did.

The longer handle makes the tool very ergonomically comfortable, for both Delia and me.

Cleaning in either hand is a breeze.

I tend to hold the tool at the rear of the handle which appears to give me more comfort when cleaning.

When I raised some of these problems to the supplier, they agreed to take it back for a full refund.

My answer was..................... "Out of my dead lifeless fingers that you will have to prise apart".

I do like this tool better than most others of the dozen or so that I have had, and still have most of.

For mass production, it is a great tool.

A spotter bottle and large trigger sprayer with water may be needed for very dirty upholstery to give that extra water flow.

I still keep the old DriMaster in the van as a back-up tool.

Hope this is of some help.

Ooroo,

:roll:


PS :::: It's actually twelve screws and eight nuts :shock:
 

Chris A

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Chris
I have the old style tool. I like it, but I do need to use a vac relief. My CDS will be pegging the temp guage after cleaning a chair.
 

Loren Egland

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Oct 18, 2006
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Loren Egland
A short time ago I was in the northern California Proline shop. They now carry the Hydrokinetic tool as well as the new Drimaster tool. Though the people there are experienced, they had never seen the Hydrokinetic tool in action, so I explained some of the benefits to them.

I went about my shopping and the fellow later came up to me and asked if I would like to see the new Drimaster tool demoed. So we did a side by side comparison of the two tools on an upholstery rack. You still have to dial down the Drimaster to reduce flow if you don't want any water leaking through the fabric. The Hydrokinetic can be run full bore with no leaking through the fabric, so more cleaning performance when needed while leaving fabric dryer.

The Hydrokinetic has a trigger for full control of the solution, just like a carpet cleaning wand. Both tools are similar in shape.

Try them out at 400 or 500 psi at full flow. The Hydrokinetic has a number 3 jet so it really puts out the water, yet without overweting.
 

Shorty

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Thanks for that Loren.

Just out of curiosity, what does the "Kinetic" tool cost over there :?:

Thanks,

Shorty.
 
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Kevin McCreary
I have two of the new drimasters and the top stainless steel lip keeps popping off on both of them. I cant seem to keep them from falling off. Other than that they work ok.
 

Newman

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Chris Newman
I have the trusty old style drimaster which has made me mucho $$. I wish it was wider to increase production time. When the water flow control valve started to leak I tested the new $400 + drimaster. I was not impressed.

I spent $100 to replace the water flow control valve and the parker quick connect on my old drimaster. Easy to rebuild and dead on control of air and water flow.

It paid for itself again today...
 

Loren Egland

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Shorty Down Under said:
Thanks for that Loren.

Just out of curiosity, what does the "Kinetic" tool cost over there :?:

Thanks,

Shorty.

I didn't ask price since I already own the new Hydrokinetic and 3 old Hydrokinetic tools, one of which is probably 24 years old. I assume the price is similar to the new Drimaster.

Loren
 

Shorty

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In working principle, it looks similar to the CFR upholstery tool. ?

Am I correct in this assumption as I have not seen either apart from on the web. ?

USD$459.00 means it would probably retail for about AUS$1,000.00 down under. :cry:

You lucky buggers.

Thanks and ooroo,

:(


PS ::: At today's rate, it would cost me AUS$586.42 if I was over there.

Double bugger. :cry: :cry:
 
T

The Magician

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I have used alot of uph. tools in 33 yrs. of cleaning. Love the new dri master tool. Probably the best tool. Had a problem with the lip coming off. HM will correct it. Love the tool. I did a ton of haitin cotton uph and it dried in 10 mins. and the customer was very happy with the cleaning. I have 2 of the old drimasters but they are not as good as the new tool. Its also faster cleaning.
 

Ron Werner

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Sooke BC, Lower Vancouver Island
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I had the old Drimaster. The plastic was starting to crack by the vac ports. It felt like it would dig into the fabric when pushing forward so had to watch on delicates.

Needed a new one. Posted about it a couple years ago before going to Connections in Vegas. Saw the Prochem which some brag about, the CFR, and the Hydrokinetic. The new Drimaster wasn't out yet.

It was the demo of the Hydorkinetic which sold me, cleaning across a fine fabric and not a drop going through. That and the teflon head, winning combo.

Biggest challenge with it is that it does have a heavy head.
BUt it sure is a breeze to puch back and forth, no issues with snagging. And the water flow!! WOW, mine has a 04 jet, it'll soak you without that glide on, amazing how much water flows through that tool!!
 

gary mackay

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Sep 2, 2007
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I have a love affair with my new Kleenrite UPH tool with a glide, the drimaster has been okay but sucked on microfiber for me! I can tolerate microfiber with this new tool. I tried a butt load of tools and am ashamed of how much I have spent.
 

Ron Werner

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I agree, been a so long since I used it, but it was sure nice just cleaning away and not worrying about water spraying all over and triggering every pass.

Maybes I can just put a valve on the HK 8)
 

TimP

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May 19, 2007
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I saw the new drimaster earlier this week. It looks like it's wider than the old, which I do own and use. However the vac hose on it seems very cheap and hard. Of course I haven't tried it.

As far as my drimaster goes I think it's an ok tool. No water spitting all over is nice. I don't think production time is all that great. I've been thinking about a newer tool for faster production because I hate doing upholstery. The HK sounds like a great tool though. I'd almost lean that way from the rave reviews from owners in this thread.
 

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