My thoughts on the Rug Badger.

Mikey P

Administrator
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
112,308
Location
The High Chapperal
Having used one since January I can say with assurance that you'd be financially better off with a tight belted beater bar Sanitaire or an OP machine with some marbles sewn into a Tuway pad.


Either option would be easier to use, wont suck up thin rugs and wont beat the crap out of tufted and backed junk rugs from Ikea. Most likely you already own one or the other.
I have two extreme Randy Hyde type Hand Wash plants in town and neither use the RB


The Badger is not only over kill, cumbersome, harsh on thin rugs and far too much money but your supporting an industry huckster.


I wish Clark would go direct and scale that damn thing down 60 % in bulk and price.
 

Joel D

Member
Joined
May 23, 2007
Messages
434
Location
Oakfield, NY
Name
Joel Darker
I got to give you a lot of credit Mikey-you say it how it is

i swear i got ten emails in the last couple days all related to the rug badger
 

rhyde

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
4,253
Location
Portland, Oregon
Name
rhyde
As I've said in the past.... but no one listens.

it does work well...better on some rugs particularly thick rugs but it's useless on others.
 

ACE

Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2008
Messages
2,513
Location
Lawrence, KS
Name
Mike Hughes
Wow,
I was really thinking about buying one. I guess, I’ll just keep vacuuming the backs of rugs for a few more years. When I find a house in a few years I’ll find with a standalone building to workout or. Then I can set up a proper rug washing plant with a kick a$$ air compressor and a steal grate outside to dust rugs.
 

rhyde

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
4,253
Location
Portland, Oregon
Name
rhyde
ACE said:
Wow,
I was really thinking about buying one. I guess, I’ll just keep vacuuming the backs of rugs for a few more years. When I find a house in a few years I’ll find with a standalone building to workout or. Then I can set up a proper rug washing plant with a kick a$$ air compressor and a steal grate outside to dust rugs.


Air isn't the end all in an ideal world you have all three
 

Mikey P

Administrator
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
112,308
Location
The High Chapperal
Take a Sanitaire Vibra Groomer 1 beater bar and replace the brush strips with another set of knuckles.


Wha-La!

$175 Rug Beater.
 

steve frasier

Supportive Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2006
Messages
3,375
Location
portland oregon
Name
steve frasier
Then I can set up a proper rug washing plant with a kick a$$ air compressor and a steal grate outside to dust rugs

they are talking about trying to regulate dust in the air here so that wouldn't work outside
 

rhyde

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
4,253
Location
Portland, Oregon
Name
rhyde
Mikey P said:
Take a Sanitaire Vibra Groomer 1 beater bar and replace the brush strips with another set of knuckles.


Wha-La!

$175 Rug Beater.


that works great ..until you get to really thick rugs and pile tufted rugs. Really you need both the brushes for the front finishing and to get hair off the back of rugs and the metal strips for dusting or 50/50 half metal strips half brushes
 

Mikey P

Administrator
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
112,308
Location
The High Chapperal
If I did this full time I would have a assortment of vacs and beaters around.



and minimum wager to perform that nasty work.


Do you own and use a Rug Badger randy?
 

rhyde

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
4,253
Location
Portland, Oregon
Name
rhyde
I've had a badger for the past 5 years



here it is in the background you'll notice we often use it with the sanitaire at the same time...cute kid eh!




DSC_2023.jpg
 

Mikey P

Administrator
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
112,308
Location
The High Chapperal
Why now?


Yes that email got me going.

As did Dusty's handleing of the Ron Koeler Centirfuge up in Oregon.



But the real reason is I got out of my partnership with the Dry Cleaner today.


It just was not working out financially. Far too much time to make $1 to $2 a foot. One visit to clean a pile of mostly crappy rugs, one visit to deal with fringes and spots, another visit to vacuum and wrap and sort. Then a ile of paperwork and hopeless customer tracking. PITFA!


I now have a very high end Randy type is paying me a 50% finders fee. I made $740 with one phone call last week. No wet shoes, no aching back, no 400 dry strokes, just a phone call.


If you can't be at your dream rug studio 8 hours a day then don't bother.
 
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
8,180
Location
PA
Name
I'm Rick James
Mikey P said:
Why now?


Yes that email got me going.

As did Dusty's handleing of the Ron Koeler Centirfuge up in Oregon.



But the real reason was I' got out of my partnership with the Dry Cleaner today.


It just was not working out financially. Far too much time to make $1 to $2 a foot. One visit to clean a pile of mostly crappy rugs, one visit to deal with fringes and spots, another visit to vacuum and wrap and sort. Then a ile of paperwork and hopeless customer tracking. PITFA!


I now have a very high end Randy type is paying me a 50% finders fee. I made $740 with one phone call last week. No wet shoes, no aching back, no 400 dry strokes, just a phone call.


If you can't be at your dream rug studio 8 hours a day then don't bother.

Pay someone 20% and pocket an extra 30%.
 

rhyde

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
4,253
Location
Portland, Oregon
Name
rhyde
Ron is on bane bridge Island near Seattle

as far as the badger i think I've been consistent about it's capabilities and limitations all along even mentioned this on the hub a few times


“ generally you will get better (quicker) soil removal if you run the badger and a sanitaire on the back of a rug often we run both at the same time . Some soils and rugs respond better to a Sanitaire such as fine impacted dirt"

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4528&p=48121&hilit=rug+badger#p48121
 

steve frasier

Supportive Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2006
Messages
3,375
Location
portland oregon
Name
steve frasier
I now have a very high end Randy type is paying me a 50% finders fee. I made $740 with one phone call last week. No wet shoes, no aching back, no 400 dry strokes, just a phone call.

best way to do it if you ask me
 

ACE

Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2008
Messages
2,513
Location
Lawrence, KS
Name
Mike Hughes
Mikey is right area rugs sound like a ton of money, but if you don’t have the logistics worked out you might as well sub it out. I wish there was someone nearby with a real plant that I could sub them out to.
 

rhyde

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
4,253
Location
Portland, Oregon
Name
rhyde
Mikey P said:
Randy, why do you think David/talisman refused to use a RB?


David had one sent out tested it and sent it back. some rugs can be damaged with a RB from the weight of the machine and from friction on the back old Karastans for example can fuzz bad. This is why i get bitchy with some of the stuff in the industry it takes more than a CD with magical cleaning secrets some rug Guru's, RB or a centrifuge to be a good cleaner in fact i think these make for mediocre cleaners at best and some down right crappy ones.

Regardless, you where making "the big money" with your wash plant right Mikey?
 

Mikey P

Administrator
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
112,308
Location
The High Chapperal
Big money?

Hardly.


When it was all said and done @ $2 to $4 a foot I was making less then if I were charging .25 for wall to wall.



If I had a centrifuge that worked that would have been huge. Extracting pitted rugs takes forever, lugging them on a non hoisted rack is miserable and dangerous and unless you flush and flush for eternity you'll never get it all out of a real dirty rug. Deciding when to stop became a guessing game that I usually guessed wrong at due to time constraints.

Hand washing like you do, I would have to charge 7 to 8 a foot in a 50/50 partnership for it to be worth it for me to continue.
 

rhyde

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
4,253
Location
Portland, Oregon
Name
rhyde
A centrifuge isn't the end all, there are plenty of rugs you can't run through a centrifuge.... color run, rot and wear issues at one time when i considered one i figure about half of the rugs in a shop i'd feel comfortable running through a centrifuge and thats without any consideration for size constraints so it's likely less.

Back around 2002-3 i heard about the Katas & Catanet centrifuges i called..the guy in Alberta selling the Katas he was expounding on how great the machine was so i wanted to drive up and see it in action ..but he didn't have one in his own shop and the last i heard Dusty doesn't have a cetrifuge in his shop either...what gives there? The price is ridiculous at 40+ K i had hoped when Dusty started working with a Turkish centrifuge maker that these machines would be reasonably priced they are cheap in Turkey but they seem to have sidelined these and made their own at 4-5 x the cost ...you can get a Turkish centrifuge for 8-10K
 

-JB-

Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2006
Messages
5,387
Location
here
Name
JB
I was wondering how long that was gonna take before you came to your sences on the rug plant Mike, I was actually thinking it would have taken you twice as long.

I'll give Randy, Oz, and any others A LOT of credit, rug work makes resi., CC seem like a breeze, anyone who can do it full time, deserves serious props.
 

DavidVB

Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Messages
169
I agree that the Badger and Sanitaire both have their place. Clark is developing a fabric shield that will mount underneath the Badger. It will take the wear off sensitive rugs and prevent small and or thin rugs from being pulled into the machine.

I have had the same experience with flushing soiled rugs. It seems to never end. The centrifuge has changed all that. Spin the dirty water out and if needed put it back on the floor, clean and rinse and spin it again. Even if the rinse water from the first extraction is pretty soiled, I usually get very little from the second. The rugs are cleaner, they dry fast, I have virtually no detailing, and the work is so much easier. I find most rugs are fine in the centrifuge and there are ways to even run a sensitive rug through it if you choose to. Does it make sense financially? That is an individual decision. It does for me.
 

rhyde

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
4,253
Location
Portland, Oregon
Name
rhyde
DavidVB said:
Clark is developing a fabric shield that will mount underneath the Badger.


Oh yeah thats another thing.... Ron developed that he's been running that on his badger for the last year or so he sent the kit but i've never installed it Dusty was supposed to sell it as an add on and pay Ron a royalty, some how i don't think thats going to happen.
 

Greenie

Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
6,820
Mikey P said:
The Badger is not only over kill, cumbersome, harsh on thin rugs and far too much money but your supporting an industry huckster.

I wish Clark would go direct and scale that damn thing down 60 % in bulk and price.

Ouch.
 
Joined
Mar 29, 2008
Messages
9,345
Location
Hawaii
Name
Nate W.
rhyde said:
DavidVB said:
Clark is developing a fabric shield that will mount underneath the Badger.


Oh yeah thats another thing.... Ron developed that he's been running that on his badger for the last year or so he sent the kit but i've never installed it Dusty was supposed to sell it as an add on and pay Ron a royalty, some how i don't think thats going to happen.


Would that be the rug badger skin I've read about somewhere? I personally, took a piece of tyvek and taped it to the bottom of the badger. It worked good, but it was hella loud... I only do it for rugs that will fuzz or will get sucked up, but as long you stay on the fringe it won't get sucked up. Atleast never happened to me. :D
 

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom