Suction Only Floor Heads..

IMHO the lint pickers were designed to replace the grids on flip tools like the ones supplied by Electrolux "back in the day" where hard plastic would scrub upholstery. Lint pickers are a great deal softer and are adapted from clothing brushes for cleaning the lint off fabrics.

The problem with lint pickers is the backing - although sturdy and designed to move slightly forwards and backwards with the friction of the floor head moving backwards and forwards, they can be easily knocked out in time. Putting a long strip in would involve redesigning the floor head completely to accommodate full length strips as well as extra plastic to keep the lint strip in.

Also, over time the part that gets worn down the most means the rest of the strip would be wasted.

Miele's on board flat upholstery tool has twin pickers, and I think they are designed in the way Benny has described, here.

SEBO also fit them to their own patented larger swivel, lie-flat double jointed Deluxe Kombi floor head and as you can see the central dust suction channel has a concave designed to let dust/hair from the lint pickers be channelled into the twin suction channels.

For many years I was a fan of lint pickers until I realised the worth of SEBO's stiffer bar bristles in their upholstery brushes, which does away with the lint on the hand cleaning tools.

Also Miele appear to sell replacements for their tools but some brands have stick on lint strips which IMHO aren't as reliable and tend to literally get rubbed off.


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Post# 285944 6/23/2014 at 15:30 (3,588 days old) by baglessball ()
Checkrate/Likes Quick question.. Does anyone know the reason for the small velour strips/lint pickers on suction only floor heads? Why aren't they designed to cover the full width of the floor tool? Maybe they aren't effective toward the edge so they don't bother? Who knows?

Post# 285945 , Reply# 1 6/23/2014 at 15:42 (3,588 days old) by vintagerepairer (England)
Checkrate/Likes *Three possibilities* I would say that the longer they are and the closer to the edge of the tool they sit, the easier it is for them to become dislodged & damaged. Thus, they would require greater fixing and this would add considerably to the cost. Also, the pressure applied from the user to the floor tool is exerted entirely to the middle of the tool, therefore this is where any intense activity needs to take place as it makes full use of the pressure available. Add also to this, if the thread pickers sit around the main suction hole, anything which they loosen will be sucked straight up. I have to say though, I never thought the thread pickers made much difference to the cleaning performance. Time was I sold a universal tool which had a huge velour pad, a lot like a clothes brush. They worked very well on pet hair, cleaning hair off on one stroke, and releasing it into the suction hole on the other. The pad fitted either way round, so the user could choose whether to collect hair on the back stroke and release going forward, or vice-verso. Another variety was bigger and sported a suction control valve. This was more suited to carpets than furniture. It had two long pads on either side of the suction hole. They had the velour pile in opposing directions, meaning one pad collected hair whilst the other released it on alternating strokes.

Post# 285957 , Reply# 2 6/23/2014 at 19:12 (3,588 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)
Checkrate/Likes 1 IMHO the lint pickers were designed to replace the grids on flip tools like the ones supplied by Electrolux "back in the day" where hard plastic would scrub upholstery. Lint pickers are a great deal softer and are adapted from clothing brushes for cleaning the lint off fabrics. The problem with lint pickers is the backing - although sturdy and designed to move slightly forwards and backwards with the friction of the floor head moving backwards and forwards, they can be easily knocked out in time. Putting a long strip in would involve redesigning the floor head completely to accommodate full length strips as well as extra plastic to keep the lint strip in. Also, over time the part that gets worn down the most means the rest of the strip would be wasted. Miele's on board flat upholstery tool has twin pickers, and I think they are designed in the way Benny has described, here. SEBO also fit them to their own patented larger swivel, lie-flat double jointed Deluxe Kombi floor head and as you can see the central dust suction channel has a concave designed to let dust/hair from the lint pickers be channelled into the twin suction channels. For many years I was a fan of lint pickers until I realised the worth of SEBO's stiffer bar bristles in their upholstery brushes, which does away with the lint on the hand cleaning tools. Also Miele appear to sell replacements for their tools but some brands have stick on lint strips which IMHO aren't as reliable and tend to literally get rubbed off.

Post# 285958 , Reply# 3 6/23/2014 at 19:13 (3,588 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)
Checkrate/Likes Whoops forgot to add the photo! View Full Size

Post# 286019 , Reply# 4 6/24/2014 at 10:25 (3,587 days old) by paulc (Edinburgh)
Checkrate/Likes *vintagerepairer* Electrolux sell a similar tool to the one you describe for use with most vacuums. CLICK HERE TO GO TO paulc's LINK

Post# 286040 , Reply# 5 6/24/2014 at 12:26 (3,587 days old) by vintagerepairer (England)
Checkrate/Likes 1 HI Paul, thank you, yes it is similar. But interestingly I found the same tool I mentioned it still on sale here: CLICK HERE TO GO TO vintagerepairer's LINK on eBay