Whip clips or lash,lol

[hillhead]

Lash Clips (raimondi).
One of my big locals told me they were for getting in a dozen big sets of them and would love me to try a set out for them.
The manager tells me he seen a floor lately tiled using them and could not believe how perfect it looked.
Now i can tile really well but will try these out for sure to see.
I know some on here have used them so any reports?

 

[bugs183]

I've been tiling for over twenty years, and i'm not too bad at it, but i can't recommend lash clips enough.
If you've ever laid a polished porcelain floor in a room with lots of glass etc then you will get lots of reflections, any difference in the tiles will result in these reflections stepping out of line (does this make sense?0. If you use lash clips these really pull the tiles together and make the reflections perfect. Large format tiles also benefit from lash clips as they bolt the tiles in place, especially on walls.
Its not a cheap system and i don't believe it makes the job quicker as advertised as you have to remove all the clips after drying and then clean up the joints more than usual.
People can scoff and say DIY, but these do give the job that extra bit of help.
And the yellow wedges are really handy on other jobs too.

 

[doug boardley]

although I've not tried them I'm reluctant to because of the potential "voids" issue, for the money spent on this system I'd rather spend it on getting existing substrate pan flat....just my tuppence worth.

 

[nybor62]

i would try them for free ,

 

[EverDon Tiling]

I wouldn't mind giving them ago but like nybor62 says for free

 

[hillhead]

The tile shop manager was so impressed with floors and walls this tiler done,
He said it was unbelievable in fact.
Now I can tile really well myself too but I might take some and try on a floor soon.
Gary Walsh tried them I believe?
Come on Gary, spill.

 

[Rizzle from the Portizzle]

if you are a realy good fixer you wont need these just an on going story of the shops squeezing every last penny out of the tilers on prouducts that are not needed sold by people who have not fixed a tile in there lives i have stood in more tile shops than i can recall while the staff give bad advice . if you use these i think you will start to lose your skill of the touch.these are probably good for new tilers and for the sales staff.

 

[hillhead]

Great points Ray, no doubt the lash clips would seriously help a bad tiler to gain the standards obtained by us confident tilers.
Costly to build into jobs too IMO so as you say money the pockets of shops and makers.
Every penny counts these days too.

 

[enduro]

I think people should try them before saying they are for DIY people...I will give them ago.

 

[bugs183]

I totally agree with your point Ray, but i am a good fixer, and i still think they have their place,but only on exceptional jobs.
Imagine using 1000x500mm rectified porcelain tiles on a ditra matted area surrounded on three sides by full length windows, this job is 180m2 and is a top notch job. The last thing you want to do is make a mess around pulling a tile up to get raise it a couple of mm. The tension of all that adhesive could take could pull the ditra, suction pads won't do it either, so i used lash clips, and the floor was perfect.
Now in that situation they fully justified themselves, on regular jobs they don't.
All i'm saying is don't knock 'um till you try 'um.

 

[bugs183]

Oh and believe me, i'm not conned by anything any sales assistant says!!

 

[Spud]

I used the raimondi lash clips on several jobs but mainly using large format thin porcelain they are a good product but wont make an uneven floor perfectly level and they do work out expensive, out of a bag of 250 clips expect 20-30 broken in the pack add to that you will lose another 10% over tightening,they slow the work up when you first start using them and you cant keep your work as clean
I do rate them but it will cost you £2 per m off your price to use them it will slow the job up slightly so it will cost you a bit there too
I think if you use them Joe you will like them but dont think a tiler as good as you needs them.

 

[hillhead]

Great review there Gary, costly buggers for sure.
I don't feel the need to use them as i'v put down some top class level floors lately and have pics to show,lol.
I will try them out for this company and they won't cost me luckily, this same company get me to try out different adhesives at times too.

 

[Alan M]

i used a few of these on a job lately. i only used a few for aquard places. very handy for narrow pieces that just want to sink down or lip up a bit. wouldnt want to use them for a whole floor thow

 

[nybor62]

why are they so expensive , maybe if they reduced the price more folk would give them a try , to be honest if i cant get a floor flat then its time to chuck my tools in a skip


ill order the skip 2 morro

 

[bugs183]

The Raimondi sound a bit pants if your getting that rate of failure before you even start fixing, the lashclips really do take some breaking during the fixing process,but break off nicely.

The downsides are the costs obviously, but you do reuse the pegs, so once you have a bucket full those last for ages. I did look into buying them in bulk from the States (at about half of the cost of them from the UK), as i had another huge format porcelain job to do, but luckily that didn't happen, sometimes some jobs really aren't worth knackering your back over.
Also it it isn't quicker, and it can be messier, what with not being able to fully wash the adhesive off the tile. And if you have to stop and halfway on a job and tile again later you need to leave the next run of clips in otherwise you won't get them to squeeze under the tile.
So yea, they are a bit of a faff, and not for everyday use, but on the odd job a couple of times a year the are a real help.
Now the Raimondi Pedalo... now that is a good piece of kit.......

 

[nybor62]

The Raimondi sound a bit pants if your getting that rate of failure before you even start fixing, the lashclips really do take some breaking during the fixing process,but break off nicely.

The downsides are the costs obviously, but you do reuse the pegs, so once you have a bucket full those last for ages. I did look into buying them in bulk from the States (at about half of the cost of them from the UK), as i had another huge format porcelain job to do, but luckily that didn't happen, sometimes some jobs really aren't worth knackering your back over.
Also it it isn't quicker, and it can be messier, what with not being able to fully wash the adhesive off the tile. And if you have to stop and halfway on a job and tile again later you need to leave the next run of clips in otherwise you won't get them to squeeze under the tile.
So yea, they are a bit of a faff, and not for everyday use, but on the odd job a couple of times a year the are a real help.
Now the Raimondi Pedalo... now that is a good piece of kit.......

i have the pedalo great bit of kit esp for larger floors

 

[hillhead]

I have a raimondi stockist close to me, great prices too Ceramic Tiling Tools, Raimondi Tools UK & Ireland

 

[charlie1]

wonder if there was a similar argument when the spirit level was invented?? If it works and makes you more efficient and ecconomicaly viable then it will be here to stay although most old timers will stick to what they know. New guys will be more inclined to embrace the technology! The sad thing is, these type of things remove the 'craft' from craftsman further automating the tiling process but generally will prob improve the industry overall. So to recap, IMO its good and bad, not something I would use though, I like the skill in tiling!

 

[hillhead]

Too right Charlie, it's the skill we have that gains us our reputation.
Every trade evolves though, the lash clips would help a DIY'er to no end i'd say.
If a DIY'er uses these clips to lay a floor and it turns out top notch will they look as good if not better than us??? oh dear. lol.
We'll have machines laying tiles soon enough.

 

[charlie1]

I think the clips would need a pretty flat floor to start with or you would have the obvious coverage issues, this would not be much of an issue in a domestic situation too depending on a few factors! Id like to see a polished porc floor done with these to see just how good they are. I love fitting polished porc, love trying to get all those shadows matching up, can be a right pain in the but and time consuming but strangly relaxing and theraputic doing it lol

 

[John Benton]

Too right Charlie, it's the skill we have that gains us our reputation.
Every trade evolves though, the lash clips would help a DIY'er to no end i'd say.
If a DIY'er uses these clips to lay a floor and it turns out top notch will they look as good if not better than us??? oh dear. lol.
We'll have machines laying tiles soon enough.

I think we'll leave that to the Germans :smilewinkgrin:

 

[EverDon Tiling]

just looked how much they are how can they justify a price that high ill stick to dotting and dabbing with hubba bubba and cardboard for spacers