Picked up a new machine today

[phishfood]

I had bought an old Ridgid K1500 in rather rough shape a while back, took it all apart, cleaned it up, painted it, etc. Only problem was, it didn't come with cable or cutters. I priced cable, and would have cost me ~ $800 for a a full 150' load of 1 1/4 cable, and then cutters on top of that. I haven't been in any hurry to spend that much money, especially considering that most of my business is plumbing, not too much drain cleaning.

So I have been keeping a tiny eye on Craigslist, and spotted what looked like a beat up 1500 missing a handle with some cable. Upshot of it was, I drove down to Southwest FL today to pick up what I thought was cable, a good assortment of cutters, and a parts machine. I ended up with the cable, cutters, and an almost unused, well taken care of machine.The older guy who sold it to me had bought it brand new because he was tired of the local Illinois plumber's bad customer service, and used it twice. I even have the original operator's manual and the original drain cleaning mitt.

No pictures, as I got home after dark, but I will try to get some when I lay all of the cables out to oil them.

Now all I need is for someone to call with a major root blockage, so I can try this machine out.

 

[Chris]

Sweet, congrats. I have a stopped up line, can you swing by in the morning.

 

[phishfood]

On my way, but you have to pay the airline baggage fees. Maybe I can carry the cutter heads as a carry on.

 

[Chris]

OK but I hear you are having the nice weather right now.

 

[stevemachine]

Nice phish! Looks like a solid machine, of course if you ever get into drain cleaning more those Spartans are like the Cadillacs. I've used the generals and the Spartans, not ridgid yet. But the spartan makes the general look like a Hand snake lol. Let me know how it works!

 

[jack]

What do you think about water jets

 

[phishfood]

High pressure water jetting can be a very effective way to clean drain lines. It tends to do a better job of cleaning the pipe walls than cabling, though a full size cutter used by someone who know what they are doing works very well.

Jetters really shine on soft blockages, such as soft grease or mud.

 

[phishfood]

And now for some pictures of my new machine.

First, the machine. You can also see the 1 1/4" cable in the background.

 

[phishfood]

And now the cutter heads and cable mitt. Also, the black hose is the "tail" for the machine. This attaches to the back of the machine, and contains the section of cable that is not in the drain line so that the cable does not flop around.