Clippers stopped clipping-blades or clippers?

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Pc2003

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I got some liveryman harmony plus clippers this summer. I have a Connie and I suppose his coat is quite thick. I wasn't sure whether the clippers would be up to the job as mixed reviews but used them all summer for legs and face then used them for a trace clip in autumn then a full clip in October. They seemed to do fine and clipped nice but blades were blunt by the end.
Sent then to be sharpened and used them to do a reclip today. His coat had some thickness to it but not as thick as last time. They did great for about 3/4 of the clip then literally stopped cutting the hair? I clean and oil regularly and I had done the worst parts. They still make all the right movements and noise but they don't touch the hair at all.
Is it the blades or is the clipper not up to it?
 
You sure its definitely a clipper not a trimmer? If there's not enough power they won't go through a thick coat. I've had some full sized but ancient clippers refuse to go through a thick coat that wasn't perfectly clean too, eg bathed the day before. Also had a basically clean, large horse who rolled before clipping, blunt the blades 3/4 of the way through a full clip and yes I did brush him first.
 
Pinkvboots said:
It's normally the blades I find but they shouldn't really blunt after one clip are they the blades that came with the clippers?
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Ye they are the blades that came with the clippers (wide blades) and the same ones that have done all my previous clips, I sent them to a good company to be sharpened. The last time when they went blunt it was becoming obvious towards the end of the clip but this time they literally stopped clipping the hair.
I was wondering whether they got so blunt last time they were beyond saving? Is that possible?
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
You sure its definitely a clipper not a trimmer? If there's not enough power they won't go through a thick coat. I've had some full sized but ancient clippers refuse to go through a thick coat that wasn't perfectly clean too, eg bathed the day before. Also had a basically clean, large horse who rolled before clipping, blunt the blades 3/4 of the way through a full clip and yes I did brush him first.
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They are a clipper (was over 220 quid all in) but did say for the one horse owner. I got the wide blades (snap on) as horse has a thick coat. They clipped him out fine a few months back

ETA he isn't the cleanest of horses. I had brushed him but not sure how clean underneath he would have been. Tho no worse than when I first clipped him out
 
I bet they are not powerful enough . The full winter coats are through now before would have been part summer coat. Add in a bit of dirt or coat grease and the odd minor poo or wee stain and you find they do not clip. They sound like a decent dog clipper if you needed wide blades for a horse which in horse terms makes it a trimmer. I bought some Andis dog clippers not cheap but no way they would do my horses, maybe if I owned thoroughbreds.
 
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They may be pretensioned but when they are sent away for sharpening and they take them apart which removes all tension.
They are a pain in the arse to retension so a lot of clipper sharpening services just put them together and send them back without correctly tensioning.

There are 2 screws at the back of the blades, those are the tensioning bolts! Turning them will tighten or loosen the tension.
 
conniegirl said:
They may be pretensioned but when they are sent away for sharpening and they take them apart which removes all tension.
They are a pain in the arse to retension so a lot of clipper sharpening services just put them together and send them back without correctly tensioning.

There are 2 screws at the back of the blades, those are the tensioning bolts! Turning them will tighten or loosen the tension.
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Oh right okay. They did clip for 45 ish mins perfect tho?

I do wonder whether they are powerful enough. It's a shame as they have given a lovely clip. I borrowed some masta clip ones today to finish it off and I didn't like them.
They stopped cutting the hair on an easy part. And it came on very quick. It wasn't as if they sounded like they were struggling
 
I have harmony plus' and never had them stop mid clip enen on yeti like horses

Did you use the same blades throughout? If so i wonder if the heat generated screwed up the tension
 
Might your battery charge have dropped as well? The website says they are only good for an hour per charge and you said you had already been clipping for 45 mins. On the whole I find he cordless clippers significantly less powerful than mains powered. But you may well have had a combination of problems with the tension, a less than clean heavy winter coat and a lack of power resulting in the failure.
 
When my liveryman harmonys suddenly die it's because they are clogged with hair. I take them home get the screwdriver out (or several as some of the screws are tiny!)and take them apart, you will be amazed how much hair is inside the body of the clippers. I clean that, oil it, put back together and they work fine again. (Until the next time). I like liveryman but they are a bit delicate I think.
 
Okay thanks. I had a good look at the blades this am and they seem sharp but there was quite a lot of sticky black residue between some of the teeth.
I was really impressed with them last clip and they do leave a nice finish but maybe I need to clean my horse better!
I have a set of brand new blades so next time I will take both sets and maybe swap towards the end. Good tip re running off the mains
 
Pc2003 said:
Okay thanks. I had a good look at the blades this am and they seem sharp but there was quite a lot of sticky black residue between some of the teeth.
I was really impressed with them last clip and they do leave a nice finish but maybe I need to clean my horse better!
I have a set of brand new blades so next time I will take both sets and maybe swap towards the end. Good tip re running off the mains
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I have 2 sets of blades and tend to keep swapping them over if they get hot, started doing it because my horse is a sensitive flower who panics if everything's is not perfect
 
The Harmony uses the pre tensioned A5 style blades and whilst they are a good small quiet clipper on TB's I would say if you are clipping anything a bit "wooly" your blades will lose their edge quickly. One thing you can try, is to remove the blades and clean them thoroughly with some blade wash or methylated spirits. Using your thumb,slide the top blade from left to right submersed in the wash. This will help loosen the grease and muck. Remove and dry with a piece of towel. Then re oil the blades and re fit to the machine. Pre tensioned blades are very prone to loosing their edge if you hit dirt or grease when clipping as there is no easy way to take them apart. When they are sharpened properly, the engineer will strip the blades, clean and sharpen them,then check the spring tension and the rubbing strip. Re assemble and test. My other tip is keep them well oiled with the correct oil, every 10 minutes,this keeps heat down and muck out.
 
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