How to Maintaining Your Electric Sheep Shearing Clipper.

In my early days as a professional shearer, I refused to shear with an electric sheep shearing clipper because all I wanted to do was shear as many sheep as possible. To do this a professional shearer uses a mechanical handpiece to maximize shearing numbers. As I matured as a shearer, I could see the value of helping farmers with small mobs of sheep and gravitated towards using an electric sheep shearing clipper on these small mobs.

The electric clipper allowed me to set up quickly and shear sheep wherever the small-holder sheep farmer had the sheep penned. The electric sheep shearing clipper became one of the most important pieces of kit in my tool bag. It became imperative that I was able to maintain the electric sheep shearing clipper to prevent breakdowns in the field and to maximize the life of the clipper.

To maintain an electric sheep shearing clipper, a shearer needs to oil all moving parts within the clipper prior to shearing and then keep applying oil to all those same moving parts every time a comb or cutter blade is replaced on the clipper. When shearing is completed, the clipper must be oiled and stored in a dry area to prevent rust buildup.

Justin shows you how to oil and grease a clipper properly to maintain the clipper so it won’t run hot and lasts longer. It doesn’t matter what sort of clipper you have ‘ the clipper needs to be lubricated properly to maintain the clipper in top working condition.

As a professional shearer, I use grease in the tension sleeve of my electric sheep shearing clippers. Some shearers just use oil, but I find that if I add grease to the tension sleeve at the end of each day’s shearing, my tension nut never gets hot.

Most electric sheep shearing clippers come with a spare brush. This brush is used to brush the smaller wool fibres away from the air vents at the back of the clipper where the small electric motor is housed. Keeping the air flowing around the electric motor prevents the motor from overheating and burning out. It is always a good practice to clean the air vents at every cutter change to prevent wool build-up around the vents.

A shearer should always try to shear on wooden floorboards. The ‘give’ in timber prevents the clipper from undue damage if dropped accidentally. If the only place a farmer can pen their sheep is on concrete or bare ground, then the farmer should lay rubber mats on the ground. This does two things. It helps the shearer maneuver the sheep around the shearing area and prevents the electric sheep shearing clipper from getting banged around on concrete or getting dust and dirt inside the clipper, which will cause undue wear on the clipper’s moving parts.

If a farmer only has a few sheep to shear each year and he can shear his own sheep, by maintaining his shearing clipper, he will save a lot of money on buying clippers over his farming career. Sheep shearing clippers can vary in cost from a mere $100 to over $1000 for the very best clippers. The more care you take in looking after your clippers, the longer life you will get out of them. Even the cheaper clippers will have a longer life if maintained correctly.

The type of oil a shearer uses on his clipper has an effect on the clipper. You can buy shearing clipper oil, specifically for electric sheep shearing clippers. This is the best oil to use. You can use ordinary car oil on your clipper, and this oil will do the job of maintaining your clipper and preventing it from getting hot.

The oils you should avoid using are those that are thick or thin in viscosity, such as hydraulic oil or 2-stroke oil. In my experience, these oils don’t perform on the moving parts of the clipper and make the clipper run hot quickly. Whenever the clipper is getting hot, you should be adding oil. Ensure you are adding the proper clipper oil designed for your clipper; this will prevent the clipper from unnecessarily heating up and putting undue wear on the clipper’s moving parts.

Under no circumstances should a shearer use “sump oil in your electric sheep shearing clipper”. Sump oil is dirty and will cause excess wear from the grit and muck found in the used oil, causing quicker wear and tear on the clipper. Sump oil can also cause your sheep shearing clipper to heat up unnecessarily.