Hand cramp while using Squeegee!?!?!

Last week did a storefront... 6 mil clear A/G film. The tool I was using is one that a friend of mine uses... I've seen him and his people use them... it's basically a wood block with a rubber edge.. you can use both hands to push the water out... your hands are side by side..

So I did about 5 out of 14... and all the sudden my left thumb bends in towards my palm and I can't extend it. My first thought was that my wrist was screwed up or something and my tinting days were numbered. Yikes...

I manage to rotate my wrist and shake my hand enough that it loosens up.

I continue tinting... sure enough... happened again.

Then my right thumb locks up... then my left finger.

While I was having one of my issues, my friend takes over. He worked on the window for all of 2 minutes and his thumb bent and locked up.

We were glad since it wasn't just me... had to have been the tool and the position of your hands and wrists.

By the time I got to the last window I was so freaking frustrated, mad, both my wrists were hurting... I just wanted to get the heck out of there.



Has anyone had that happen before??!??!?!??!


Needless to say, I don't think I'll take any more S&S or A/G jobs. Not worth it... I enjoy tinting... but not enough to cause any damage.

That stuff wears me out! Glad I don't do it too often. Usually its a few hundred feet though and just the
extra pressure constantly workin' gets to everything.
I actually got what you described workin a 5way in an odd position today.Basically lost the use of
that hand until I shook it out.
Once it happened once, it happened easier throughout the day.

I'm a lefty... and once I got done the job I was at home doing the paperwork, and just writing my thumb cramped up again. For the next day or two I didn't do much of anything... just tried to rest my wrists.

I guess it messes with your muscles/tendons or whatever... and once they are irritated, it's much easier to have happen.

Scared the crap out of me at first though....

I actually use that tool for all my flatglass installs. It does cause minor cramping after a long day, but I like how it gets the water out.

carpal tunnel

I use these once in a while. What I do is cut a handle hole into the wood. Kind of kidney shaped, so I can grab it. Without it, it is not a tool that you can use for long periods.

Good idea!

I've installed almost nothing but 8 mil since 2001. The key here is to take all the torque on your fingers and hands out of the equation. That wood block is the WORST thing to use!! The solution is to use a squeegee setup that has a stick extension of 10-12". Suppliers sell 2 things; an orage colored squeegee called the Crusher and you can always use a traditional 6" pro handle setup with a thin blue blade and a 12" push stick.

In using these, you only use one hand to grasp the pro handle(not push), lock your wrist and elbow, the LEAN into the film to push the water out. No more tired hands,wrist or arms. I can pump about 1000 square of 8-mil on large glass a day and not wreck myself.

Thanks everyone for the tips.... When I finished the job I swore off doing any more S&S or A/G film... but maybe with the proper tool it wouldn't be as bad.

Roach-- With this setup, Boo cna get ALL the water out of 8-mil. She's 110 lbs with rocks in her pockets

the block squeegee is a major pos. i had the same experience using it.

i use the pro handle and the blue thin blade aswell and then take a power scraper handle and jam it into the bottom of the pro handle. Also what helps is getting some athletic tape and tape up all yer handles on the pro handle and the scraper handle nice and thick. I have been installing 8 mil everyday for the past 4 months and it has helped on my hands from cramping.

I have one of those squeegees, but I use it differently.

One hand holds it and the other hand pushes down on it. So my hands aren't side by side with all the stress on my thumbs.

Dammit man, for a nurse, someone doesn't know a cramp from overworking. I get them sometimes too. Sometimes with a squeegee, alot of times using an olfa. Try a potassium & calcium supplement. When yer bod is craving potassium, it cramps up to let ya know. Do ya get leg cramps in the calves? A cramp is significantly different from an overworked muscle.

A muscle cramp is a sudden and involuntary contraction of one or more of your muscles. Muscle cramps can result in intense pain and leave you temporarily unable to use the affected muscles.

Signs and symptoms of a muscle cramp include:

• Sudden and sharp muscle pain (spasm, contraction), often in your legs
• A hard lump of muscle tissue that you can feel or is visible beneath your skin (In this case, between the thumb and forefinger)
  
  
  Electrolyte disturbance may cause cramping and tetany of muscles, particularly hypokalaemia (a low level of potassium) and hypocalcaemia (a low level of calcium). This disturbance arises as the body loses large amounts of interstitial fluid through sweat. This interstitial fluid is composed mostly of water and table salt (NaCl). The loss of osmotically active particles outside muscle cells(NaCl) leads to a disturbance of the osmotic balance and swelling of muscle cells as these contain more osmotically active particles. This causes the calcium pump between the muscle lumen and sarcoplasmic reticulum to short circuit and the calcium ions remain bound to the troponin and the muscle contraction is continued. This may occur when the lactic acid is high in the cells.

squeegee cramps... oh dang, must be for actually having work lol

squeegeeing? isnt that why God made !llegal immigrants?

(relax all, just joking around)

Same thing happened to me when I was tinting in Greece awhile back. Thumb just pulled down into my palm. Since about 60 people were watching the demo I took my other hand and pulled it back out normal 2 times. Evidently not a good thing to do! 6 weeks or so later I’m sitting here with my shoulder packed in ice waiting to see the dr for a cortisone shot..
Stan

You dudes should give a 6" blue max blade in the cast alloy handle a try on security film.
The handles cover the width of the blade so you get heaps of even strength through each push. The max is so flexible it will bend all over the palce. When that handle is covering the whole base it only has one place left to bend, the top of the blade, it'll scoop the water out. . When the blade "chops out " cut 5mil off the max and go again.
I use the the same pusher on solar, jst adjust the push strength so I don't smash windows, we get m from Johnsons in Australia. They even come with a foam padding around the alloy so its comfortable on the hands... might not be baby shampoo but there'll be no tears with that set up...

food for thought. most all of those squeegee's were intended for silk screening and not film installation. we cut the channel on the unger to about 5" and use the thin blue blade also. one more thing to remember is lots of solution while you are pushing.