The Banjo is an indispensable tool. It saves you over 5 times the time for applying fiberglass or paper tape.
Just as laser levels replaced hoses. As tin snips replaced angle grinders. As "guns" replaced rotary hammers.
Just as stilts replaced ladders, so too will the banjo completely replace manual tape application, because manual application is very slow and there is a risk of the tape peeling off due to the material drying out.
The banjo is suitable for both small and medium-sized projects, but due to its affordable price, more and more companies and craftsmen prefer to use it on large projects as well, optimizing their employees' labor.
Filled with material and a 150-meter roll of tape, the DELKO TAPER banjo weighs 5kg, which is lighter than the weight of an empty, unfilled-with-material-and-tape bazooka, which is 6kg.
Both models of banjo can apply fiberglass and paper tape.
Both have adjustment for coating thickness.
Both models have applicators for internal corners and flat joints on walls and ceilings.
The original banjo is the DELKO TAPER. Everything starts with it.
In the beginning, it only had an applicator for flat joints, and later, Daniel, the company's founder, wanted to devise a way to easily apply tape in internal corners as well.
Thus, he created an applicator for internal corners, which helped him make his work easier.
With this model (DELKO TAPER), the applicator itself acts as the regulating plate, which, through a knob, adjusts how thick the tape should be coated.
DELKO TAPER is almost the same banjo as Homax 6500. The difference is in the knobs. They are not the same and are not interchangeable. We have already tried it.
DELKO TAPER is a very compact and lightweight banjo. It weighs only 800 grams (with one applicator for flat joints). It is shorter and more convenient for narrow spaces - for example, figures.
To change the applicators, you have to open the lid and change them inside, in the plaster, which is a slight delay, but not a big deal.
However, this implies that you must keep the other applicator handy to change it when needed.
This banjo does not have a handle for left-handed use, which can be essential for some colleagues who work with it.
With DELKO TAPER, adjusting the coating thickness is a bit more difficult (it requires a little more force to turn the knob, and if our fingers are dirty with plaster, it can be challenging). It can hold a roll of tape up to 150 meters.
The set includes both applicators for flat joints and internal corners, as well as 2 knobs (one spare).
DELKO TAPER can work with fiberglass and paper tape.
DELKO ZUNDER is the newest model. It is improved. Its applicator is double and located on the outside.
It changes much easier. Just by turning it, without opening the tool.
This way you save time and always know where both applicators for internal corners and flat joints are.
- This banjo is a bit heavier – 1.3 kg, but this is partly due to the double applicator.
- It also has a handle for left-handed work.
- A significant difference is that the adjustment of the tape coating thickness is significantly easier.
Also, with ZUNDER, the thickest coating level is thicker than the thickest level with TAPER, which is a plus for factory joints because it fills them more.
- Another significant difference is that Zunder, in addition to fiberglass and paper tape, can also work with Knauf Kurt tape.
- Zunder also holds up to a 150-meter roll of tape.
We still haven't tried if it will work with paper tape reinforced with aluminum for internal corners, which is 52mm, not 50mm like the standard ones.
Also, we still don't have information on whether it will work with one of the most interesting crack-resistant tapes in the world. Crack Tape Strait-Flex,
which is 2 times stronger than paper and is a patented perforated PVC solid cotton composition. Its width is 51mm.
- Washing the banjo takes between 2 to 5 minutes. Depending on whether you wash it with a pressure washer or in a basin with a brush.
A banjo is washed over 8 times faster compared to a bazooka.
No special pump is needed for loading it with material, as with bazookas, which then take a long time to clean, just like the bazooka itself.
You can load it in various ways.
With a trowel, spatula, by pouring directly from the bucket, or with the help of a syringe, even with a pump.
There is now also a holster for DELKO ZUNDER and DELKO TAPER.
With its help, you can keep your banjo at your waist and free your hands. It is extremely suitable when working with stilts or when you don't want to bend down to the ground.
The filler that the banjo is designed to work with is ready-mixed, polymer in buckets.
The most well-known are:
Knauf Fill and Finish;
USG Sheetrock;
USG Boral Ready mix;
Rigips ProMix Mega;
Norgips ReadyMix
They only need to be diluted with water beforehand and mixed with a mixer that does not introduce air into the mixture.
Dilution with water is about 10-15%, depending on the tape you will be working with. When working with fiberglass, it is diluted a little more so that the tape does not tear.
During the work process, everyone gets used to and chooses how much to dilute the specific material they are working with.
There are also colleagues who work with the banjo AT THEIR OWN RISK with dry mixes like Uniflott or Fugenfüller, but this is very risky, because if you don't act quickly and don't wash everything before the material hardens, cleaning the banjo afterwards will be a restoration job.
The use of dry mixes to some extent negates the purpose of the banjo, because it requires frequent stopping of work and thorough cleaning of the tool.
Also, take a look at our article with plastering drywall tips, which may be very useful to you.
What benefits will a DELKO TOOLS banjo bring you?
- First and foremost, it will save you a lot of time.
And this is a resource that we, in Bulgaria, don't value much, even though everyone has heard the phrase "Time is money."
Our time is constantly running out, and we cannot turn it back or buy more time.
When working with the banjo, the tapes are applied instantly, directly coated, and there is no way the tape will not stick due to the material drying out, which often happens when applying by hand. With manual application, even if the tape does not peel off during plastering, this can happen during painting, from the moisture of the paint penetrating the plaster. And if this happens, calculate how much unforeseen time you will spend making corrections and repainting. What if the paint is decorative with applied masks or reliefs, what do we do? Will we have to paint the entire wall? And can we, and how much do these paints cost?
To save time, automated tape application tools are designed to work with ready-mixed plaster.
Yes, it is more expensive than dry mix, but consider how much time you spend each day mixing and washing tools.
This is where the "deal" comes from: when you're not mixing and washing, say, 8 times a day, you gain time that you can use to earn more or to rest.
Let's assume that each mixing and washing takes you roughly 10 minutes. If you do it 8 times a day, by the end of the day you have spent 80 minutes mixing and washing. If you do this exercise for only 5 days, you have already lost 400 minutes (80 min/day x 5 days = 400 minutes total, which in turn is equal to almost 7 hours. And that's almost a whole workday!).
In one month, that's 4x7 = 28 hours. That's 3.5 working days.
The bottom line is that if you have to plaster for 5 days, only 7 hours of that is spent mixing and washing.
Let's assume, for easier calculation, that the daily earning - the daily wage is BGN 100, i.e., BGN 12.5/hour.
In one week, you have lost 7 hours x BGN 12.5/hour = BGN 87.5 - almost a full day's wage.
And don't forget that this is only from mixing and washing so far. We still haven't calculated the time the banjo saves us. We're not even talking about effort and health. We assume they are inexhaustible, which everyone knows isn't quite true.
With ready-mixed fillers, when you're not working with the tools, it's enough to simply immerse them in a bucket of water – the banjo, roller, flushers, and syringe with the applicator.
Immersed in water, without air, the material on them will not dry out, and you can wash them only after you finish the workday, or even after you finish the project if you want.
What's the bottom line:
The ready-made material does not turn out to be more expensive for us, even though its price is higher than that of the dry one.
With it, we save time (as we calculated, by the roughest estimates, almost a whole day in a week - 7 hours = BGN 87.5).
And this is only the difference between dry and ready-mixed filler. Here we still haven't calculated the time we save thanks to our work with the banjo, which is at least 5 times faster compared to applying tape by hand.
Here's the calculation here too:
If we have a large project where we need to apply all the paper tapes on the flat joints and in the internal corners for 5 days by hand, with the banjo we will do this job in 1 day.
This means we save 4 days.
Roughly, we said our daily wage is BGN 100 per day. Since we save 4 days from this delicate and responsible work, it follows that we save 4 days x BGN 100 = BGN 400.
Therefore, after investing in a banjo, we recoup our investment on the very first project.
This way, we can immediately start another project, and customers will also be very satisfied because we have done our work much faster and with higher quality.
Now imagine if you use, in addition to the banjo, rollers and flushers, as well as a syringe for applying material for the second and third coats, how quickly you will perfectly process the internal corners from the ground, and how much time you will save?
- The other significant advantage of working with a banjo is that there is no longer a risk of the tape peeling off or swelling, which can happen with manual application.
Is investing in tools that save you time worth it?
Answer for yourself how much your time is worth and calculate how much you will gain.
You can order your banjo on installments from => here.
If you are still unsure whether this is true, we give you the opportunity to try out Delko Zunder at your leisure on your site, completely FREE of charge.
After all, no matter how many videos you watch or how many opinions you read about the banjo, you cannot be convinced of its effectiveness and functionality until you try it personally.
See the full conditions on how to request a free demo banjo, here.
Try our demo banjo and see for yourself, you have nothing to lose.
If you don't value your time and effort, no one else will.
Don't just think about the investment. Start thinking about your most valuable resource - the time you will gain. Last but not least, your strength and health.
Think about how many other things you will be able to do with the time saved.
And here we are not just talking about work or projects, but about family, friends, rest, hobbies, and your favorite activities.
Banjos are used all over the world and are becoming increasingly popular.
WORK SMART, NOT HARD.
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