# Clening infeed and outfeed rollers



## daryl in nanoose (Feb 18, 2007)

What do you guys do and what do you use to clean the infeed and outfeed rollers on your planers?. I seem to have a build up of what seams to be hard small chunks of sawdust. I have the delta 12-1/2"


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## LarrySch (Dec 31, 2007)

Well *"IF"* I had a *planer *I would tell you.......:blink: 

I am just thinking out loud here - but wouldn't the same products that you clean your saw blades with work. I know that stuff removes encrusted sawdust and pitch from saw blades, router bits, planer blades and other cutting tools. (Like the stuff that you purchase at WoodCraft.)
http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=849

:yes:


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## daryl in nanoose (Feb 18, 2007)

I had the same thought and then will it hurt the rollers which are not metal is my main concern. I have not tried anything yet but thought I would ask around.


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## Suz (Dec 8, 2006)

I always use alcohol to clean the rollers on my planer rollers. Don't use any product that contains petroleum products because it could leave a residue on your lumber, or deteriorate the rubber on the rollers.
While you have the bed raised to clean the rollers, you might as well wax the bed.


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## daryl in nanoose (Feb 18, 2007)

Suz said:


> I always use alcohol to clean the rollers on my planer rollers. Don't use any product that contains petroleum products because it could leave a residue on your lumber, or deteriorate the rubber on the rollers.
> While you have the bed raised to clean the rollers, you might as well wax the bed.


Thanks Suz, I had not thought of that. So exackly what kind of Alchol should I use?


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## dbhost (Jan 28, 2008)

Isopropyl alcohol cleans, then evaporates leaving no residue. However it also dries things out very quickly, which is why when it has been on unprotected aluminum you get a sheen of aluminum oxide. Not a huge deal, but something to be aware of. 

The rollers in your planer should be similar to the rollers in a laser printer, a cylinder with a synthetic rubber wrap. Most likely some sort of nitrile rubber. We use Isopropyl alcohol to clean toner off of laser printer rollers all day long, and generally speaking, the electric motors in our printers die long before the rollers do.


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## daryl in nanoose (Feb 18, 2007)

Well the Alcohol worked great but everytime i pass a piece through it gets the same build up. Do I need to wax the rollers or something.


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## mmwood_1 (Oct 24, 2007)

Careful there, Daryl. I did a similar thing on my Makita 16" planer rollers and the end result was that they deteriorated and I had to blow $400 on new rollers. Have you consulted Delta at all to see what they recommend? Because once they begin getting sticky like that, it might be a downhill slide of trying this and trying that and some chemical reaction may take place that accelerates the problem. There may have been an outer coating of some sort on the rollers which the alcohol dissolved, or which had begun to break down already. But it sounds to me as though a breakdown is occurring if it's sticky after cleaning with the alcohol.


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## Suz (Dec 8, 2006)

daryl in nanoose said:


> Well the Alcohol worked great but everytime i pass a piece through it gets the same build up. Do I need to wax the rollers or something.


Just wondering and throwing some ideas at the wall to see if any of them stick. Are you by chance running pine through the planer whereas you could be getting pitch on the rollers? 
After you cleaned the rollers with alcohol did they feel sticky to the touch indicating breakdown of the roller material?
Have you a dust collector connected to remove the planing chips? Maybe when the rollers roll over the chips they are getting embedded into the rubber.
Jim


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## daryl in nanoose (Feb 18, 2007)

Suz said:


> Just wondering and throwing some ideas at the wall to see if any of them stick. Are you by chance running pine through the planer whereas you could be getting pitch on the rollers? *I am running KD Fir( very dry)*
> After you cleaned the rollers with alcohol did they feel sticky to the touch indicating breakdown of the roller material?*Yes they did but I have not used it that much*
> Have you a dust collector connected to remove the planing chips? *Yes I do *Maybe when the rollers roll over the chips they are getting embedded into the rubber.*This sounds like what is happening*
> Jim


This has me a little stumped what to do. I have not used this planer all that much since I got it but it starting to look like I will have to replace the rollers unless someone has a brain storm idea for me.


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## bigredc (Sep 1, 2007)

Daryl
Suz mentioned this , I have read that if your not pulling the chips away good enough they will fall back on the rollers, and get imbed ed in them. Double check that. I just got done doing a total overhaul on mine. I tore it completely apart except the gear box. I have an older Delta 12". I had the rollers in my hands. I had white streaks around mine. I scrubbed the marks with goof off. I couldn't get the marks off but there doesn't seem to be any coating, just the rubber. I work on cars and motorcycles and everything there is. I have screwed up more things in the last 30 years than I'd like to admit. But I've learned a lot. My impression of the rubber on those roller is that they are pretty tough. Just my opinion I don't think you could ruin that rubber to easily. I would think that they are not sticking to it but are getting smashed into it. Like I said just my opinion. I guess the next logical thing is call Delta.


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## daryl in nanoose (Feb 18, 2007)

I think you guys have nailed it right at least I hope so anyway guess I know what my next project is. Thanxs


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## RJAngel (Mar 8, 2008)

Daryl,

I have Delta's 13" model with similiar roller build up issues.
I have a shop vac connected to it with a dust seperator lid on a 30 gal metal garbage can, work great BTW.

Anyway, I believe a friend suggested denatured alcohol and I just checked on a can I have and sure enough it even mentions cleaning rubber rollers. Have you tried this?

Also, how to you clean the rollers? I've tried cleaning mine with a 'scrub-brite' cleaning pad I could get to no more than 1/4 of the roller as any given time. So I would need to clean the exposed section, step back turn on/off and repeat several times. This really didn't seem to work to well.

Are the rollers easy to remove?

is there another was to advance them w/o turning the planer on?

ThankX all,
Ron


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## daryl in nanoose (Feb 18, 2007)

The tool rep said do not use Alchol which of course was to late but after evaluating the rollers I noticed they are putting grooves in my wood so I am going to get new rollers. 
It is quite easy to remove them after looking closer at them. On mine there are a couple screws and a spring, I figure to crank the macine up and place a small 4x4 under the roller and slowly crank it down so there is enogh pressure to hold the rollers in place while I take the screws off and then carefully back the macine off and that should do the trick.
I also turned the machine on with a cloth in my hand and ran it back and forth slowly and worked very well but really that's looking for BIG TROUBLE. I think if you wrapped a cloth around a stick so your fingers are not at risk or better take the blades out.


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## RJAngel (Mar 8, 2008)

ThankX for the info Daryl, I'll have to take a closer look at it.

The manual doesn't seem very helpful in this regard.

Ron


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## daryl in nanoose (Feb 18, 2007)

Forgot to mention I had the sides off when I was looking and cleaning it up.


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## mmwood_1 (Oct 24, 2007)

Daryl,
Sorry it's come to replacing the rollers. Bummer. I hope they don't cost near what mine did.


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## Suz (Dec 8, 2006)

daryl in nanoose said:


> The tool rep said do not use Alchol which of course was to late but after evaluating the rollers . <SNIP>


So, what did he suggest using to clean the rollers with?


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## dpmcreations (Feb 3, 2008)

*Daryl*

Ok.. You have us all wondering.. What did the tool rep say to use to clean the rollers???


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## daryl in nanoose (Feb 18, 2007)

*So, what did he suggest using to clean the rollers with?*
He said only water and a cloth. Not sure if he knows forsure so I sent a message down to Delta but Have not herd back from them.
*Daryl,*
*Sorry it's come to replacing the rollers. Bummer. I hope they don't cost near what mine did.*
They are only 40.00 each so not to bad. I think I srewed them up when I was planning some mahogany that had some stain on them* :wallbash: .* The rep said not to ever plane anything with stain or especially varnash so they needed to be replaced anyway.


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## bigredc (Sep 1, 2007)

Not being able to plain stained boards sounds kind of radical. I wonder if that's a company line to cover there butts. I am new to this but that doesn't make sense. I've heard cleaning glue off before planing. I don't understand how stain can hurt anything, unless it's wet, and it just discolors the rubber. What's the reasoning behind that? What about reclaiming old wood? I've run old boards with paint on them through to clean the top layer of paint off, and haven't had any problems.
Chris


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## Suz (Dec 8, 2006)

daryl in nanoose said:


> *So, what did he suggest using to clean the rollers with?*
> He said only water and a cloth. Not sure if he knows forsure so I sent a message down to Delta but Have not herd back from them.


Wow, I'd like to see him clean a set of rollers after hitting a pitch pocket in a pine board! :no:


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## mmwood_1 (Oct 24, 2007)

No kidding!!


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## daryl in nanoose (Feb 18, 2007)

I kinda thought it was a dumb thing to say to that's why I sent a message to Delta.


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## mmwood_1 (Oct 24, 2007)

I just had a thought, reading the statement about the pitch pocket....When you get pitch on your hands, you can get it off by rubbing butter on it. I wonder if that would work on feed rollers...


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## daryl in nanoose (Feb 18, 2007)

*Update*

Well I found the answer to cleaning these rollers, warm soapy water only ( it figures) but as it turnes out there are 2 other problems with this planer so I benched it and bought on sale the Dewalt 735, iI will deal with my delta later when I have more time to get into the hart of the matter. I just want to make sure that it is the rollers and not something else before getting rid of it.


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## bigredc (Sep 1, 2007)

That's to bad you couldn't fix the Delta. New tools are fun though. Let us know what you find out about the Delta


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