Band Saw tire cleaner

[Wegge]

Does anyone know what one should use to clean junk off band saw tires?

I have a Delta 14" band saw with orange rubber tires and they are full of sort of sticky lumps that need to be cleaned

Thanks

Wayne

[Bob S.]

I use de-natured alcohol on mine to clean the gunk off. I've also used 409 and citrus based cleaners but the alcohol worked best. Not isopropyl.

Bob S.

[Wegge]

[Mike in Idaho]

I use Simple Green. I spray it on a toothbrush, wipe the whole tire with it, leave it for about 2 minutes, come back and wipe it off with a paper towel. Works great at getting the hardened resins off from stuff like pine. I also use it on my bearing edges (where the resin really builds up and starts making loud noises as it gets tighter against the blade).

Mike

[Andy Dingley]

A permanently fitted brush (a heat-bent toothbrush, screwed to the frame). If you don't let it build up, it's easier to clean. When you've finished for the day, especially on resinous softwoods, unplug the DC hose and vacuum out the wheel boxes and around the guides.

If you have buildups to clean, almost any organic solvent will work, applied with the ubiquitous toothbrush or kitchen roll. Acetone if it's handy, isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol) or whatever workshop solvent you like to keep on hand for cleaning router cutters and table saw blades.

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

[John Crea]

Also, if your bandsaw DOESN'T have a brush to keep the sawdust from being caked onto the lower wheel tire, it is definitely worth looking into adding one. Many of the fancier machines come with a brush, but they are not really a hassle to retrofit to an existing machine

See Mark Duginske's BandSaw Book and he has information on this

John

[Jim Polaski]

Bob, I think you meant to say "Denatured Alcohol" which is at any hardware store or paint store. It is used for shellac.

though pricy, if you wanted pure Alcohol you could go to Kentucky(grin) but also depending on where you are, liquor stores used to carry pints of pure "grain alcohol" which is the same as denatured without the denaturing agent which(traditionally) used to be methyl alcohol or methanol.

[Bay Area Dave]

as does the new Powermatic 14.

dave

John Crea wrote:

Many of the fancier machines come with a brush, but

[Michael Daly]

Just stay away from solvents based on petroleum products. Varsol and similar will damage the plastic in the tires. Not so bad with polyurethane tires, but real bad for synthetic rubber.

Mike

[Mike in Idaho]

Thanks for the tip. I noticed the MM16 had a brush in it and thought that would be an easy add on and a good one at that. I'll have to get Mark's book and check it out.

Mike

[mttt]

IIRC, Iturra Designs wants about $5/$6 for their brush. Seems like a reasonable price to me.

[Wegge]

[John Carlson]

I used to clean mine by holding a toothbrush against the tire as the saw ran. Then I installed a wheel-cleaning brush from Iturra Designs and I haven't had to clean them again since.

Iturra doesn't have a web site. Call them at 888-722-7078 and ask for a c>Does anyone know what one should use to clean junk off band saw tires? >

-- jc Published e-mail address is strictly for spam collection. If e-mailing me, please use jc631 at optonline dot net

[John Crea]

Yep, as far as I know, ALL the MiniMax bandsaws have the brush as standard equipment for the lower wheel/tire

Some folks replace the stock brush with something a bit stiffer for better cleaning, in those cases I would suggest trying the stock brush for a while, then decide if you want something a bit stiffer

Johnj

[John Crea]

They don't have one

John