Dead Push Blocks

[Dave Arnett]

My push blocks are losing their grip. I've cleaned them with plain ole tap water...not much better.

328833

What, if anything can be done (short of buying new)?

[glenn bradley]

I use rubbing alcohol and a nylon brush. If the rubber is not recoverable: item 2892 here (http://www.ptreeusa.com/rtr_nonslip_pads.htm) or item "C" here.
(http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=67844&cat=1,43456,43465)
I use item "C" when I make these:

328834328835

[peter gagliardi]

Real quick and easy. First clean with solvent, then use either brush on contact adhesive, or get something like 3M 77 spray adhesive and give it a coat or two.
My SCMI 37" widebelt stopped feeding consistently about 2 years after i bought it in '97. I fought it and looked for solutions since then. Sanding the feed belt, nope. Clean with solvent, nope, experiment with down pressure of top feed rolls, nope.
Cost of a new feed belt with labor to install was about $2500-3000.00 no way was i paying that.
Basically pulled my hair out for the last 15 years!

Then......... I had an idea.
I thought, what the heck do i have to lose, and tried it.
It has been flawless for the last 3 months!!!!

[Dave Arnett]

Thanks for the feedback, gentlemen.

I'll give 'em a good alcohol bath first. If that doesn't bring 'em back to life, I think I have some spray adhesive out there somewhere. "What do I have to lose"?

Plan C will be get a sheet of the gripper pad. That stuff would be handy to have on hand anyway.

Thanks again!

[Tom Howarth]

Can you peel the old pad off and glue on a mouse pad? The bottoms are slightly sticky to keep the mouse pad from moving around...should be perfect for push block grip on a board...

[David Helm]

I have a couple of the type you have, but the ones I use all the time are the Bench Dog Push Bloc. Been using them for several years with no issues. The Bench Dog at three years old are better than the others when brand new. . .and the aren't expensive.

[Prashun Patel]

1. Clean with ethanol. But be careful. I've had issues cleaning rubber with alcohol in the past. Beware you don't make the foam brittle.

2. Instead of relying on the grip, you can screw mending plates from a homestore to the bottoms. I made jointer push blocks this way. One poster suggests that you can even just use one or two screws instead of the plate. Drive them from the top sy they just barely poke thru the bottom and you may have enough grip without having all the metal from the mending plate.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?237858-Better-Cheaper-Jointer-Push-Blocks&highlight=

[Peter Aeschliman]

Mending plates for sure! I have never felt safe using those foam/rubber ones, even when brand new. They just don't grab enough for me to feel in control.

[Frank Pratt]

Prashun, I assume your blocks don't require enough pressure to significantly penetrate the stock? I can see screw points digging in deep. My push blocks went bad & I glued 60 grit sand paper on, which worked OK for a while, but it's loosing its grip now too.

[Rich Engelhardt]

There's special cleaners for rubber.
Rubber Nenue and Fedron are a couple you can buy.

They work worlds better than alcohol.

[Prashun Patel]

Here's the worst case scenario: I took soft pine and tried to bear down with the push blocks to the point where it kind of stuck into the wood. I'd never have to push this hard during a normal push, and on harder wood, the results won't be so dimply.

Honestly, even THIS is acceptable to me, since these dimples are certainly within planing or sanding range for me.