Cleaning the packing grease off of a spiral cutterhead

[Tim M Tuttle]

Morning all,

I got a new jointer and assembled it this weekend. It has a spiral cutterhead whoch is absolutely caked with packing grease. What's the best way to take care of that? Should I just remove the head and soak it in mineral spirits or something similar? I assume removing the head is fairly simple but after dealing with the placement of some of the bolts during assembly that assumption may not be wise.

Thanks

[Nick Decker]

Long, boring job, but I'd remove all the individual cutters and let them soak in a jar of mineral spirits while I cleaned the gunk off of the bare cutter head.

[John Lanciani]

Personally, I'd just run a bunch of scrap wood through it and clean up the aftermath. I don't see the point in tearing down a new machine just to get the grease off of it.

[andy bessette]

...got a new jointer and assembled it this weekend. It has a spiral cutterhead whoch is absolutely caked with packing grease...

My guess would be Asian import.

Try S100 Motorcycle Wheel Cleaner.

[glenn bradley]

I cover the surfaces in the firing line with taped down cardboard and scrap ply and let 'er rip. I then use an acid brush and some mineral spirits to clean out the remainder. I suppose it depends on the machine to some extent but, this really only took 15 or 20 minutes. Do wear gloves; those inserts are sharp.

Here's my planer done pretty much the same way:

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[Keith Weber]

There's lots of solvents that remove the cosmoline off new machines, but I found that Kerosene was the quickest and most effective. Way less work than the Mineral Spirits I started out with.

[Andrew Gibson]

+1 on Kerosene, It's great for cleaning sludge out of oil pans and moping the floor after engine rebuilds. Not to mention it is part of my Hurricane prep as I have several lanterns for use during power outages.

[Rick Alexander]

I've used WD40 as well. Put a rag under it - soak it pretty good and use a light bristle brush to get the WD40 in there good. It'll evaporate pretty much after that or will sling off the first waste board you put through there.

[Tim M Tuttle]

Thanks for the tips everyone. Wasnt sure if it would be okay to turn it on with all that grease on there. I cant run it for a while till I get my electrical finished so I'll probably go the method of removing the cutters.