Cleaning bandsaw tires

[Michael Adelong]

Hello everyone. I was wondering what people use to clean their bandsaw tires. I have some "Blade and Bit" cleaner that I got from Woodcraft. It melts pitch very quickly. The bottle doesn't say if it negatively affects rubber or polyurethane. My saw manual has no suggestions as to what to use to clean them in it. My saw is a Rikon 10-340. It has yellow tires that feel like a hard rubber, but they may be a polysomething material for all I know.

I haven't done it yet. I also have some mineral spirits, turpentine, denatured alcohol, and Tequilla on hand. Think any of them will work?

(The Tequilla isn't for cleaning the tires, it's for me if the only safe cleaning choice is one that requires a time commitment...)

Thanks,
Michael

[John Hart]

I'd like to see everyone's responses to this as well Michael. I've been using DNA mostly with good results but I've been wondering about switching to Naptha for it's "rubber rejuvenating" capabilities.

[Doug Shepard]

I really dont know the answer to this, but I'm wondering how automotive belt dressing would work?

[Chris Barton]

I just use a brush to scrape off the build up. I have been reluctant to use anything else for fear of degrading the tires.

[Michael Adelong]

Chris, I don't think I could brush these tires clean. I've been cutting a lot of pine while learning how to set up and use all these new tools. I've only had the bandsaw for 3 weeks, but I have about a hundred 2' long strips of pine and a pile of odd shaped pieces of wood sitting on the floor. (It's going be really easy to start a fire this winter.) At any rate, I'm suprised at how quickly the pitch built up on the tires.

Hopefully, I'll be making stuff out of some "good" wood pretty soon. For now, I'm gonna stick with the cheap stuff. :)

I sure hope that I won't have to clean pitch as often when I stop using pine as my primary stock. (please tell me I won't!)

Doug does belt dressing cut pitch? I've always retensioned or replaced the offending belt, so I have no experience with it. Is it a cleaner, something that makes the belt tacky so that it won't slip, or a lubricant?

Michael

[Jamie Buxton]

I use a cabinet scraper. I hold it lightly against the tire and rotate the wheel by hand. It takes off sawdust quite nicely.

[Jim DeLaney]

Chris, I don't think I could brush these tires clean. I've been cutting a lot of pine while learning how to set up and use all these new tools. I've only had the bandsaw for 3 weeks, but I have about a hundred 2' long strips of pine and a pile of odd shaped pieces of wood sitting on the floor. (It's going be really easy to start a fire this winter.) At any rate, I'm suprised at how quickly the pitch built up on the tires.

Hopefully, I'll be making stuff out of some "good" wood pretty soon. For now, I'm gonna stick with the cheap stuff. :)

I sure hope that I won't have to clean pitch as often when I stop using pine as my primary stock. (please tell me I won't!)

Michael

First, the good news: Hardwoods don't build up the resin/pitch on the tires nearly as much as pine will. You'll seldom have to clean the tires at all if you use only woods like maple and cherry.

As for cleaning the pine resin off, one of the best products I've found is Simple Green® cleaner/soap. To keep the mess to a minimum, I'd apply it full strength with a brush, and let it sit for maybe fifteen minutes. Then, you can probably just wipe most of the resin off with a rag. Apply again and use a toothbrush to get the harder stuff off.

Simple Green® is a water based product, so make sure you dry everything well to prevent the rust monster from invading.

BTW, this works very well on Tablesaw blades, too, and you can also coil and soak your resin covered bandsaw blades the same way.

[Doug Shepard]

Doug does belt dressing cut pitch? I've always retensioned or replaced the offending belt, so I have no experience with it. Is it a cleaner, something that makes the belt tacky so that it won't slip, or a lubricant?
Michael

I think it's primarily for stopping the belt squeal that happens when they get a bit dry. It does something to rejuvenate the belt but dont ask me exactly how.

[Chris Barton]

Hi Michael,

Now that I better understand your situation I would suggest real turpentine. It is a natural solvent for pine resin (that's what it is refined from) and shouldn't harm the rubber tires.

[lou sansone]

I agree with jim .... good info and products


BTW just out of curiosity is the pine you are cutting air dried or kiln dried?


thanks
lou

[Jesse Cloud]

Buy a cheap brush to keep your tires clean. Iturra designs sells one or Woodcraft has one. Or just take a cheap cleaning products brush from the grocery store with a wooden handle, cut it to size and superglue it to the saw so that the brush lightly presses on top of the wheel. I'm amazed that Delta and others can charge so much and not even have the decency to spend a quarter on something so simple. (end of rant).
BTW, I also use Simple Green on the tire, maybe once a year.

[Dan Forman]

John---I seem to remember way back in the days of analog audio casettes, the alcohol based tape head cleaner said to avoid getting it on the rubber rollers, as it would tend to damage them by drying them out. In light of this, I would hesitate to use DNA on the tires.

Dan

[John Hart]

John---I seem to remember way back in the days of analog audio casettes, the alcohol based tape head cleaner said to avoid getting it on the rubber rollers, as it would tend to damage them by drying them out. In light of this, I would hesitate to use DNA on the tires.

Dan

Yeah...I thought about that too Dan. But then I thought that my tires aren't rubber like the rollers that you're talking about. They seem to be more of an elastomeric nylon or something. But reading these responses, it sounds like the ticket is the Simple Green approach anyway. I'll be giving that a try in my next go-around. Thanks!

[Michael Adelong]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I have both Simple Green and turpentine handy so I'll give them a try.

As soon as I pick up a few nice blades, I'm going to get some oak or something to mess with. This pine also has a nasty habit of caking up on the lower guide rollers.

Michael

[Dan Scott]

I was given some 100+ year old yellow heart pine. To use it most effectively it required a lot of resawing. It really makes a mess of the bandsaw, and gets pitch everywhere; blade, tires and guides. I have to shut things down fairly often and clean it all up. The result is a beautiful product, but what a pain. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can at least minimize the cleaning and downtime?

[Dan Scott]

I use turpentine. It seems to be a good solvent for the pine pitch but seems benign enough for the tires. I almost never have to clean when cutting hardwoods.

[Carl Beckett]

I owned printer drive roller design for a few years, which are rubber compounds. Rubbers tend to 'bloom', crack, get brittle and slick over time.

I would NOT use solvents for rejuvenating (doing so is simply breaking down the top layer and melting into some new 'goo' - sticky at first but longer term problems).

Instead I would use abrasive. Scotch brite pads (the red ones). In fact we designed a printer kit to rejuvenate by a spring loaded pad pressing up against the rollers. This took off paper dust and surface bloom and hardening, and still left a good surface texture.

It isnt quite the same design requirements, but just $.02 for consideration.

Scotch bright pads for me.

[Derek Cohen]

I get excellent results from this method, which is similar to Carl's (from which I have moved on):

1. rub on a little Simple Green. This will soften the gum and grit.

2. Hold a sharp cabinet (card) scraper on the tyre (tire) and turn the wheel by hand. The card scraper removes all the cr@p, leaving the tyre clean. The rubber is not damaged/scored/ at all.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Lee Schierer]

When I first started using my BS I noted that I was getting build up on the upper wheel tire from sawdust. I used a stiff bristle brush ad was able to remove it. Then I fabricated and mounted a permanent brush to brush the upper wheel anytime the saw is running. I've had virtually no build up in the 10 years since.

[Tom Bender]

Michael, it is time to move on to other wood. Burn the pine and get some Aspen, Oak or Ash and Walnut. No pitch and a nice variety of grains and textures. You'll never look back and never clean a tire again.

[lowell holmes]

This link might help.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bandsaw+tires&oq=bandsaw+tires&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.14326j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8