What to clean planer rollers with?

[Benjimin Young]

I have always used Isopropyl alcohol to clean the rollers on my Dewalt planer. In the absence of this product what have you used successful to clean your Dewalt rollers?

[Dave Sweeney]

Mineral Spirits

[Myles Moran]

Mineral spirits here as well. Only had to do it once, after a bunch of SYP. A few hundred BF after that and they still look nice and clean.

[Benjimin Young]

Dave and Myles, thanks for your response.
A followup questions. After cleaning with mineral spirits do you do anything special to remove the mineral spirits residue or just wipe off excess with a rag?

[Jim Becker]

Naptha is a good substitute for the mineral spirits and doesn't leave the residue.

[Stephen Rosenthal]

Naptha is a good substitute for the mineral spirits and doesn't leave the residue.

Thank you Jim, I was just about to ask. Mineral spirits no longer available in Gulag California.

[Prashun Patel]

Rubbing alcohol is good (diluted isopropyl alcohol).

If you can find neither, then I suspect you might be able to find 'alcohol prep pads' at the pharmacy.

[Erik Loza]

Aerosol brake cleaner on a rag.

Erik

[Bill Dufour]

Thank you Jim, I was just about to ask. Mineral spirits no longer available in Gulag California.


Coleman fuel is basically Naptha. It smells less then thinner to me. Cheaper then paint thinner at about $8.00 a gallon at Walmart in California, for the house brand.
Bill D

[Warren Lake]

bit of lacquer thinner in steel wool, what the old guys used especially from having run pine, nothing put on after

[Bruce Lowekamp]

I had to google to solve this problem on Saturday as my 733 planer suddenly started slipping. The answer I came up with was denatured alcohol, which I happened to have in a significant quantity as I just bought some for shellac.

So cleaning went well, but then it started to slip again. I realized that a hose in my DC system had come loose so I had only a fraction of air volume I normally have moving through the planer. Fixed the hose and didn't have any more issues....

Bruce

[Stephen Rosenthal]

Denatured alcohol - another thing banned in Cali.

Good to know about Coleman fuel - I assumed it was more akin to kerosene.

[Joe Wood]

Turpentine is the best thing for sap.

[Bill Dufour]

Denatured alcohol - another thing banned in Cali.

Good to know about Coleman fuel - I assumed it was more akin to kerosene.

Last time I bought kerosene was before 9/11. I went Sunday afternoon to the local airport and bought a few gallons of jet fuel. Bring a big.. funnel. It stinks less then kerosene.

[Bill Dufour]

are these metal or rubber? answers will differ.
Bil lD

[Jim Becker]

bit of lacquer thinner in steel wool, what the old guys used especially from having run pine, nothing put on after
It would depend upon what the rollers are made of. Lacquer thinner is fine for metal rollers, but not necessarily ok for the "plastic" materials used on many portable planers. One must also take great personal care as the fumes can be very harmful.

[Myles Moran]

Dave and Myles, thanks for your response.
A followup questions. After cleaning with mineral spirits do you do anything special to remove the mineral spirits residue or just wipe off excess with a rag?

Never noticed anything left on after. I dampen a rag and wipe it down. More elbow grease with the rag, and less mineral spirits. Based on all the internet arguments over cleaning them, I figured light on the solvent was a safe choice.

[Frank Pratt]

It would depend upon what the rollers are made of. Lacquer thinner is fine for metal rollers, but not necessarily ok for the "plastic" materials used on many portable planers. One must also take great personal care as the fumes can be very harmful.

This. Lacquer thinner is very hard on most plastics & rubbers. It will clean off the gunk very well, and will have much more grip after cleaning, but at the cost of degrading the rubber on the roller in time.

[Patrick Walsh]

Lacquer thinner.

If I had rubber rollers I don’t know..

Works great on powerfeeder wheels also followed by 120 sand paper. I wouldn’t sand paper my feed rollers but...

[Curt Harms]

Last time I bought kerosene was before 9/11. I went Sunday afternoon to the local airport and bought a few gallons of jet fuel. Bring a big.. funnel. It stinks less then kerosene.

Wouldn't Diesel fuel be cheaper? They're pretty similar. Rumor has it that a certain Turboprop engine built in Canada will run just fine on diesel as long as it's warm.

[Bill Dufour]

Wouldn't Diesel fuel be cheaper? They're pretty similar. Rumor has it that a certain Turboprop engine built in Canada will run just fine on diesel as long as it's warm.

I was buying for a kerosene lantern and I thought jet fuel would stink less then kero or diesel when burning. I have switched to battery and propane. I used to use the Kero for starting the campfire now I bring a self igniting propane torch head.
Bill D

[Richard Coers]

Simple Green works extremely well and is gentle on synthetic rollers.

[Keith Westfall]

Last time I bought kerosene was before 9/11. I went Sunday afternoon to the local airport and bought a few gallons of jet fuel. Bring a big.. funnel. It stinks less then kerosene.




Wouldn't Diesel fuel be cheaper? They're pretty similar. Rumor has it that a certain Turboprop engine built in Canada will run just fine on diesel as long as it's warm.

Jet Fuel:

If you can find it, use Jet B, it 's more to the naphtha end of the line. Jet A (most common) is more towards the kerosene end of the line, and a bit more 'oily' than Jet B. Diesel is a bit more oily as well, and will be harder to get it all cleaned off. Jet B will almost evaporate off by itself.

35 years of burning it for a living... :D

[Bob Jones 5443]

I’ve bought both mineral spirits and denatured alcohol this year in sunny California, so I’m not sure which gulag you’re living in.

This thread got me wondering whether acetone would be harmful to the planet rollers. Thoughts?

[Warren Lake]

Yeah Jim i only saw rollers and not dewalt. All stuff here metal but the woodmaster moulder.

[Myles Moran]

I’ve bought both mineral spirits and denatured alcohol this year in sunny California, so I’m not sure which gulag you’re living in.

This thread got me wondering whether acetone would be harmful to the planet rollers. Thoughts?

I'm not an expert on solvents, but I'd personally avoid acetone because it does a number on plastic. Not sure how rubber would fare, but I'm guessing that its gonna try and eat the rollers just the same.

[Jim Becker]

Never thought I'd see suggesting using Jet fuel in the woodworking shop. LOL :D

[Erik Loza]

Brake cleaner is mostly acetone. "Yes", it will absolutely eat through anything non-metallic but do any of these contractor-type actually planers have rubber outfeed rollers?

Erik

[Jim Becker]

Brake cleaner is mostly acetone. "Yes", it will absolutely eat through anything non-metallic but do any of these contractor-type actually planers have rubber outfeed rollers?

Erik
I could be wrong, but I believe the majority, if not all, of the portable planers have plastic/rubber rollers.

[Erik Loza]

I could be wrong, but I believe the majority, if not all, of the portable planers have plastic/rubber rollers.

Really?!? See: You learn something new every day. If that's the case, obviously no brake cleaner, LOL.

Erik

[Jim Becker]

It's actually an advantage for taking really thin cuts because there's no marking like there is with the serrated rollers on most stationary tools.

[Stephen Rosenthal]

I’ve bought both mineral spirits and denatured alcohol this year in sunny California, so I’m not sure which gulag you’re living in.

This thread got me wondering whether acetone would be harmful to the planet rollers. Thoughts?

Bob,

As of 1/1/20, Mineral Spirits and Denatured Alcohol were added to the long list of products banned for sale by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) due to excessive VOC content. These products were removed from retail stores and online sellers were banned from shipping it to California. If you indeed purchased Mineral Spirits in 2020 it will state “substitute” or “CARB Formula” on the label. Better for your health but not the same chemical makeup. I haven’t tried either so can’t comment on their effectiveness. As of yet there are no such alternatives to Denatured Alcohol. There are numerous lawsuits pending against the onerous CARB regulations (if you want to spend the time researching it you won’t believe how many products are banned) but they will likely take years to resolve.

[roger wiegand]

What is it that you're cleaning off? I have to say in 40 years of using planers I've never cleaned the rollers, nor noticed anything on them that seemed to need cleaning. That said, I don't plane anything odd, 95% maple, cherry and walnut.

[Richard Coers]

What is it that you're cleaning off? I have to say in 40 years of using planers I've never cleaned the rollers, nor noticed anything on them that seemed to need cleaning. That said, I don't plane anything odd, 95% maple, cherry and walnut.
I'm assuming if you planed a lot of southern yellow pine it would be a necessity.

[Warren Lake]

any pine will leave some pitch in diff amounts last stuff I used was for more storage cabinets 1 and 2 common

[Patrick Walsh]

Hmm I though you only got rubber rolls if you had deep pockets. I know my Felder it was a upcharge. The scm machine at my last place of employment and nice Scm not the bottom tear stuff had rubber rolls in and out. And I think Martin specs their machines with only rubber.

Maybe I should be shopping at Home Depot. I started with one of those dewalt things years ago, man I hated that little pos...