what do you use to clean the bandsaw tires buildup?

allen levine

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new york city burbs
I cut up some more blanks from the logs from my backyard tree. The tree man told me its birch.(I think he said birch, whatever)
It was kind of moist, and today after I cut up some blanks, I have alot of crud build up on the blade and the tires are horrible now.
I think I shoulda cleaned it up after the last time, but thats that. Any suggestions what to use that wont harm the tires?
 
Clean bandsaw tires? :eek:
Really, I know they should be cleaned periodically. But in more than eight years of use I have never cleaned mine and they look just fine.
The various tool catalogs offer some little brushes that can be mounted inside for cleaning the tires. I plan to get some.....in eight more years. :rolleyes:
 
maybe IM cutting the blanks wrong, I cut the logs in slices, then trimmed those slices round.
the crud has totally caked up my blade and tires. I turned the wheel by hand and just scraped the crud off the blade with my nails.(I had to run the saw today for adirondack chairs)
 
i would scrap off the bulk of it then try to get the rest with some mineral spirts allen but MAKE sure its NOT plugged in when you do any of this cleaning..

I learned my lesson once when I stuck my hands into the dust collector to grab something that jammed, never realizing the fan kept spinning minutes after I turned it off.
 
Mineral spirits or denatured alcohol should cut the gunk down to a manageable level. I run into similar problems cutting some types of green wood for turning blanks. I've also got an old trashed bench chisel that I use to scrape the tires (and blade, when it gets gunked up) in that sort of situation.
 
Allen, I agree with Vaughn about using alcohol(#1) or mineral spirits (#2) for your solvent. I also have had the experience when cutting green blanks. I used a utility knife against the sides of the blade while turing the bandsaw wheel BACKWARDS (with the machine UNPLUGGED), then washing the blade down with your solvent, and if needed using a small brass wire brush against the blade, again while turning it backwards so as not to let the brush wires hit the cutting edges of the teeth. Had good results with this method.

As for cleaning the tires, I have used the alcohol as the solvent and lightly run the brass brush over the HAND rotated tire surface. I also agree with Dom on the mounting of an old stiff bristle toothbrush to just lightly touch the tire while it runs as an ongoing tire maintenance.

Also, dont forget about that wet wood on your bandsaw table. Proves to make LOTS of rust. Dry it off, clean it off with scotchbrite and apply a good coat of paste wax (or other rust preventer).

Hope this helps.

Aloha, Tony
 
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I turned my wheels by hand and held a fake credit card against the tire. The card was held in the position that would certainly cause a chisel to dig in. The card was soft enough not to mess the tire and hard enough to remove particles. Needless to say the blade was removed for this procedure and the motor was unplugged.

I am of the school of "suck the stuff up and out of there BEFORE it can cause a problem."

Have fun with that nasty job and

Enjoy,

JimB
 
I have a old (old iron) Davis and Wells bandsaw with hard rubber type tires on it and I use a stiff wide nylon type brush - rotate the wheels by hand and scrub lightly to keep them clean - I do this frequently and never have a problem keeping them clean now a days. Also it does not mark the wheels.......

I rebuilt this machine and all its moving parts top to bottom and then went thru a learning curve on maintaining it - ran into what you are describing and cleaned them up like Vaughn and Tony suggested with MS - however my tires are not totally flat the and I was careful not to change the angle when using a dull scraper to clean them up - then realized at that point to keep them clean frequently because I am not sure how repeated scraping and solvent use would effect the tires (I think they were galvanized on or something like that........I restored it totally original - no after market parts were used). After every couple of uses I clean it up totally - wheels - guides etc...probably overkill but its just what I do. I also keep a junk can of wax around to put on the table top........learned that the hard way to.............

I also use Pam cooking spray when cutting blanks - suggested to me by Louis Iturra for more cutting ease and it works. I buy my blades from Louis and he is a expert on bandsaws and is always glad to answer questions..........I also detension the blade after each use...........
 
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I use a stanley blade, I have a brush on the wheel but its junk. This was a purchased one and its way to soft to do anything. But to be fair i dont have my saw hooked up to dust collection.

My tires are poly orange type and scrape clean pretty easily.
 
If you really want to have two or three hours of fun, saw off your 6in PVC dust collection pipe using your bandsaw. The BS is the easiest way to cut the pipe; it really works well. However, those sharp little chips of plastic just dig down into the bandsaw tires something awful. It takes scraping, tweezers, cussing, patience, and being too cheap to purchase new tires to get the job done.

Actually I did find out later, when I was adding ducting for a new tool, if I sawed one or two pieces and then scraped it off it was easy. There is a lesson to be learned there without paying the high price of experience.

Enjoy,

JimB
 
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