Rigid Planer Ques.

[Meritt]

What should I use to remove pine gum from my planer? Having just run 1400 brd ft through it the rollers are slipping a bit. I would prefer not to use my (dubious) judgement on this and go with something that works. Any tips or ideas would be greatly apprectiated!
Meritt - plane tired....

[Ron Evers, Beeton, ON]

Meritt, I use turpentine but my rollers are steel. The owner’s manual may have some recommendation for cleaning the rollers.

Best Regards, Ron.

[Dave]

Hi Meritt,

I have had very good success using alcoholon my delta.
At first I was worried about drying and cracking the rollers, but after 6+ years they seem no worse for wear.

Dave

[Steve in Kemptville, ON]

I use alcohol on the rollers and spirits or naptha on the table.

[J.P.Rap (Hamilton)]

What kind of alcohol are you useing?Is it rubbing alcohol or something stronger.
I'll assume it's not Crown Royal. That would be a sin.LOL
J.P.

[Steve in Kemptville, ON]

OH you mean on the planer ;).... Just denatured alcohol or 99% Isopropyl. I also thought of using some of that pitch & resin remover from L.V. that smells suspiciously like amonia & dish soap (Hmmm) but the alcohol seems to be working.

[J.P.Rap (Hamilton)]

If I remember corectly(from this forum)denatured alcohol is available at pharmacies, correct? Or am I thinking of something else?
TIA J.P.

[Steve in Kemptville, On.]

I'd stay away from the pharmacies. I tried this and they wanted $29+ for a gallon. Plus it's not a stock item usually. They only keep pure ethanol (booze grade stuff) for use in cough syrup etc.

Grab your yellow pages and check under chemicals. One place in Ottawa here "BSC Chemical" sells it for $11 per gallon. Alphachem in Missisauga also sells it but thier price is over double that so look around, you can do better. In Canada they don't usually go by the term "Denatured Alcohol", here it's just referred to as Industrial Ethanol.

Note, if you are just using it for cleaning the rollers just get a 500ml of Isopropyl from the drug store. I use it for shellac so that's why I need the gallon jugs.

[Peter B Fenwick ON]

I have found that Varsol works quite well,and it's inexpensive too.

[J.P.Rap (Hamilton)]

[Meritt]