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I have a few abrasive strips for my drum sander that I've put aside, in the hope that I could eventually clean them and get some more mileage from them. All I could find in a search was to use oven cleaner.

What is the process? Just like for an oven, spray it on, let it soak, than scrub with a wire brush?

I thought that I read some time back that there is another common solvent that can be used?

Has anyone out there cleaned strips for reuse?

TIA,

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Ken Mitchell
Durham, NC

Wurth Wood Group makes a product called Pitch and Resin Remover that is designed for abrasive belts and cutting tools. It works very well. I have used it on sanding belts with success. I sprayed mine, put it in a plastic bag to sit for a while, rinsed it off and let it dry. Worked great. Dissolved a lot of tough stuff.

Here is a link. http://www.wurthwoodgroup.com/products.html

Click on Shop Supplies at the bottom, then on cleaning supplies.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Thanks, Waddy... I'll check them out. I've used Wurth's aerosol spray paint to repaint automobile wheels... for repainting aluminum wheels, they have the best paint available, or so they say!

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Ken Mitchell
Durham, NC

Thanks from me too Waddy bro I was wanting to know what to use too.

This product sounds like it is wurth it....

I have a little 4 oz bottle that I got last year at the woodworking show, and it has lasted me well. I will be buying some soon. It really works. Do not breathe the spray though. It isn't as bad as oven cleaner, but it is strong stuff.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

As I posted about a year ago, this Wurth solution is the cat's meow. I use a gallon paint can with lid and filled up with the stuff mixed with up to 5 times its volume of water. Just coil up your belts and let them soak until you need them. Rinse with water and you're good to go. I buy it a gallon at a time.

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Dean

Does anyone know if this Wurth product is available in Canada?

I find that blowing the resin off the belt with compressed air very frequently helps a lot. I was doing my fingerboard radius with 150 glued on the radius block & I found I blew it off every 16 to 20 passses & it worked much faster,
Mike McNerney

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Mike McNerney

I assume you have cleaned the strips first with one of the crepe (sp?) rubber blocks sold by Woodcraft et al for just that purpose? I find that a quick hit with the rubber every few passes on my 16/32 keeps the rubber from loading much at all. In other words, I don't let it get too bad in the first place, keeps the cutting action more consistent too. When my strips are worn out, they're worn out!

Steve

I have been using empire pitch eliminator.
its very good stuff and graet for cleaning our bandsaw blades also.

to clean my belts on my drum sander i use the crepe rubber cleaners very frequently and as soon as i get build up or burn i give it a quick spray with a little pitch eliminator.i then give it a scrub with stiff brush (all this whist its still on the machine)and then let it dry.
once its dry i use the crepe cleaner again and run some scrap through make sure all the resudie is off before contimuing.
this works ok but once you start getting build up there is no stopping it and the sand paper starts getting blunt.
this can be good if you want light polishing passes but if you need stock removal then a new belt is the way to go,

if i have a really bad one i will go trough the roll bending it to release the resing from the pad then i do the soak method but it tales so long sometime its more cost effective just to use a new roll,

Joel.

I ran out of oven cleaner recently and the local supermarket didn't have any in stock, so I found some heavy duty auto degreaser that, at a few bucks for a can, I figured was worth a gamble. Worked great and I found it to be a lot less noxious than oven cleaner.

Also of course cleaning every few passes with a rubber cleaner is the easiest way to keep things going. Oily woods I find I need to use it every time I lower the height of the drum, but some can easily go a whole sanding session without needing it.

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Richard
http://www.guitarmaker.com

Just in reference to the crepe blocks, which I also use. I saw a guy at last years woodworking show here who used plastic grocery bags clumped up instead of crepe blocks. Claimed they worked just as well. Watching him use them, I can't argue.

How smart is that? But I will say the big rubber "erasers" work awesome. In my case, regular use of the thing, and I never see any buildup what so ever. And they are dog cheap (Klingspor has them, but so does a lot of other places). Mine is 2"x2"x12" and it cost me like $6

Mike

If you've got a couple of days to spare, you can just soak it overnight in some warm soapy water, which is what I did with my first one. Next day I laid it out on the concrete path and gave it a scrub with the scrubbing brush for about 30 seconds. Dipped it back in the bucket and hung it on the clothes line. I left it until next day, but it could have been dry sooner. Good as new.

Now I just cut a fresh piece off the roll using the old piece as a template.

I like that eraser idea. I'll have to try to find one of those.

Hip.

Hip,

Go to Klingspor.com... you have to do your first order over the phone, thereafter you have an account for on line stuff. 1-800 number. Just ask for the natrual rubber cleaner. I bought a roll of their blue 80 grit. Cannot tell you how many times I have used it, and, it still looks new because of the rubber bar. Also, I have used less then 2" off the 12" bar. I also use it on my rigid spindle/belt sander.

I realize that the OP is trying to save an orginal belt, and that this post of mine is adding nothing to help. But I hope it will help for the future.

Mike

I just remembered something. I think you can order straight from here without calling the store.

http://www.woodworkingshop.com/

Just create an account. Its Klinspor's on line store.

Mike