The key to ensuring that your fabrication tools last as long as possible is regular maintenance. What does that look like? Well, every tool in your shop is different, but it usually involves cleaning and inspecting them for signs of wear. For something as important as a bandsaw, you should perform a maintenance check every few months or after heavy use. In this post, we’ll help you with one part of the process by teaching you how to properly clean your bandsaw tires.
Why Should You Clean Your Bandsaw Tires?
The short answer to this question is that cleaning your bandsaw tires will help them last longer. But there’s more to it than that. A clogged bandsaw may not cut properly, or it may overheat. Below, we explain some of the reasons you need to clean your bandsaw regularly.
Make Your Tire Last Longer
So how does cleaning your bandsaw tires help them last longer? Well, when you’re cutting materials like wood and metal, shavings get caught inside the wheel housing. Due to the pressure and heat, those shavings will stick to your tires and interfere with the function of your bandsaw. The shavings and pitch may cause overheating, which can dry out rubber bandsaw tires.
Improve Blade Tension
Bandsaw tires have a slight hump in the middle that helps their blades get the right angle on cuts. You want the teeth of the blade to ride up on the hump so that they’re slightly raised instead of centering the blade on the hump. This position gives you ideal cuts. However, shavings and debris can get trapped under the blade and push it off track. So to keep your blade where it needs to be, make sure to keep the tires clean.
Avoid Overheating
Over time, your bandsaw generates heat from running. If the machine gets too hot, it can overheat and shut off. Some tools can even start a fire when they overheat. Since debris buildup traps heat, having a dirty machine can be a fire hazard. The wood shavings themselves can even become the combustible material necessary for a fire to break out.
Steps for Cleaning Your Bandsaw Tires
Below are the recommended steps for properly cleaning your bandsaw tires. Before you can start cleaning your bandsaw tires, you need to make sure the machine is off. Better yet, unplug the bandsaw from its power source so that you know it can’t turn on because of an unexpected incident, such as a power surge.
1. Remove the Bandsaw Blade
After your machine is off, the first step is to open up both wheel housings (top and bottom) and remove the bandsaw blade. Make sure to be very careful since the blade is sharp.
2. Brush Off Loose Debris
Now that you’re just looking at the tires on the wheel, you can see how much debris has built up. This is also the step where many people go wrong. One of the biggest risks of cleaning your bandsaw tires is that you can damage them if you’re not careful. Even small tears and scuffs can weaken your tire and make it wear out faster. So if you see advice on the internet that says you can use a knife or a wire brush to scrape junk off your bandsaw tires, ignore it!
What you really want to use is a softer utility brush. You can even use a stiff toothbrush, which is small enough to get inside all the crevices inside your wheel housing. Take the brush and scrape off any loose debris on your tires.
3. Do the First Cleaning
As you’ll discover when you use the brush on your tires, most of the debris will be quite stuck on them. You’ll need to use some kind of solvent to loosen the tar binding the debris to the tires. There are all sorts of recommendations online for solvents to use, but many of them are too strong and will weaken rubber bandsaw tires. Some solvents to avoid are:
- Turpentine
- Denatured alcohol
- Naphtha
- Belt dressing
Instead of these, you should use a splash of mineral spirits on a cloth or paper towel to gently scrub the tire. Then, go in with the brush you used in the previous step to loosen even more debris.
4. Repeat Cleanings
After the first cleaning, you’ll probably still see some debris on the tires. If so, give them another wash with the mineral spirits and the brush. After each cleaning, feel the belt with your fingers to see if there’s still debris. When a tire is clean, it should feel smooth to the touch.
5. Dust the Wheels
Before you put the tires back on, you should use a small paintbrush to dust off the inside of the wheels and their housings. Then, use a shop vacuum to remove all the loose particles. This step will prevent your bandsaw from becoming clogged again right after cleaning. Once you finish this step, replace the bandsaw blade and make sure you position it correctly on the tire hump.
How To Make Cleaning More Enjoyable
Cleaning shop tools isn’t a job that most people love doing. If you dread cleaning, it can actually make you put off regular maintenance tasks that you should be doing. To make cleaning more enjoyable, we recommend setting aside some time just for maintenance. Choose a day when the weather is nice and you feel positive. You can even play music and enjoy a cold beverage while you work.
The point is, do whatever it takes to make cleaning your tools happen. You may never consider it fun, but it doesn’t have to be something that makes you feel miserable. Plus, you can tell yourself that having clean tools will prevent you from needing to perform maintenance in the middle of a project. It might even save you from expensive repairs later on.
Why You Should Switch to Urethane Tires
Here’s a secret that’ll make cleaning your bandsaw tires much easier—switch to urethane tires. Urethane is much easier to clean than rubber. It also doesn’t attract debris buildup to the same degree. You can find urethane tires for bandsaws at Texas Belting and Supply. We carry hundreds of styles of belting, including bandsaw tires, folder-gluer machine belts, and conveyor belts. Let us know what you’re looking for, and we’ll help you find exactly the right type of belting for your needs.
