Cleaning Saws without a Huge Mess

[Racerboy832]

Lately i've been cleaning some saws to make sure there are no surprises. No matter what I do it seems to make a huge mess with oily sawdust and grime blown all over the place. Then it seems to get tracked all over the place. How do you guys do it without making a mess. I have a large sandblast cabinet that I never use. I was thinking of using that as my cleaning box with compressed air. I can always wash it out.

 

[c5rulz]

I just walk outside the garage and use compressed air. Get a good 10' from the garage and blow away. I do get little rainbows on the asphalt when it rains though.:msp_wink::msp_wink:

 

[Mad Professor]

bucket of soapy water , some simple green, and a parts brush. Old tooth brush works good in the tight places. I do this outside.

If it is really grimy/oily I start in a large dishpan with a spray bottle of diesel fuel and the parts brush. The dirty diesel gets bulked up with waste oil.

 

[Racerboy832]

My problem is i'm on the second story of a building. I try to clean as I go so everything is clean when reassembled. If I went out side i'd sure be tired of those stairs. I have a slop sink with hose attachments No matter what I do I still get wet and so does the floors and walls.

 

[cedarman]

I just walk outside the garage and use compressed air. Get a good 10' from the garage and blow away. I do get little rainbows on the asphalt when it rains though.:msp_wink::msp_wink:

:agree2::agree2::agree2:

 

[Country1]

My problem is i'm on the second story of a building. I try to clean as I go so everything is clean when reassembled. If I went out side i'd sure be tired of those stairs. I have a slop sink with hose attachments No matter what I do I still get wet and so does the floors and walls.

So you're in an apartment cleaning saws with compressed air?....

 

[Racerboy832]

Nope it's a commercial building that I rent one end of. The actual work area is about 12X12 and that gets saw dust blown all over it. Not bad if it wasn't greasy from bar oil.

 

[Country1]

Oh, ok..
Yeah, blowing oily sawdust everywhere inside would be very messy.

Don't know what to tell ya except do it outside if you can find a way.....
That's what I do and it still makes a mess...

 

[Little Al]

Lately i've been cleaning some saws to make sure there are no surprises. No matter what I do it seems to make a huge mess with oily sawdust and grime blown all over the place. Then it seems to get tracked all over the place. How do you guys do it without making a mess. I have a large sandblast cabinet that I never use. I was thinking of using that as my cleaning box with compressed air. I can always wash it out.

I lay down the plastic sheet used by painters/ plasterers, when all the crud is blown off I fold up the sheet & then tip the crud into a 10 gallon drum with the top cut out, good for starting the work shop wood stove

 

[Toneman]

I would scrape off as much of the crud as you can, use the plastic sheet on the floor as previously suggested, then take the saw to a self serve car wash. Soak the saw with a cleaner, I use Simple Green, and let it soak for a few minutes. Give a blast with the warm soapy water, and rinse. You may have to repeat depending how dirty it is. You can then take home a clean saw, give it a wipe down with a cloth or paper towel.
I did this for years when I lived in an appartment.
Good luck

 

[mikefunaro]

Nope it's a commercial building that I rent one end of. The actual work area is about 12X12 and that gets saw dust blown all over it. Not bad if it wasn't greasy from bar oil.

Maybe build a little work platform out the windows by your desk? What's out there anyway? If that gunk falls to the ground is anyone going to be angry?

 

[Racerboy832]

I think I may just trying using compressed air in my sandblast cabinet. It's completely empty and once it's covered in crude I can always wash it out.

 

[kev1n]

When I'm doing cleaning in the house I use bamboo skewers for getting crud off, sometimes in combination with rags on the skewers. I also use an old vacuum with a bic pen taped to the end to suck up the crud. When I get it as clean as I can with that method I blast it with compressed air into a towel.

Kevin

 

[djones]

I have a small shop that I work in with no room for a parts cleaner so I bought a 54 qt plastic storage box with a lid at Lowe's. When I dismantle a saw I just throw the pieces in the box with some mineral spirits and let them soak for a night before I tackle them. Some Krud Kutter sprayed on them when I start cleaning speeds things up a bit. The sides of the box keep most of the splashed stuff in the box and not on me, even when using brushes. When I'm all done I can filter the mineral spirits into a gallon pail and reuse it. paint filters work well for this.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

bucket of soapy water , some simple green, and a parts brush. Old tooth brush works good in the tight places. I do this outside.

If it is really grimy/oily I start in a large dishpan with a spray bottle of diesel fuel and the parts brush. The dirty diesel gets bulked up with waste oil.

Me too. I used to have some orange stuff that was better than Simple Green but never did know the name of it.

 

[c5rulz]

One thing I forgot, when using compressed air, DO NOT FORGET SAFETY GLASSES/GOGGLES because you will get debris in your eyes.

I also scrape off the big stuff with a putty knife or blunt screwdriver and brush off with a 2" paintbrush prior to using air.

 

[procarbine2k1]

I go outside to clean my saws when I can. If its bad outside I keep a cardboard box in the shop just for cleaning saws, dirty rags, etc. I am probably a bit excessive on shop cleanliness, dont like working on a dirty bench, floor or working in dirty saws.

 

[J.Walker]

I use a dental pick, brush, rag and glass cleaner. Compressed air blowouts outside the barn.

.

 

[bobt]

We always used compressed air to blow off as much crud as possible over a 30gal trash can, then when the saw was dissasembled and the parts were washed in the parts cleaner, they were blown off again, usually outside the back door.

Yes we had grime on the floor, and yes there was crud on the back steps, but that was the nature of the beast!

None of that though, was worse than the big cardboard box full of greasy, grimy rags that we kept behing the bench. They accumulated until we had no more clean rags, and the boss finally exchanged them for clean ones at the place where he got the shop rags after we searched the box for the "less dirty" ones for a month! They were a real mess, and I often wonder why they didn't heat up and burst into flames due to spontaneous combustion, but they never did!

Bob

 

[bluto]

cleaning saws

In my shop I use a 55 gal. plastic drum, that I have cut the top out of, with a grate made out of expanded metal on top. Sit the saw on the grate and clean. Most of the heavy, oily stuff I get off with a scraper or stiff brush. I use brake clean and compressed air for the rest. At times I do need to use the parts washer and brake cleaner afterwards. Small parts, cases and such I soak in a 70/30 mix of that green cleaner then rinse with water. When you clean dirty, greasy chainsaws I don't know anyway your not going to make some kind of a mess. By the way, the business buys the brake clean, so I am somewhat spoiled in that respect.
Jim