# How to clean a DW735 planer?



## creative (Aug 17, 2015)

fellow sawdust makers,

I recently bought some Birch strips at Home Depot for a furniture project. Peeled off the sticker labels with my chisel, but some sticker glue was left on the wood. Ran all the wood through my DW735 planer. 

Currently, there's some sticker glue stuck to the metal plate that the wood feeds across. And there's a good chance some is on the rollers. 

What should I use to clean the metal plate and rollers? Mineral spirits? Denatured Alcohol? Something else?

As always, thanks for your help! :smile:


----------



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I would try the mineral spirits. If the rollers have a rubber coating I would definitely avoid the alcohol. Alcohol could dry the rubber out.


----------



## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

I use mineral spirits on the rollers on my 735. When I had the 734, the rollers needed cleaning quite often due to that model not having the blower, or so I suspect the reason was that they kept needing to be cleaned and would not feed the material through the planer until the rollers were cleaned.

The 735 seems to be the favorite planer of most of the members of the forum, I am pretty sure that you will like your's too.

Jerry


----------



## woodknots (Mar 7, 2012)

Any time I have to clean off labels, etc. from any item I use Goo Gone - works like a charm

Goo Gone


----------



## creative (Aug 17, 2015)

Chuck - just did some poking around the internet to see if mineral spirits damage rubber. As far as I can tell, mineral spirits can damage rubber, but it depends on how long they're contacting the rubber, and what type of rubber it is.

One of the reasons I asked is I bought some used equipment with spraypaint on it once. I bought some spraypaint remover to take it off. Some minutes later, I lightly scraped a screwdriver over the paint, to see if it would flake off. To my surprise, the screwdriver dragged a shallow ditch on the surface of some plastic parts of the equipment. The paint remover had literally turned plastic into a semi-soft gel.

So I'm still a little concerned about using mineral spirits on the rollers of the DW735. Wouldn't want sticky glue removal to spiral into a bigger/more expensive problem.

Maybe I'll contact Dewalt an see what they recommend - unless you and others have some anecdotal info about personally using mineral spirits on the DW735 without any issues
.


----------



## Gene Howe (Jul 10, 2007)

You might try plain Simple Green and a damp rag. Maybe 409 instead would work. I don't think either would damage the rollers.


----------



## mgmine (Jan 16, 2012)

You have to keep the rollers clean otherwise the wood will have a hard time being pulled through. To clean mine I have always used mineral spirits. After many years and many cleanings the rollers still look like new.


----------



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

creative said:


> Chuck - just did some poking around the internet to see if mineral spirits damage rubber. As far as I can tell, mineral spirits can damage rubber, but it depends on how long they're contacting the rubber, and what type of rubber it is.
> 
> One of the reasons I asked is I bought some used equipment with spraypaint on it once. I bought some spraypaint remover to take it off. Some minutes later, I lightly scraped a screwdriver over the paint, to see if it would flake off. To my surprise, the screwdriver dragged a shallow ditch on the surface of some plastic parts of the equipment. The paint remover had literally turned plastic into a semi-soft gel.
> 
> ...


Contacting DeWalt is probably your best bet. Without knowing exactly what the rubber compound is it's hard to be sure what will clean it without potential harm. Most of the suggestions so far probably won't hurt the rollers if you just wipe the goo off and then wipe the roller dry or maybe also wipe with a damp cloth after for the ones that are water soluble. All bets are off if the solution is allowed to sit for a while as it may have time to migrate into the rubber then and the effects might not show up right away. I've seen orange cleaner spilled on melamine coated particle board for example that dissolved the melamine coating because it didn't get caught right away.


----------



## creative (Aug 17, 2015)

Chuck (and everyone else on the thread),

I sent an email to Dewalt, an they got back to me today. They said: 

*"We do recommend cleaning the rollers with mineral spirits oil, as this will help the rollers keep the tacky feeling to help grab the materials. The mineral spirits will not cause damage."*

So it looks like it's time to buy some mineral spirits. Thanks for all the helpful comments everyone, and stay dusty.


----------



## Nicholas Carey (Aug 10, 2015)

I picked up my DW 735 via Craig's List. Guy was asking something like $300 for it (great price!). Went out to see it. Looks nice. He fires it up to show it off to me. Grabs a scrap of prefinished flooring (prolly with an aluminum oxide finish, to boot) and [tries to] runs it through the the planer. A little smoke as he pushed it through the planer. Wood comes out burned and not a great finish. He instantly dropped the ask to $175 without my even asking him to.

Done deal [gloat].

Took it home. The rollers were gummed up considerable. Cleaned them up with mineral spirits. Swapped in a new set of blades. Voila! Planer like new.


----------



## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I have a Makita planer. Wish I had gotten the 735 instead. One of these days...


----------



## creative (Aug 17, 2015)

@DesertRatTom

the Mkita is nice quality too. 

if you get a Dewalt, get the 735X. It includes flip down infeed and outfeed support, made of steel. The supports can be adjusted to have a slight downward angle on the way in, and a slight upward angle on the way out, to reduce snipe.

lots of power in the mower/blower. the only downside is the cost of a DW735X + a Byrd shelix cutterhead upgrade is about the same as a Laguna shelix cutterhead planer, which would deliver better performance.

it's rare, but in the few instances that I see an indented streak in a planed board, I wish I had a shelix. whether it's worth another $500 and a complicated install... hard to say.


----------



## boogalee (Nov 24, 2010)

I have used mineal spirits from day 1. It is over five years old and I don't notice any ill effects.


----------



## greenacres2 (Dec 23, 2011)

Nicholas Carey said:


> I picked up my DW 735 via Craig's List. Guy was asking something like $300 for it (great price!). Went out to see it. Looks nice. He fires it up to show it off to me. Grabs a scrap of prefinished flooring (prolly with an aluminum oxide finish, to boot) and [tries to] runs it through the the planer. A little smoke as he pushed it through the planer. Wood comes out burned and not a great finish. He instantly dropped the ask to $175 without my even asking him to.
> 
> Done deal [gloat].
> 
> Took it home. The rollers were gummed up considerable. Cleaned them up with mineral spirits. Swapped in a new set of blades. Voila! Planer like new.


DW735 for $175 is a great deal, and an awesome first post!! Welcome aboard.
@creative--the Byrd install to a DW735 is not really all that bad to do. Bought mine as a store display, so adding the Byrd didn't hurt as bad as if i'd had to pay retail. If i can make the swap, pretty much anybody could!!

earl


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> I would try the mineral spirits. If the rollers have a rubber coating I would definitely avoid the alcohol. Alcohol could dry the rubber out.


second the MS..


----------



## furboo (Oct 12, 2015)

Resurrecting this thread: How do you get the rollers to spin free on the DW735, in order to clean them???


----------



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I would say that you would have to take the drive chain off Rob. Maybe there is a top cover that you can remove which would make it easy to rotate the cutter head which should also rotate the rollers. My King has a top cover that I can do that with.


----------



## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

When I've cleaned my roolers I plugged the 735 back in and briefly turned it on and back off. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries to get it to stop in the right place. Then be certain that you have unplugged it again before resuming the cleaning. I also use mineral spirits.

Charley


----------



## furboo (Oct 12, 2015)

Thanks Chuck and Charley...I assumed there was an easier way.

I did find the attached image over on sawmillcreek. I removed this thing when I put on the shelix cutter, quite a while ago. I must have forgotten to put it back on, or it didn't fit with the shelix on :frown:


----------

