Rollers Cleaning

[beowulf]

Dear All,

I am a little confused about cleaning of Rubber rollers (Paper Feed Roller, Pickup Roller, Separation Roller) of all Konica Minolta machines from desktop to console , from MFP to color press.

KonMin says "Clean Rollers with Alcohol or IPA" . I have read it in most of the service manuals. But on the other side Alcohol damages the rollers and rollers get cracked or their surface gets plain before life. Alcohol is a cleaning agent but it reacts with rubber and damage it upon frequent cleaning.

So, my question is what is best to cleaning rollers with? Alcohol? Water? any Detergent or caustic Soda?

Please suggest!

Thanks

[copier tech]

Re: Rollers Cleaning

Dear All,

I am a little confused about cleaning of Rubber rollers (Paper Feed Roller, Pickup Roller, Separation Roller) of all Konica Minolta machines from desktop to console , from MFP to color press.

KonMin says "Clean Rollers with Alcohol or IPA" . I have read it in most of the service manuals. But on the other side Alcohol damages the rollers and rollers get cracked or their surface gets plain before life. Alcohol is a cleaning agent but it reacts with rubber and damage it upon frequent cleaning.

So, my question is what is best to cleaning rollers with? Alcohol? Water? any Detergent or caustic Soda?

Please suggest!

Thanks

Refer to the service manual.

However personally I replace all feed rollers if the machine has a jamming issue or no visit for 50k this is good practice.

And if you replace the rollers remember to reset the life counters this will help the following engineer.

[Copier Addict]

Re: Rollers Cleaning

Dear All,

I am a little confused about cleaning of Rubber rollers (Paper Feed Roller, Pickup Roller, Separation Roller) of all Konica Minolta machines from desktop to console , from MFP to color press.

KonMin says "Clean Rollers with Alcohol or IPA" . I have read it in most of the service manuals. But on the other side Alcohol damages the rollers and rollers get cracked or their surface gets plain before life. Alcohol is a cleaning agent but it reacts with rubber and damage it upon frequent cleaning.

So, my question is what is best to cleaning rollers with? Alcohol? Water? any Detergent or caustic Soda?

Please suggest!

Thanks

I use a product called Sel-Sol. It works great for cleaning and doesn't seem to cause any damage.

[copier tech]

Re: Rollers Cleaning

I use a product called Sel-Sol. It works great for cleaning and doesn't seem to cause any damage.

No amount of cleaning can restore WORN rollers!

[Copier Addict]

Re: Rollers Cleaning

No amount of cleaning can restore WORN rollers!

Yup. But he didn't ask what to do with worn rollers, he asked how to clean DIRTY rollers

[tsbservice]

Re: Rollers Cleaning

There are quite a few threads here on this exact topic. Sel-Sol seems to be preferred by many but it may be hard to purchase depending on your location.
50k for replacement of rollers on office machines range is a bit too early to my taste and as per manuals. Of course it depends on crap paper customers use, but ours use mostly cheapest they can purchase and KM rollers seems to hold well.

[Toxic]

Re: Rollers Cleaning

Last year i got bottle of some bad smell (like wd40) liquid for rubber rollers and it works good.
Before that i cleaned rollers,glass,mirrors,... with mixture of 70% alcohol (96%) and 30% distilled water and never had issue with that in 10 years.
Few times i even cleaned drum with some bundled toner marks with that mixture and see some shadows on print first few sheets and after that all ok.

[copier tech]

Re: Rollers Cleaning

Last year i got bottle of some bad smell (like wd40) liquid for rubber rollers and it works good.
Before that i cleaned rollers,glass,mirrors,... with mixture of 70% alcohol (96%) and 30% distilled water and never had issue with that in 10 years.
Few times i even cleaned drum with some bundled toner marks with that mixture and see some shadows on print first few sheets and after that all ok.

Konica will tell you their rollers will last 300k in an ideal world this is true.
However cheap or recycled paper no.

You can clean off the paper pulp etc this will prolong the life of the feed rollers it all depends on when you/an engineer is expected to return to decide what is viable.

[Toxic]

Re: Rollers Cleaning

I dont think we have globaly good quality paper in my region but almost all my problems with paper jamming from trays is because separation roller get "flat" spots on its surface.
Of course it hold pretty much expected life before get flat spots.
Feed or pickup rollers almost never cause problems for me.
All this is regarding office machines and 80 gsm paper, production machines is different story where is used many different types and weights of paper.

[Boltaction]

Re: Rollers Cleaning

Last year i got bottle of some bad smell (like wd40) liquid for rubber rollers and it works good.

This is what myself and the other techs at our company use. Cleans and conditions the rubber, also helps restore the "tackiness" to the rollers when you dry them off.

I've never used Sel-Sol but isn't it a kind of solvent? I would be hesitant to use it regularly but I may pick some up to try. Otherwise, WD-40 to me is the only way to go.

[Copier Addict]

Re: Rollers Cleaning

This is what myself and the other techs at our company use. Cleans and conditions the rubber, also helps restore the "tackiness" to the rollers when you dry them off.

I've never used Sel-Sol but isn't it a kind of solvent? I would be hesitant to use it regularly but I may pick some up to try. Otherwise, WD-40 to me is the only way to go.

I believe it has some alcohol and a rubber conditioner in it. The rollers are tacky when finished.

[pinspin]

Re: Rollers Cleaning

Window cleaner works well.But the best way is to replace the rollers.

[CompyTech]

Re: Rollers Cleaning

Personally I feel the idea around the alcohol drying out the rubber is from the old days. I don't think cleaning rollers with alcohol on a service call once in a while is going to wear them out any quicker. If they need replacing just replace them.

I use stuff called Stoner plastic surface cleaner. I'm sure it has some alcohol init, but it cleans pretty good and my company gets it for us.

[allan]

Re: Rollers Cleaning

I have been using paraffin/kerosene for a while and it works real well.

[907tec]

Re: Rollers Cleaning

We use lighter fluid for most feed rolls. Seems to do a great job removing oil/dirt/etc, hasn't excessively dried-out any rollers in 13+ years, and doesn't leave a residue after evaporating. Still use 70/30 IPA mix for things like coronas.