Cleaning up decomposed rollers

Paint stripper, the strongest you can find.

Although I have never had to deal with this problem, I recall someone discussing this and indicating that they put the rollers in a freezer and the stuff hardened up enough to chip off the surfaces. I imagine rollers could be placed in a garbage bag (to keep from contaminating other items in the freezer). i guess it’s worth a try.

For press parts too large to freeze, you’re on your own.

Thanks guys, I will get down to it on the weekend and see how I go with the paint stripper, failing that I will have to bag it up and pop it in the freezer…

I’ve been through this myself. An old timer told me to wipe them down with motor oil, and it worked perfectly. I was giggling like a school girl while I was wiping.
Bill

Hi Bill - love the description of your reaction mate! Brilliant!

Looking forward to trying it now! (I was dreading this job)

I have a similar problem. I bought an old Chicago #10, and the roller on it has a harder black outer layer, with the inside layer that has melted into a sticky goop.
I would like to keep the trucks to send them off to get a new roller, but assume it would be more affordable to get the gunk off of it first.
Any ideas how to tackle this one?

I used the engine oil on mine. It was a slow and laborious process - the motor oil does dissolve the decomposed rubber but it’s still a very slow and messy job. I left them soaking in the oil and that seemed to work help a bit.

There must be an easier way to get this goop off (unless i used the wrong kind of oil, but I used standard engine oil).

Good luck Mirka!

rubber rejuvinator use gloves it wiill burn your hide. todd

I ended up tearing most of it off by hand, when I got to a good start from one end, it tore off fairly well, leaving exposed metal. I got rid of the rust with vinegar and lemon solution. Thank goodness it was only a small roller!