How to clean pickup rollers

I've used a dremel wire brush for rollers. Not sure about the pin.  Usually a few drops of oil on the pin, the roller and the center rail will cut down on the sparking.

CRC-226 lubricant is conductive

also use Electrical Contact Cleaner.

I use a dremel tool brush.  Either a wire brush or fiber brush but as stiff as you can get.  I angle the brush about 45 degrees to the roller so the roller can spin some but also allows the brush to knock off the hardened grease.  If you are going to get set up for a couple of rollers,  you might as well grab everything you can and clean those rollers while you are at it.

If you use contact cleaner in a spray can on the roller pin, be sure to set the engine on some cardboard or a towel at an angle so the cleaner doesn't bounce up or drip on the painted surfaces.  I would probably pack some paper towels around the truck getting cleaned to try and soak up or block any cleaner getting to the paint.  You never know what the reaction will be.

Also you should then clean you track while you are at it.  I use an old wash cloth and rubbing alcohol and elbow grease.  Scotch brite for tougher, older track.  I have never been affected by the fumes but probably a good idea to open a window and start a fan going to circulate the air.  Oh and don't smoke or light matches around the surfaces with alcohol for a while.

Thank you guys for the tips. I will let you all know what happens.

Goo gone work good too but you have to dry the roller with a q tip. I also recommend the contact cleaner!

Plastic safe contact cleaner! Some are very volitile. Read the can.

As for track cleaning I find alcohol a poor cleaning liquid for track. Lacquer thinner does a much better job much quicker. But it dissolves some plastics and can mess up painted surfaces. So I use a chalk board eraser with a piece of rag wrapped around it. The rag is wetted with the lacquer thinner. The rag is changed often as the black goo it removes is extensive. Do not allow the rag to touch anything but the rails.

I sometimes use the small erasure that is embedded with an abrasive, sold to brighten rails for model railroads. Make sure it is wide enough to bridge all three tracks. It is pretty agressive and takes a bit of elbow grease to work well. The lacquer thinner method requires little effort and works fast but may leave a residue whereas the abrasive erasure lives the rails bright. A two step process, lacquer thinner first follower by erasure, assures clean rails that stay clean longer.

But it all may be in vane if the train wheels and roller contacts are goo coated and act to re-coat the rails. They should be cleaned too, a much harder task. I have not found the solution to those. A motorized stand for rail cars and a electrified roller system might be the answer for engines but I have not pursued it. Then there is the roller contact. Maybe a Dremel wire brush is the answer?? Obviously I have more to do in this regard.

LDBennett

Plastic safe contact cleaner! Some are very volitile. Read the can.

LOL, reminds me of the time I got some contact cleaner on a few keys on a computer keyboard. They shattered all by themselves.

Sometimes, I find that putting a drop of Deoxit between the roller and it's holder is effective. It works its way between the roller and it's pin.
Unfortunately, sometimes I find it necessary to remove the roller from it's pin so I can clean the pin directly. The inside of the roller gets cleaned with a pipe cleaner wet with mineral spirits. If that doesn't work, then a new roller. (I keep an assortment of rollers on hand)

Opinions differ on whether a roller should be lubricated.

I use DeoxIt D5 and light oil on the roller pin.  For cleaning, I use a Dremel tool with a Scotchbrite pad.  I used to use the wire brush, but I hate how they spew out tiny needles of stainless steel all the time!

For cleaning and removing congealed oil and caked grease, I use naphtha or Zippo (or Ronsonol) cigarette lighter fluid. It cleans very well and evaporates better than mineral spirits. It generally doesn't harm plastics or paint like most other solvents, but I still try to keep it away from painted surfaces anyway. For roller lube, I recommend a product marketed for model trains called Never-Stall, but also have used De-Oxit in tthe small bottle (non-aerosol) and Rail-Zip (from Pacer Products). The Rail-Zip reminds me of a product called "Kroil" made by Kano Labs that my Dad used to love to use on his outboard motors and R/C aircraft engines.

Bill in FtL

I wish that I would have "discovered" the dremel tool long ago!  I, for years, used the wheel cleaning liquid concoction with Q-tips.  It was a pain the exterior and time consuming.  Last year, I learned about the dremel.  Some times it has taken me as long as 2 or 3 seconds to shine a contact roller to as good as the day it was new!

I hated cleaning engine wheels especially.  I dreaded it for years.  I can clean probably about 10 of my engines wheels in about a hour to just about perfect!  I love the dremel!  Yes John I hate the "shavings" flying too, but that is a small price to pay. 

The shavings don't fly with my Scotchbrite wheel, I get a little dust from it, but it doesn't embed itself in my fingers like those little SS needles do!

A shot of DeoxIT, followed a few minutes later by a drop of Bachmann E-Z Conductive Lube.  The second step doesn't always seem necessary - but it has definitely helped in a couple of cases where a pickup was getting hot (most notably on a #50 Gang Car).

gunrunnerjohn posted:

The shavings don't fly with my Scotchbrite wheel, I get a little dust from it, but it doesn't embed itself in my fingers like those little SS needles do!

GRJ,

Do you make your own Scotchbrite wheels, or are they available commercially?

Bill in FtL

I just cut my own out of purple ScotchBrite, very easy.  It looks like this before I start rounding it by using it on things.

A couple of other folks have mentioned using Deoxit.

Deoxit is a product of Caig Labs. It comes in several formulas & concentrations, packaged in  spray cans, and in bottles.
I have been using the most concentrated liquid form of D5.  It is expensive, but I have been working on the same bottle for years. In the future I will probably buy one of the smaller containers with a needlepoint applicator

Caig Labs makes a number of other products that I use on trains and elsewhere.

I have rescued a number of stereos with noisy controls using Caig products. I cannot say enough good things about them.

Caig does sell direct, but I have found their products elsewhere at a discount.

Scotch bright makes a lot of dust that turns into grit that can fall into the bearing surfaces and gears, doesn't it?

LDBennett

No problems with that here, it's certainly a lot less obnoxious than shooting tiny painful needles at me!