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Post by rockyraccoon on Mar 15, 2005 0:06:27 GMT -5
would someone please tell me in detail how you go about this. mine has a gray sludge all in it. how do you not make an oily mess doing this?
kim
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Post by sandsman1 on Mar 15, 2005 0:24:35 GMT -5
kim yours should be easy it should have a drain in the bottom just get a 5 gallon bucket or two have one ready for a spare --- put some news paper on the floor and put a bucket under the drain and just get a wrench and unscrew the plug ---i dont know how much it holds but what ever you put in should come out maybe alittle less but not much when most of it is out put another bucket under it and get somekind of squegee and push all the sludge to the drain do the sides and the lid the best you can and your finished put the drain plug back in and fill it up again ----then if you want get a few buckets and start straining the old oil so you can reuse what you get back
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Post by stoner on Mar 15, 2005 1:23:11 GMT -5
Hey Kim. Yep. What John said. I'm just gonna add, WEAR OLD CLOTHES! YUK. It is a messy job. I've seen systems that use a series of tanks stacked on one another where the oil/water/sludge fills the upper tank then overflows into the next tank, which then overflows into a third tank, and by then, all the sludge has settled to the bottom of the first two tanks and the oil/water is then pumped up to the saw blade. But you'd have to modify your saw a little to make that work. Have fun, Ed
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Post by mrbrett on Mar 15, 2005 8:57:46 GMT -5
There is no clean way to do it. My saw holds almost 5 gal and I cleaned it out a week ago. There was about 2 inches of sludge on the bottom. The tank is deep enough that if I stick my arm down it the blade will touch my elbow. So the easiest way for me to get all the sludge down the drain is to roll up my sleeves and dive in. I use mineral oil and it doesn't seem to be very oily on the skin. Wipes off pretty easy. Now I got to deside if I want to strain the oil or be lasy and spend $20.00 and get another 5 gals and strain the old stuff later.
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Post by rockyraccoon on Mar 15, 2005 9:44:45 GMT -5
how many of you strain it as opposed to just getting some more clean oil? and i know we've gone over this before but it wasn't so important when i didn't have a saw yet - where do most of you get your oil?
kim
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Post by BearCreekLapidary on Mar 15, 2005 9:54:32 GMT -5
Hello Kim, Oh, the joys of cleaning the larger saws ;D You have got some great advice from the people above Can I give you a trick that I use on my 14" Star Diamond saw? When you get the oil out and scrape out what you can ... I use this to really get all of the sludge, grime, chips, etc. off of my saw. You will need: 2 each 5 gallon buckets 1 each garden hose Process: Take the garden hose to your hot water heater. Attach the hose to the drain valve on the bottom side of your hot water heater. Open the valve and fill one of the five gallon buckets with say four gallons of hot water. This will do two things for you. One, it will help flush out any debris from the inside of your hot water heater (which will also increase the ability of the hot water heater to work more effeciently). Two, the hot water will cut through the oily sludge and make your saw very clean. Place the second bucket under the drain on your saw and then gently (because the hot water can burn you, if you are not careful) pour the hot water into your saw and allow the hot water to get into those areas that you wont be able to readily reach so easily and get rid of the sludge from the more inaccessable areas. I repeat this as much as I need to, until I feel that my saw is as clean as I want to see it. Generally it only takes about 4 gallons of hot water to accomplish this on my saw. I would suggest that you have your husband lift and pour the hot water into the saw for you. This sounds harder than it actually is ... I do it all the time on my 14" Star Diamond and it is a great little trick for getting it extremely clean! You could use smaller one gallon jugs if you wish. They would be easier to handle and much easier to direct the hot water to exactly where you would like it to go ... you will just nee to fill the one gallon jugs more frequently that is all. When the drain bucket is full, simply discard of the contents and repeat the process, if you are not 100% satisfied with the results of the first four gallons or so. I generally wipe the excess water from my saws basin, re-install the drain plug, fill it back up and you are ready once again ;D One word of caution: when I fill the five gallon bucket from the hot water heater, the garden hose gets extremely hot. I generally use gloves for this as well as when I am pouring the hot water, to help protect myself from the hot water. Hope this has been of some help, I have done this for years and it works beautifully! Take care and have a great day! John
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Post by BearCreekLapidary on Mar 15, 2005 10:08:04 GMT -5
Hi Kim, I think you added a post while I was typing my "tip" I do not strain my oil. I was fortunate enough to get a good supply of very light weight food grade oil, a year and a half ago. This oil doesn't (or at least has not yet ) turn bad. I am going to have to find another supply of oil before too long as I don't have much left. The gentleman that previously owned the 14" Star Diamond (before me), used Kerosene as a cutting oil. He would simply filter the Kerosene through two brown paper sacks, discard the solids in the trash and return the Kerosene to the saw. Kerosene has a very low flash point and I have never personally heard of anyone that has used Kerosene as a cutting oil, have any problems with fire ... but, why risk it! Besides the smell is very strong and once it's into your clothing ... it's there for the life of the material. Enjoy, John
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Post by rockyraccoon on Mar 15, 2005 11:14:12 GMT -5
what do you mean light weight food grade oil - sunflower oil? cooking oil? vegetable oil?
kim
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Post by mrbrett on Mar 15, 2005 11:43:45 GMT -5
its food grade mineral oil. Here in my town you can buy it for about $4.00 a gal. Has no stink, not that greasy and non-toxic. Good for frin' chicken and tators! Just don't drink it cause it will make you run for the hills.
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Post by rockyraccoon on Mar 15, 2005 12:03:02 GMT -5
oh the joys of living in podunk - where do you get this from? a restaurant? grocery store?
kim
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Post by sandsman1 on Mar 15, 2005 12:32:38 GMT -5
kim i sent you an email about some minerl oil there down your way so it might help with shipping if you cant get it local and they even sell 55 gallon drums of it cheap since you have a big saw might be the way to go for you
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Post by mrbrett on Mar 16, 2005 8:10:02 GMT -5
look in the yellow pages for fuel or oil companies. They are the ones that will carry it.
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Post by rockyraccoon on Mar 16, 2005 17:37:18 GMT -5
thanks for all the info and tips. now i've just got to do it. ;D
kim
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