Wheel Cleaners

[rbryce1]

The wheel cleaner I placed on order is on back order with this company, which is most likely why it was so cheap compared to the other sites.  

It gives me a chance to ask the question here, has any one used the Woodland Scenics wheel cleaner?   If so, what did you think?

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/TT4561/page/1

[jward]

i have seen them, but have yet to buy one. it looks like it would work though.

[richg]

One You Tube reviewer thought it was ok.

Rich

[M1FredQ]

At $29 save your money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The best cleaner is a product I use to clean and lubricate my guns, and bicycles.

This stuff is awesome. It was used by the U.S. Marines to clean and lubricate their weapons.

Many of the Spec-Ops soldiers use it.

It is BREAK  FREE CLP(cleaner lubricant and preservative) it penetrates into the metal and

loosens up the dirt, debris and rust. When I pulled out my Dad's collection after being in

storage for 2o some years their was a mold and grunge on the wheels. With a old toothbrush

I scrubbed the wheels and axles and all the gunk came off!!!!!!!!! Not to mention with the teflon

in it the wheels roll wonderfully.

DO NOT USE it on plastic BUT  Break Free makes a Preservative which you can use on the
plastic parts and won't harm it.

And best of all it's cheap

$10 for a BIG 12oz can

smaller cans or bottles are just 3-5 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Try it it works!!!!!!!!!

[skooksteve]

I have one and I think it works just fine for my needs. I like that it comes with spare cleaning pads so I'm good to go for awhile before buying more. Seems to be a lot less time consuming than other methods I've heard of. A little pricey so it pays to shop around. Got mine at my LHS when they were having a sale. With the time it saves me I have more time to work on my layout  

[richg]

Micro Mark has them in N scale and HO scale at what seems to be the best price, so far.

Rich

[Doneldon]

rb-

I don't have one of these but a friend like his. Remember that it doesn't clean non-powered
wheels so it won't improve electrical pick-up on tender wheels.

                                                                                               -- D

[rbryce1]

Thanks all.  My LHS has one for less than MicroMark when you add in the freight charges, and I like to support them when I can. 

They (Woodland Scenics) shows on their video on how to use it to clean rolling stock wheels.  I think it is BS though.  They have you roll the car back and forth with slight pressure on the car to clean the wheels.  Seems to me it is just rolling the dirty wheels over the pads without really cleaning them.

I am trying to convert all my stock to metal wheels anyway.  Not sure the best way to clean rolling stock wheels other than Q tips and solvent, and I understand metal wheels require minimal cleaning anyway if the tracks are kept clean.

[Doneldon]

I understand metal wheels require minimal cleaning anyway if the tracks are kept clean.

rb-

Basically true. Plus, the dirt on your wheels won't matter except on cars which need power, like tenders, cabeese and passenger equipment.
Some folks believe that dirty rolling stock wheels make the rails dirty but it seems to me that dirty wheels pick up more dirt than they spread
around. Keep your rails clean and your trains will run just fine.

                                                                                               -- D

[jward]

i.ve always cleaned car wheels with a screwdriver blade. the crud buildup will just peel off if you hold the blade against the tread, and turn the axle by hand. locomotive wheels are cleaned by soaking a paper towell with alcohol, then holding the loco in place with one truck on the towel, and applying power.

it is my impression that the pads on the ws cleaner rotate while the wheels on the locomotive spin. somebody correvt me if i"m wrong

[rbryce1]

The pads are stationary, actually sticky back mounted on the rails of the device.  You get power either from a power pack and the provided alligator clips or directly from your tracks .

Here is the video of how it works.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/rVUIVzk_4Pc?rel=0&autoplay=1&showinfo=0&fs=1&hl=en_US&wmode=opaque

[CNE Runner]

I didn't 'spring' for the Woodland Scenics wheel cleaner; but I did purchase their Rail Tracker and Dust Monkeys. I found the Rail Tracker to be an innovative design that allowed me to mechanically clean the rail heads without worrying about slipping off and causing damage to trackside items.

The problem arose with cleaning my Peco Electrofrog turnouts. Peco has a strange looking 'object' between the point rails of their turnouts that 'snagged' the Rail Tracker. I would imagine this would not be a problem with other brands of track. I have discontinued use of the Rail Tracker and have gone back to a Bright Boy pad.

The Dust Monkeys didn't seem to to anything. Please understand that I have a small shelf layout and this product might be of more use to those of you that can continuously run trains (instead of point-to-point).

For wheels I use a piece of shop toweling (or a used dryer sheet) that has been well-soaked with ACT-6006 Track & Rail Cleaner. Using a couple of lengths of Bachmann EZ-track and two jumpers running from the EZ-track to a layout siding (it is not a good idea to clean wheels on a scenic-ed part of your layout). After thoroughly cleaning the two pieces of Bachmann EZ-track, I run one power truck of my GE 45-tonner on a piece of soaked shop toweling until there is no more black residue left behind on the toweling (move the toweling several times during this process). After the 'wet' wash, I then run the power truck on a dry part of the shop towel to burnish (and remove any residual deposits from) the wheels. Now follow the same procedure with the other power truck(s). My usual practice is to allow the locomotive to sit overnight before use.

If you are interested in ACT-6006 it can be had at http://www.aerocarlubricants.com/ and comes in 120 ml (8 FL oz.) bottles...I usually order two bottles although the stuff lasts a good while.

BTW: there are several reasons NOT to use alcohol on track or power pick up wheels (no problem with non-power pick up wheels). See your local chemistry guy for a little lesson on alcohol (especially denatured) and electrical properties.

Hope this helps,
Ray

[richg]

I didn't 'spring' for the Woodland Scenics wheel cleaner; but I did purchase their Rail Tracker and Dust Monkeys. I found the Rail Tracker to be an innovative design that allowed me to mechanically clean the rail heads without worrying about slipping off and causing damage to trackside items.

The problem arose with cleaning my Peco Electrofrog turnouts. Peco has a strange looking 'object' between the point rails of their turnouts that 'snagged' the Rail Tracker. I would imagine this would not be a problem with other brands of track. I have discontinued use of the Rail Tracker and have gone back to a Bright Boy pad.

The Dust Monkeys didn't seem to to anything. Please understand that I have a small shelf layout and this product might be of more use to those of you that can continuously run trains (instead of point-to-point).

For wheels I use a piece of shop toweling (or a used dryer sheet) that has been well-soaked with ACT-6006 Track & Rail Cleaner. Using a couple of lengths of Bachmann EZ-track and two jumpers running from the EZ-track to a layout siding (it is not a good idea to clean wheels on a scenic-ed part of your layout). After thoroughly cleaning the two pieces of Bachmann EZ-track, I run one power truck of my GE 45-tonner on a piece of soaked shop toweling until there is no more black residue left behind on the toweling (move the toweling several times during this process). After the 'wet' wash, I then run the power truck on a dry part of the shop towel to burnish (and remove any residual deposits from) the wheels. Now follow the same procedure with the other power truck(s). My usual practice is to allow the locomotive to sit overnight before use.

If you are interested in ACT-6006 it can be had at http://www.aerocarlubricants.com/ and comes in 120 ml (8 FL oz.) bottles...I usually order two bottles although the stuff lasts a good while.

BTW: there are several reasons NOT to use alcohol on track or power pick up wheels (no problem with non-power pick up wheels). See your local chemistry guy for a little lesson on alcohol (especially denatured) and electrical properties.

Hope this helps,
Ray

Most here do not know a chemistry guy. You would do better with an Internet link about using alcohol to clean wheels and track and the issues involved. I suspect many here have no idea on what you mean.

Rich

[rbryce1]

The only thing I can think of is the fact that denatured alchohol is flamable, so a spark could cause an HO scale fire inside your engine due to a spark from your engines electrical system.  

Did I win the pony?

[jward]

denatured alcohol is worse than that. it burns without a flame, so you don't realize it's burning until it's too late. regular isopropyl alcohol is safe.