How To Clean Your Power Tools The Right Way
While power tools can be useful forcleaning up messes, sometimes they may need a bit of cleaning themselves. General use, and even just time, can lead to various buildup of debris, let alone regular wear and tear.
Strictly speaking, it’s not absolutely necessary to clean yourpower toolsregularly — especially larger and more complex devices that require more work to maintain — but failing to do so does have consequences. Poor maintenance leads to a reduced lifespan for the tool, performance degradation, and in some instances, using a tool in such a state could pose a safety risk.
While there are some general steps and suggestions to follow when it comes to cleaning your power tools, it’s still recommended that you consult the owner’s manual or instructions before attempting to clean or maintain them on your own. Not all devices are built the same, use the same components, or require the same care, and you’ll want to make sure to avoid doing anything that might inadvertently cause any damage.
In most cases, you’ll want steel wool or a wire brush, toothpicks or Q-tips, household cleaner (double-check that it’s safe for tools), a bucket, a cleaning rag, a can of compressed air, smaller tools like a screwdriver or Allen wrench (in case you need to disassemble anything), and some degreaser. It’s also a good idea to don PPE gear like gloves and protective goggles before starting.
Cleaning handheld power tools
Once you have all of your cleaning supplies ready, and have put on the necessary protective gear, it’s time to get started:
You can also use some WD-40 (or something similar) after cleaning on metal parts to help protect against future corrosion.
Cleaning large power tools
Larger power tools like stationary equipment can be a bit more labor-intensive to clean, but the process is fairly similar to smaller power tools. Another thing to note is that precision tools may need to be recalibrated once cleaning is finished, depending on the equipment.
Once finished, plug the tool back in and give it a quick dry run to make sure everything is clean, running smoothly, and properly tightened.
