The facts were undeniable: my task chair's wheels had the ride of a Jeep traversing off-road terrain with a flat tire and roadkill stuck to the bottom. After weeks of home improvement projects, our apartment's floors had become dirty with an assortment of debris, half of which seemed to have found itself stuck onto the caster wheels. Combine that with the normal amount of dust and pet hair that accumulates on the floor, and it's no wonder my task chair wasn't rolling smoothly. It was time to get cleaning! Follow the instructions step by step above via slideshow, or with all images at once below.Here's our Steelcase Leap chair's caster wheels. They look pretty nasty, with bits of paint, dirt, and other things we couldn't identify (nor would want to know). 2. Just in case you needed more proof, here's a close up. 3. Supplies you'll need: drop cloth or plastic sheeting, screw driver, rubbing alcohol, surface cleaner, cloth or paper towel, cotton swabs/Q-tips, scrub brush, vacuum (not pictured).
4. Protect your floor with the drop cloth before starting so what you clean off doesn't end up spoiling your floor, carpet or rug beneath. 5. Flip your chair for better access to the caster wheels. 6. Use a scrub brush to remove the majority of debris stuck onto the wheels. We like to follow up a second time with the brush slightly soap-dampened; this removes additional material, while also softening up some of the more stubborn debris for the next step. 7. Here you can see the majority of foreign material has been removed just with the brush, but some gummed up material is stubbornly holding on. 8. Bust out the butter knife for stuck-on stubborn material. Angle your knife nearly parallel with the wheels, holding it steady, but "slicing" in the same directions as the wheels spin. Spreading onto toast afterward is not recommended. 9. Gummy debris has been removed, but alas, there's still more stuck inside the wheel. 10. Next, we vacuum any hair, dust or pet hair caught inside the wheel.
This Dyson pet vac sucked up so much hair, we practically had another small kitten's worth inside the dust receptacle! 11. For a very thorough cleaning, we removed the wheel from the base. This may require the use of additional tools like a wrench or screw driver, depending upon your model. Our wheel popped out with a little bit of elbow grease. 12. First using a surface cleaner spray onto a dampened wash cloth, then followed with some rubbing alcohol applied to cotton balls, we clean each wheel thoroughly inside and around of any remaining debris. The rubbing alcohol is especially good at cleaning and creating a very dry and smooth surface. If you've got any spray lubricant on hand, this is a great opportunity to add a little to the wheel mechanism.Now your wheels should make less noise and you've extended the life of your chair and the floor underneath. Take your chair out for a spin and congratulate yourself for a job well done. Additional Notes: Before returning your newly cleaned task chair, be sure to vacuum, and wipe clean the area on which your task chair normally resides.
All that hard work would be wasted if you were just to return it back to a dirty surface! Want more smart tutorials for getting things done around the home? See all of our Home Hacks tutorials We're looking for great examples of your own household intelligence too! Submit your own Home Hacks tutorial or idea here! Republished from July 16, 2010 Sign up or log in to customize your list. Here's how it works: Anybody can ask a question The best answers are voted up and rise to the top My roller chair is now immovable since there is somehow HAIR, which is about 3 feet (9 dm) per strand, rolled and tangled into all 5 wheels. Below is a picture of the chair: MSRP for this chair: $625.49 I cannot afford to take it to get fixed, and I don't have tools to take the legs off and clean them. Is there a solution for my problem? Turn the chair upside down on a desk or on the floor. Use small scrub or tooth brush or mascara brush/wand, and clean the caster with soap water or alcohol.
This will remove dusts and keep only hairs and threads that got tangled. Remove the visible hairs using butter knife on the crevice of the caster on both sides. Kitchen Tweezers are very helpful here. Use nail clipper/cutter's bottle opener. It will have pointed curve. Insert it into the fissure, Catch the hairs and pluck off the hairs. Keep revolving & rotating the caster strategically by other hand while doing this and this will help the tool to catch more hairs. Simply cut a section of duct tape and then stick around the cover and pluck off. You can also cut a section of duct tape and fold it back around your razor knife so that it will be like a closed loop ready to stick, then insert it under the wheel cover and pluck off. Reason why Razor knife is because they are very thin. Do not use sharp knives including razor knife. It will cut the hairs and make it difficult. But if the hairs are very stubborn and likely to tangled like a closed loop, cut the hairs with small manicure scissors or razor blade to break the closed loop.
If you are not satisfied after trying the mentioned workarounds, then I would recommend you to get a screw driver and remove the caster from the chair, then wash on the soap water and apply lubricants. The example sample images are taken from Google search I think my answer will come as a surprise to most people, since I did not see it online during my repair attempts. The wheels or rollers used by common office chairs are universal. They're called "casters" and you can buy a set of five on eBay for around $8, including shipping. Because the other methods can take hours, replacing them is cost effective for anyone making even minimum wage. Unfortunately, while you can remove them, there does not seem to be a simple way to disassemble the casters themselves for repair, since the most popular YouTube method for doing so involved complicated drill holes and other carpentry. I found both the knife and the conventional lighter methods to be ineffective. I did not try the Iroda torch pictured in another comment ($60).
I declined to try either of the high-concentration hydrogen peroxide or drain cleaner methods proposed online. I had the idea to try a Dremel tool with a flat attachment ($80), but again that is price prohibitive if you do not already own one, and may not even work. If you don't mind the smell, use one of those: Although being plastic, the material of the rolls is quite thick, and thus doesn't heat up so quickly (Just like the "trick" where you can hold your hand into a candle for a fraction of a second). Just briefly (a second or two) hold the flame inside the wheel and watch the hairs go up in smoke. They burn nicely but smell awfully. Unless you have really lots of dense greasy hair in there, the burning will not harm the rolls. For added safety, have it burn only for a second or two on its own and then blow it of. Scrape of the brittle remainders with whatever you have available ( I used a screwdriver ). Of course do it with all the necessary precautions. Outside, nothing flammable around, a bucket of water in case something goes wrong etc.