On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 19:53:55 +0000 (UTC), David Lesher
wrote:

What's the preferred treatment for drive rollers that seem to be hit & miss?
These are the pickup rollers in a Minolta office copy machine.

I recall various cure-all's used for phonograph drive wheels in decades past,
but not heard of anything recently.

Black rubber rollers can be rejuventated for a while with any type of
silicone oil.
First clean the rollers with denatured alchohol and fine grade
scotchbrite(usually white in color). Follow up with a synthetic sponge
moist with alchohol to remove any loose rubber residue.( the foam tip
cleaning swabs used for head cleaning vcr's will do or a bit of car
wash sponge.)
Let dry and apply silicone oil.( Armorall makes a rubber rejuvenator
specifically for rubber/vinyl that works well. Used to get a product
called "Rubber Love" from the auto parts store that worked very well
also. Comes in a plastic squirt bottle and is a clear non-flammable
silicone.)
Run a few clean up sheets through the copier to get any excess off the
rollers before running any actual work.
This method has worked for me in the past, allowing a little more life
from the pinch rollers.
If you can't locate silicone oil from your local auto parts store try
an RC hobby shop. They sell varying grades of pure silicone oil for
the shocks on RC cars etc...
I have several bottles of this stuff and it's worked like a charm on
just about any rubber I've had to service.( gaskets, o-rings etc...)