On Tue, 1 Mar 2016 11:44:44 -0800, (Dave
Platt) wrote:

On 03/01/2016 9:47 AM, wrote:
I have used Rubber Renue with success. Be careful and use with plenty of ventilation.

Dan


Rubber Renue is simply Acetone (with something added to slow down the
evaporation rate) as I recall.

According to the MSDS, MG's Rubber Renue is about 60-70% of a xylene
mixture, 20-30% ethylbenzene, and 15-30% methyl salicylate ("oil of
wintergreen"). The latter accounts for its distinctive odor.

I use some cleaners that add a nasal desensitizer to "control" the
odor. It's something similar "lemon fresh" or some "air freshener"
that magically eliminates odors. What it really does is temporarily
take your sense of smell out of action. Try a blast of the stuff, and
then bite into some food full of aromatic ingredients. The food will
taste like cardboard.

I've found Rubber Renue to be pretty effective at removing the
hardened varnish-like layer on rubber rollers, and restoring "grab" to
rollers that are in reasonably decent shape.

The surface "varnish" is a mixture of mostly toner (powdered plastic),
clay, and phosphors. The clay is the shiny coating found on most
better papers. The phosphor give the paper the bright white color.
You can see the phosphor with a UV flashlight. It's much like coating
the rubber roller with slippery polished plastic. Too bad that most
rubber rollers are not lighter color, or you would see the surface
crud on the rollers. I've often been tempted to add some powdered
phosphors to the toner cartridge so I can see with a UV lamp where the
stuff lands.

Really old or oxidized
rubber may be too far gone and may not "renew" properly... I don't
think Rubber Renue can soften up a whole roller that has hardened up
with age.

Oxidation, usually caused by ozone, causes surface cracking.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_cracking
Early laser printers had rather high voltage corona wires which would
produce prodigious amounts of ozone and do an impressive job of
destroying rubber parts. HPII and III printers were quite good at
producing rubber rollers with surface cracking. Some of the clone
roller vendors hid the problem by pre-cracking the surface of their
rollers. Todays selenium drums use a lower voltage roller instead of
a corona wire to charge the drum, which produces no ozone. However,
the laser beam is also a source of ozone. It zaps oxygen (O2)
molecules along its path to produce ozone (O3). LED printers
eliminate the laser, so no ozone.

Agree, be careful using this stuff... the ingredients are
significantly toxic... best to use it outdoors, and wear good
chemical-resistant gloves (not rubber for tolerably obvious reasons;
nitrile looks like a better choice).

Nitrile (Nitrile Butadiene Rubber) is rubber.
http://www.aps.anl.gov/Safety_and_Training/User_Safety/gloveselection.html
http://www.customadvanced.com/chemical-resistance-chart.html?chemical=Xylene&rubber=NBR
http://www.customadvanced.com/chemical-resistance-chart.html?chemical=Acetone&rubber=NBR
Note that Nitrile is attacked by both acetone and xylene but is
slightly better than Latex (natural rubber) for xylene. The major
benefit is that Nitrile causes fewer allergic reactions. What you
want for solvent resistance is Viton or something with a silver foil
lining, such as Norfoil (used for Hazmat service) at $10/pair:
https://www.b4brands.com/blog/latex-vs-nitrile-vs-vinyl-gloves-which-to-choose/


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558