Has anyone had any success in neutralising the sticky black 'rubber' that
manifests itself after several years on Chinese equipment. I have a large
torch from Aldi with a rubber handle, rubberised glass rim and stand
covered in this black stuff and it is oozing some sticky liquid. I noticed
also some old style TV remote controls decay like this, I blamed my dad
for using cream on his hands, but that was not the case.

No its been an issue for years, some shavers cameras binoculars and sundry
other things even portable radios do this. Its not a cheap Chinese crap
problem its the actual material used that leaches the very substance that
makes it feel like rubber. In fact one famous cassette mechanism made by
Wollensac was notorious for the pressure roller suddenly turning to a
gloopy buddle on the bottom of the deck due to this issue.
Its just not stable enough over time. It can get worse if its subjected to
cold and hot temperatures as well as mechanical deformation.

I'm sure there is a chemist out there who can tell us the technical reason.
Brian

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"jon" wrote in message ...
Has anyone had any success in neutralising the sticky black 'rubber' that
manifests itself after several years on Chinese equipment. I have a large
torch from Aldi with a rubber handle, rubberised glass rim and stand
covered in this black stuff and it is oozing some sticky liquid. I noticed
also some old style TV remote controls decay like this, I blamed my dad
for using cream on his hands, but that was not the case.

jon wrote:

Has anyone had any success in neutralising the sticky black 'rubber' that
manifests itself after several years on Chinese equipment.

Not really, once it goes I find you need to remove it, or bin the item
.... I now avoid items with this "luxury" coating.

On Fri, 21 Aug 2020 08:11:35 +0100, Brian Gaff \(Sofa\) wrote:

No its been an issue for years, some shavers cameras binoculars and
sundry other things even portable radios do this. Its not a cheap
Chinese crap problem its the actual material used that leaches the very
substance that makes it feel like rubber. In fact one famous cassette
mechanism made by Wollensac was notorious for the pressure roller
suddenly turning to a gloopy buddle on the bottom of the deck due to
this issue.
Its just not stable enough over time. It can get worse if its subjected
to
cold and hot temperatures as well as mechanical deformation.

I'm sure there is a chemist out there who can tell us the technical
reason.
Brian

Ok Brian thanks, I have the parts soaking in a weak vinegar solution at
the moment, that should kill the stickiness if it is silicone based.
Youtube items suggest acetone, but that is too harsh and could dissolve
the item. Isopropyl alcohol might be a good choice.

jon wrote:
Has anyone had any success in neutralising the sticky black 'rubber' that
manifests itself after several years on Chinese equipment. I have a large
torch from Aldi with a rubber handle, rubberised glass rim and stand
covered in this black stuff and it is oozing some sticky liquid. I noticed
also some old style TV remote controls decay like this, I blamed my dad
for using cream on his hands, but that was not the case.


Its a ******* to remove. I have some Kef €œegg€� loudspeakers that went all
sticky. Tried every solvent we could lay our hands on but never found
anything that was particularly effective. Eventually I disassembled them
and took them to an alloy wheel refurbisher who shot blasted and recoated
them.

Sorry, not terribly helpful for you.

Tim
--
Please don't feed the trolls

jon wrote:

Isopropyl alcohol might be a good choice.

IPA and a rag, something wooden like a lolly stick for the stubborn bits

On 21/08/2020 07:32, jon wrote:
Has anyone had any success in neutralising the sticky black 'rubber' that
manifests itself after several years on Chinese equipment. I have a large
torch from Aldi with a rubber handle, rubberised glass rim and stand
covered in this black stuff and it is oozing some sticky liquid. I noticed
also some old style TV remote controls decay like this, I blamed my dad
for using cream on his hands, but that was not the case.


Could be worse - I've got a couple of hand tools with that sort of
coating, and it's covered in what looks like mould. Wiped with a bleach
solution seems to have fixed it for now.

--
Cheers, Rob

On Fri, 21 Aug 2020 08:11:35 +0100, Brian Gaff \(Sofa\) wrote:

No its been an issue for years, some shavers cameras binoculars and
sundry other things even portable radios do this. Its not a cheap
Chinese crap problem its the actual material used that leaches the very
substance that makes it feel like rubber.

Leaches from where?

The stupid "soft touch" coating degrades over time normally fairly
slowly as in years but I note that the coating on the trimmer that
SWMBO'd used to cut my hair a month or so back has now gone sticky.
It was fine before and several years old. She uses hand cream, I
don't...

As for cleaning up, the last object I had that suffered this problem
responded well to meths, blue paper roll and elbow grease. The
trimmer is in line for the same.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Fri, 21 Aug 2020 08:49:19 +0100, Andy Burns wrote:

Isopropyl alcohol might be a good choice.

IPA and a rag, something wooden like a lolly stick for the stubborn bits

+1 or meths. Need to rub in a consistent direction to remove the gunk
or it just moves about. Tiny squirt of silicone based furniture
"polish" will mostly bring back the shine to the base plastic.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 21/08/2020 08:11, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
No its been an issue for years, some shavers cameras binoculars and sundry
other things even portable radios do this. Its not a cheap Chinese crap
problem its the actual material used that leaches the very substance that
makes it feel like rubber. In fact one famous cassette mechanism made by
Wollensac was notorious for the pressure roller suddenly turning to a
gloopy buddle on the bottom of the deck due to this issue.

Surprisingly the answer is yes. I tried it (as recommended here some
years ago) and it worked for me on several partly decomposed black vinyl
rubbery things including a Psion 3c, a torch and a vacuum cleaner.

It does require a fair amount of patient and elbow grease to do a good
job and there is a chance that other hard plastic bits will get damaged.

Don't wear any clothes you are fond of the black gunk sticks to
everything it touches!

Its just not stable enough over time. It can get worse if its subjected to
cold and hot temperatures as well as mechanical deformation.

I'm sure there is a chemist out there who can tell us the technical reason.
Brian

It slowly depolymerises at the surface becoming sticky tacky horrible
probably the from effects of ozone and NOx in the air.

The surprise solvent for the tacky black stuff which will allow you to
polish off the surface without destroying the sound material underneath
is brake fluid (wear gloves when using it as a cleaning fluid!).

I found some when clearing out my dad's garage and having several such
scrap tacky objects lying around couldn't resist trying it out.
To my immense surprise it worked!

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 21/08/2020 08:30, Tim+ wrote:
jon wrote:
Has anyone had any success in neutralising the sticky black 'rubber' that
manifests itself after several years on Chinese equipment. I have a large
torch from Aldi with a rubber handle, rubberised glass rim and stand
covered in this black stuff and it is oozing some sticky liquid. I noticed
also some old style TV remote controls decay like this, I blamed my dad
for using cream on his hands, but that was not the case.


Its a ******* to remove. I have some Kef €œegg€� loudspeakers that went all
sticky. Tried every solvent we could lay our hands on but never found
anything that was particularly effective. Eventually I disassembled them
and took them to an alloy wheel refurbisher who shot blasted and recoated
them.

Sorry, not terribly helpful for you.

Tim

I had a car windscreen sucker mount for a mobile phone that went this way.

Nothing really worked.

Scrape and scrub with detergent. Mount less sucker was re-purposed into
a tripod mount for smart-phone videoing


--
"In our post-modern world, climate science is not powerful because it is
true: it is true because it is powerful."

Lucas Bergkamp

On 21/08/2020 07:32, jon wrote:
Has anyone had any success in neutralising the sticky black 'rubber' that
manifests itself after several years on Chinese equipment. I have a large
torch from Aldi with a rubber handle, rubberised glass rim and stand
covered in this black stuff and it is oozing some sticky liquid. I noticed
also some old style TV remote controls decay like this, I blamed my dad
for using cream on his hands, but that was not the case.

As others have said some solvents will remove it. But that will only be
temporary - it will return.

If you don't mind how it looks, the quickest,and cheapest remedy is
talcum powder (I guess flour would do as well). Covering it with the
fine powder removes the stickiness immediately without having to worry
about solvents. It is also simple to reapply when the stickiness reappears.

--

Jeff

Jeff Layman wrote:

some solvents will remove it. But that will only be temporary - it will
return.

Remove the entire coating down to base plastic.

On 21/08/2020 09:07, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 21 Aug 2020 08:11:35 +0100, Brian Gaff \(Sofa\) wrote:

No its been an issue for years, some shavers cameras binoculars and
sundry other things even portable radios do this. Its not a cheap
Chinese crap problem its the actual material used that leaches the very
substance that makes it feel like rubber.

Leaches from where?

I was going to say it is de-polymerisation, but Martin has just said that!


The stupid "soft touch" coating degrades over time normally fairly
slowly as in years but I note that the coating on the trimmer that
SWMBO'd used to cut my hair a month or so back has now gone sticky.
It was fine before and several years old. She uses hand cream, I
don't...

As for cleaning up, the last object I had that suffered this problem
responded well to meths, blue paper roll and elbow grease. The
trimmer is in line for the same.

On 21/08/2020 08:49, Andy Burns wrote:
jon wrote:

Isopropyl alcohol might be a good choice.

IPA and a rag, something wooden like a lolly stick for the stubborn bits

Yes, and lots of grease, of the elbow variety.

--
Cheers
Clive

In article ,
jon wrote:
Has anyone had any success in neutralising the sticky black 'rubber' that
manifests itself after several years on Chinese equipment. I have a large
torch from Aldi with a rubber handle, rubberised glass rim and stand
covered in this black stuff and it is oozing some sticky liquid. I noticed
also some old style TV remote controls decay like this, I blamed my dad
for using cream on his hands, but that was not the case.

Nothing to do with being of Chinese manufacture. Or certainly not
exclusive to them. Happens with many soft touch plastics.

--
*Men are from Earth, women are from Earth. Deal with it.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Martin Brown wrote:


The surprise solvent for the tacky black stuff which will allow you to
polish off the surface without destroying the sound material underneath
is brake fluid (wear gloves when using it as a cleaning fluid!).

Must remember that one!



I found some when clearing out my dad's garage and having several such
scrap tacky objects lying around couldn't resist trying it out.
To my immense surprise it worked!


Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

On 21/08/2020 10:58, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
jon wrote:
Has anyone had any success in neutralising the sticky black 'rubber' that
manifests itself after several years on Chinese equipment. I have a large
torch from Aldi with a rubber handle, rubberised glass rim and stand
covered in this black stuff and it is oozing some sticky liquid. I noticed
also some old style TV remote controls decay like this, I blamed my dad
for using cream on his hands, but that was not the case.

Nothing to do with being of Chinese manufacture. Or certainly not
exclusive to them. Happens with many soft touch plastics.

Some hard plastics go sticky after a few years. I've got a dynamo
battery torch that is really nasty.

--
Max Demian

In article ,
Max Demian wrote:
Nothing to do with being of Chinese manufacture. Or certainly not
exclusive to them. Happens with many soft touch plastics.

Some hard plastics go sticky after a few years. I've got a dynamo
battery torch that is really nasty.


It's odd, really. We're told just how bad plastics are for the environment
since they have a very long life. But often their life isn't good enough
for the original application. Lots of moulded plastic on the old car which
has gone brittle.

--
*It's a thankless job, but I've got a lot of Karma to burn off

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 21/08/2020 07:32, jon wrote:
Has anyone had any success in neutralising the sticky black 'rubber' that
manifests itself after several years on Chinese equipment. I have a large
torch from Aldi with a rubber handle, rubberised glass rim and stand
covered in this black stuff and it is oozing some sticky liquid. I noticed
also some old style TV remote controls decay like this, I blamed my dad
for using cream on his hands, but that was not the case.


Try Car Brake fluid

--
Adrian C

On 21/8/20 5:21 pm, jon wrote:
On Fri, 21 Aug 2020 08:11:35 +0100, Brian Gaff \(Sofa\) wrote:

No its been an issue for years, some shavers cameras binoculars and
sundry other things even portable radios do this. Its not a cheap
Chinese crap problem its the actual material used that leaches the very
substance that makes it feel like rubber. In fact one famous cassette
mechanism made by Wollensac was notorious for the pressure roller
suddenly turning to a gloopy buddle on the bottom of the deck due to
this issue.
Its just not stable enough over time. It can get worse if its subjected
to
cold and hot temperatures as well as mechanical deformation.

I'm sure there is a chemist out there who can tell us the technical
reason.
Brian

Ok Brian thanks, I have the parts soaking in a weak vinegar solution at
the moment, that should kill the stickiness if it is silicone based.
Youtube items suggest acetone, but that is too harsh and could dissolve
the item. Isopropyl alcohol might be a good choice.

Rub with washing soda paste and elbow grease.

On Sun, 23 Aug 2020 09:50:16 +1000, F Murtz wrote:

Ok Brian thanks, I have the parts soaking in a weak vinegar
solution at
the moment, that should kill the stickiness if it is silicone
based.
Youtube items suggest acetone, but that is too harsh and could
dissolve
the item. Isopropyl alcohol might be a good choice.

Rub with washing soda paste and elbow grease.

Well I tried brake fluid (DOT4 Universal) on one half of the trimmer
casing. It shifted the sticky cack with a bit of persistance. Used
meths on the other half, quicker and lesss effort.

Not sure either the brake fluid or meths has completely removed the
soft touch coating. These coatings seem to be two layers, a top one
that goes all sticky and 'orrible and a tougher, slighly matt, non
sticky one that can become patchy against the shiny base plastic.
This second layer can be a right B to shift. But for the moment it
looks OK and isn't sticky.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Sun, 23 Aug 2020 09:50:16 +1000, F Murtz wrote:

Ok Brian thanks, I have the parts soaking in a weak vinegar
solution at
the moment, that should kill the stickiness if it is silicone
based.
Youtube items suggest acetone, but that is too harsh and could
dissolve
the item. Isopropyl alcohol might be a good choice.

Rub with washing soda paste and elbow grease.

Well I tried brake fluid (DOT4 Universal) on one half of the trimmer
casing. It shifted the sticky cack with a bit of persistance. Used
meths on the other half, quicker and lesss effort.

I wonder if modern brake fluid is as good for this kind of stuff as the old
variety that would strip paint?

Tim
--
Please don't feed the trolls

jon wrote:
On Fri, 21 Aug 2020 08:11:35 +0100, Brian Gaff \(Sofa\) wrote:

No its been an issue for years, some shavers cameras binoculars and
sundry other things even portable radios do this. Its not a cheap
Chinese crap problem its the actual material used that leaches the very
substance that makes it feel like rubber. In fact one famous cassette
mechanism made by Wollensac was notorious for the pressure roller
suddenly turning to a gloopy buddle on the bottom of the deck due to
this issue.
Its just not stable enough over time. It can get worse if its subjected
to
cold and hot temperatures as well as mechanical deformation.

I'm sure there is a chemist out there who can tell us the technical
reason.
Brian

Ok Brian thanks, I have the parts soaking in a weak vinegar solution at
the moment, that should kill the stickiness if it is silicone based.
Youtube items suggest acetone, but that is too harsh and could dissolve
the item. Isopropyl alcohol might be a good choice.


I used alcohol on a Pure One Flow Radio.

I removed the stickiness and most of the rubber but left a few unsightly
patches.

Interested in the vinegar idea.

Ive seen it on other things but theyve been cheap enough to just bin. The
radio, while quite old, is a good radio.