Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
Reply |
|
LinkBack | Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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. |
#2
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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 -- -- This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from... The Sofa of Brian Gaff... Blind user, so no pictures please Note this Signature is meaningless.! "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. |
#3
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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. |
#4
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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. |
#5
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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 |
#6
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
jon wrote:
Isopropyl alcohol might be a good choice. IPA and a rag, something wooden like a lolly stick for the stubborn bits |
#7
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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 |
#8
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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. |
#9
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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. |
#10
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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 |
#11
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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 |
#12
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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 |
#13
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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. |
#14
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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. |
#15
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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 |
#16
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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. |
#17
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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 |
#18
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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 |
#19
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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. |
#20
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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 |
#21
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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. |
#22
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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. |
#23
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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 |
#24
Posted to uk.d-i-y
|
|||
|
|||
Sticky Black Rubber
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. |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Making rubber sticky question | UK diy | |||
Sticky rubber coated metal racks/shelves | Home Repair | |||
Remove sticky after sticky labels | UK diy | |||
Sulphur Black 2BR 200%,Sulphur Black B 200%,Solubilised Sulphur Black,Liquid Sulphur Black | Metalworking |