Plastic cases that go sticky

[807]

I have a technoline BL700 battery charger. The manufacturers thought it would be a good idea to give the case a "rubber feel" finish. That's fine to start with, but over the years the coating begins to break down & gives the case a disgusting tacky, sticky feel.

After looking online I tried a few suggestions to remove the tackiness, but none of them worked. So far I've tried IPA, citrus label remover, washing up liquid, soapy water, soda crystal solution, anti-bacterial hand gel & facial scrub.

Has anyone successfully removed this coating? It's found on some remote controls too.

[themadhippy]

wd40?its surprisingly good at removing some sticky residues.

[tunk]

Don't know the English term, but I used some abrasive scrub cream
(intended for bathroom/kitchen use) plus a stiff brush on a radio back
cover. The cover was removed from the radio, and it was scrubbed
in a sink. Worked well (apart from some mild scratches).

[tszaboo]

I don't think there is a way. It's that rubbery material, often times when it's in contact with plastic, which is doing it. I think it might be the additives in the plastic, which is doing it not the plastic itself.

[807]

I have WD40 here, but I wasn't sure if it would damage the plastic. I will use it as a last resort.

Didn't think of the bathroom cleaner. In the UK we have a product called Cif. I have some here. It's the lemon flavour with micro particles. I'll give it a go.

[807]

I don't think there is a way. It's that rubbery material, often times when it's in contact with plastic, which is doing it. I think it might be the additives in the plastic, which is doing it not the plastic itself.

After attacking it with all the products I listed, it has reduced the stickyness, but is still a bit tacky, so I think it can, eventually (hopefully) be removed entirely. I don't know why they need to use it at all on a battery charger. 

[jpanhalt]

I use WD40 very rarely for anything.  It will also leave a residue.

I have an older Nikon D70s camera that I got used for a specific purpose.  Its rubbery surfaces were sticky.  I don't remember exactly what I used, but it has stayed non-sticky for well over a year. I probably started with VM&P Naphtha, denatured alcohol (which is mostly methanol in the US), ethanol (absolute), and finally diluted floor stripper (1 part to 2 parts water).  Since WD-40 didn't work, I suggest jumping to the acrylic floor stripper diluted in water.  Rinsing with water will speed the evaporation and help get rid of the smell.   If you have ethanol, I would probably try that as an intermediate step.

[eutectique]

Fine coffee grinds might be helpful as an abrasive.

[magic]

I have done it successfully to a Razer "gaming" mouse.

IPA and lots of friction did the trick. I don't remember if I used some cloth or just paper tissues.

edit
Oftentimes the underlying plastic is ABS, so avoid acetone if that's the case. I would also be weary of any "acrylic stripper".
If in doubt, test on some not visible surface first.

[Ground_Loop]

I just (last week) had the same problem with my 3D mouse. Acetone stripped it right off. Fortunately the plastic underneath was not affected.

But my first attempt was with both IPA and WD40 which are typically my go-to’s for this kind of thing.  Neither worked very well.

[tooki]

I don't think there is a way. It's that rubbery material, often times when it's in contact with plastic, which is doing it. I think it might be the additives in the plastic, which is doing it not the plastic itself.

No, it’s just the synthetic elastomers decomposing with time.

At work, I just threw away a half sheet of old (really old, like decades) 3M Bumpon rubber feet that had degraded from clear rubbery plastic into sticky goop, a clear jelly that felt like Vaseline. These had never been attached to anything, so it wasn’t migration from plastic, because it wasn’t in contact with it.

Besides, plasticizer migration works the opposite of how you think: it migrates from soft plastics to hard ones and softens the hard ones. Plasticizer migration would result in the plastic going soft, not in the rubber going gooey.

[Gyro]

Meths (Methylated spirits - UK name), works as well as IPA to remove the coating completely with plenty of kitchen towel and rubbing. It's cheaper here than IPA and safe with most plastics, including ABS.

[jpanhalt]

Denatured alcohol is regulated.  There are many acceptable recipes.  As I said earlier, in the US, it can and frequently is mostly methanol


That's for "Klean-Strip QSL26 Denatured Alcohol"  Stuff sold for "fuel" can have even less ethanol.

In Britain, it might be different, particularly if sold as denatured ethanol rather than denatured alcohol.  Same rule probably holds in the US, but you won't find "denatured ethanol" at Home Depot.

Of course, denatured ethanol is also available on Amazon (I think), but the price is outrageous considering E85 is about $3/gallon.  I have tried E85 as a very cheap alternative.  It's not as good as absolute ethanol, but it's a decent solvent.  Unfortunately, it has a strong odor and fuel additives.

[Gyro]

I just had a quick look at a bottle of DIY store stuff that I have in the garage. The caution label says "contains Ethanol UN1170" but no mention of Methanol or complete ingredients list. Yes, purple in colour with distinctive smell. Sold for spirit lamps / stoves, hard surface, and glass cleaning, de-greasing etc. 

[jpanhalt]

Do you have the equivalent of the US SDS or MSDS (safety datasheet or material safety datasheet).  Virtually every "chemical" sold in the US must have one, including the white-out used in the days of the Selectric typewriters.  Are  IBM Selectric ball typewriters still used in Britain?   

Just search on its name & product number from a British site.

[Gyro]

I was just about to edit my post above. Yes, I found the datasheet for the cheap stuff on the DIY store site, attached. It's mostly Ethanol, <10% IPA, <10% MEK plus the colour and nasty smell/taste.

P.S. No more IBM Selectrics, more's the pity, they were fun to watch!

[Zero999]

Corrosive chemicals, UV radiation and even some bacteria can breakdown long chain polymers into smaller molecules, similar to the tars and waxes used to make them in the first place, hence the sticky mess. There's not much which can be done to stop this, other than keep it clean, although don't use strong chemicals to clean it, just soapy water, and  keep away from UV light.

Once this has happened, it's very difficult to clean off, since the sticky mess is strongly chemically bonded to the substrate. Some strong solvents such as acetone and even citrus oils can make it worse, since they will dissolve some polymers and can leech into plastic underneath, causing it to become tacky. If cleaning with alcohol (most should be fairly plastic safe) and detergent doesn't work, then you could try covering it with a lacquer, to encapsulate it. I don't think there's anything else which can be done.

[rdl]

Rubbery ("soft feel") coatings are a real problem because of their tendency to go sticky. I believe that the manufacturers don't really know why it happens yet they keep using it for some reason.

[jpanhalt]

Rubbery ("soft feel") coatings are a real problem because of their tendency to go sticky. I believe that the manufacturers don't really know why it happens yet they keep using it for some reason.

It's out of ignorance.  Customer ignorance.  Manufacturers do it on purpose.

[Halcyon]

I've used citrus-based cleaner with ethanol (sometimes sold as air freshener sprays). It works remarkably well on anything sticky. But be careful around areas that have printed text, labels etc... as it will erase those too.

[AndyBeez]

Possibly my top technical peeve!!! Perfectly servicable and valuable devices end up as scrap as the soft touch seems to 'melt' over time.

I have zero idea what the feck this stuff is, but the feel is very similar to the epoxy component in two part epoxy glue. It appears to be a clear coating applied over the plastic, but not bonded to the plastic.

The break down seems to be time related. Even in cold dark store, the soft touch coating turns into a sticky mess. Proof, the case of a temperature sensor gauge inside a fridge went to glue too.

The only effective method is to scrape off the cunk/funk, cut back to bare plastic with 800 grit paper and respray. Nothing chemical touches it. Acetone, IPA, bleach, mineral/white spirit, absolutely nothing. If you guys have a secret sauce, then please share.

(Photos to follow)

[amyk]

It's probably a polyurethane foam, one of the least stable plastics in common use.

[tooki]

I was just about to edit my post above. Yes, I found the datasheet for the cheap stuff on the DIY store site, attached. It's mostly Ethanol, <10% IPA, <10% MEK plus the colour and nasty smell/taste.

P.S. No more IBM Selectrics, more's the pity, they were fun to watch!

#LFMF and NEVER use denatured alcohol with Bitrex (denatonium) for cleaning! The damned Bitrex not only gets on your hands, but also on whatever you cleaned, recontaminating your hands every time you touch the thing. The result is... you realizing how constantly we touch our fingers to our faces without thinking about it.

[Nominal Animal]

Besides, plasticizer migration works the opposite of how you think: it migrates from soft plastics to hard ones and softens the hard ones. Plasticizer migration would result in the plastic going soft, not in the rubber going gooey.

Yup.  The worst offenders (as in way too much plasticizer) in my experience are fake "silicone" leads, which are really just overly-plasticized PVA PVC.
The result is that if you keep them in a plastic box, the lead can literally meld into the box, due to the plasticizers.

I often want softer multi-strand wires, and don't usually need the high temperature capability of silicone leads, so I wouldn't mind them being PVA PVC or some other non-silicone plastic, but the migrating plasticizer makes them annoying to store; they need to be stored away from anything plastic, including cutting mats and such.


The issues with plastic additives have existed for as long as plastics have been industrially manufactured.

Back in the previous century, when reversal/slide films were still widely used (called "dia" or "diafilm" here), sometimes the pocket sheaths used to store them in books had additives that caused film destruction in a few years to a couple of decades.

For soft overmoldings, I do believe butyl rubbers are the worst offenders, as they become sticky (especially so from human skin oils) in a few years.  Some varieties become stinky (vomit smell), as they slowly decay, one of the byproducts being butyric acid.

AvE has mentioned these butyl rubber overmoldings in his BOLTR videos on Youtube, including how oils speed up the decay of the overmolding; so that for industrial tools and tools used with oily hands (think mechanical repairs), they really don't last long.  My own worst experience has been with bicycle handles, which became tacky, more tacky than 3M post-it notes, in a few years, with that recognizable butyric acid vomit smell.  Eww.  Oh, and hand cart wheels, which were some black plastic with plasticizers, that stained a plastic/vinyl floor mat with yellow blotches when they sat there for a couple of months.  Dammit; should have waxed the mat better.

[RoGeorge]

For sticky rubber in hand tools, a second cover might be the way in case nothing cleans good enough.

Seen that done many ways, either by wrapping the handle with textile thread, or by covering the handle in huge diameter thermal shrinking tube, or even by covering with PET bottles heat-shrunk over the sticky handle.  Water and soda PET plastic bottles will shrink a lot when heated, and will shrink in diameter only.  When heated too much, the plastic will turn from transparent to milky white.