Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/05/cool-hands-free-illuminated-ma-2.html
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I have had one of these for several years. It’s really nice because it’s self standing, and has the close up lens built in.
But just last week I had to strip off the rubberized coating as it had become too sticky to touch. (It came right off with 70% rubbing alcohol, disposable paper towels, and a few minutes of elbow grease. )
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What is up with that? I have a multi-tool and portable fan that both have a rubberised coating that’s gone all sticky with age. I’ll have to try that rubbing alcohol if i can get some.
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I’ve used rubbing alcohol on the handle of a paring knife that had gone sticky. I eventually got it all off, leaving a glossy plastic underneath.
Manufacturers should stop making things with rubberized coatings until they can produce one that lasts more than two or three years. I’m sure most of them just end up in landfill.
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There is an instructables for this which i didn’t realise until just now…
Isopropyl alcohol it is.
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I understand using it as a much cheaper substitute grip material than using actual embedded silicone or rubber, at least for disposable products. But I’ve also found this horrible stuff applied in places where it makes no sense at all. Did Cisco really need to paint my portable router in a non-slip coating? No, but after a few years baking in my ceiling joists, whatever grippiness it had was replaced with a dust covered disgusting mess. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to buy another ooze covered box to replace it.
After wasting an hour trying most of the harsher solvents I have in my basement, a YouTuber rewarded me with a simple “isopropyl alcohol” solution (at least once I figured out what the British slang of “surgical spirits” meant.) A disposable towel and a healthy dose of alcohol was all it took.
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I think surgical spirits is also called rubbing alcohol, then there’s Isopropanol, which is literally used in industrial quantities by printers, as part of the damping system on print machines - I used to scrounge 5 ltr bottles of it when I worked in print, sadly no acces to free stuff like that any more.
Cans of lighter fuel, the ‘petrol’ type, is also really good for this kind of thing, and for removing tacky residue left by sticky labels, as it rarely damages hard plastic surfaces.
A favourite line and brilliantly delivered.
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