calling RUBBER experts.

[stj]

when rubber starts to break down and gets sticky, is there any chemical that will fix it, or is it too late ?
 

[SeanB]

Too late. You can get solvents that will strip off the top layer of goo, but when it gets that far it is terminal. If it is a rubber roller you can have a new one vulcanised onto the shaft, or cut down a larger diameter one to fit if it is a small one.

If it is a pinch roller assembly then you will need a new one.

[bitslice]

I've seen isopropyl alcohol mentioned as a bodge, or talc.

There are multiple ways that rubber can degrade, so really you are fighting a losing battle.

[stj]

shit - it's the bumpers on a brand new (obviously old stock) hard drive housing from ebay. 

i can probably get a refund, but that's not the problem - the problem is it's hard to find 2.5" shells with Esata on them - this was the only seller that had any! 

and these looked nice too!

[IanB]

See if you can improvise a replacement for the failing rubber parts.

I have noticed that synthetic rubber will often fail or disintegrate after a certain amount of time, especially if it is a soft or foamy kind. It happens so often that I think it is a design failure in the formulation.

[jpanhalt]

On my machine, the bumpers are O-rings.   PVC rubber gets sticky; neoprene much less so.  I would look for a neoprene or similar replacement.

John

[stj]

i was thinking of replacing it with felt pads.

[stj]

i was thinking of replacing it with felt pads.

they arent rings, they are strips along the edges that wrap around from the top to the side.

[SeanB]

If it is that 10 year old plastic then it is a formulation failure. Clean off the goo and use it without. That soft finish rubber degrades with time, I have had to remove it from things before as it turned from the satin look into the sludge look.

[stj]

it's not a thin coat like on some game pads or tv remotes - it's seperate bumpers.

foto.

[TAMHAN]

On the risk of getting a beating, and I am NOT a rubber expert by any means.

AFAIK, these pads are only for grip. I would 3D print something, and be slinky on the thickness of the individual layers. That way, you get some "roughness" which acts as a bit of anti-slip.

[stj]

your one of those people with no need for money i suspect.

thermal polymers used in 3D printing arent cheap - a lot of the things i see them used for are a complete waste of money.

why would i spend more on polymer thread than the case cost?

oldschool felt or rubber sheet, cut to size and glued on will do just as well for a much lower cost.

[SeanB]

Felting pad time, or just a sheet of the black coaster material from Poundland, used to protect tables from scuffing, will also work. I have some extruded neoprene rubber, and even some silicone edging that would also fit.

[Assafl]

your one of those people with no need for money i suspect.

thermal polymers used in 3D printing arent cheap - a lot of the things i see them used for are a complete waste of money.

why would i spend more on polymer thread than the case cost?

oldschool felt or rubber sheet, cut to size and glued on will do just as well for a much lower cost.

Many 3d printer owners will print anything to justify the time and resources spent on building the printer. I Know because I am one. I printed a sink stopper using flexible PLA... 

And of course for the fun of designing something on openscad...

[stj]

i kind of fixed this.

it turns out the rubber was paper thin on a plastic backing,
i just rubbed it off with a cloth & some IPA.

looks better now, than it probably did when the rubber was good!

[SeanB]

Exactly what I did with a nice Belkin USB hub that did the same. Just washed off all the coating with alcohol and a cloth, and the plain black is much better than the sticky rubber ever was, even when new. Was hard getting all of the corners clean but a lot of rubbing did it eventually.

[Gyro]

Yep, did the same thing on the sticky rubber back of Logitech Harmony One remote. The funny thing was that there was an identical, alcohol resistant,  'Harmony' logo underneath the rubber coating.   Now that's forward planning!

[Gary350z]

I did the same with a knob on a Sony CD changer.

The rubber coating had changed into a super sticky black mess, much like bubble gum.
I soaked the plastic knob in alcohol (IPA), used some rubbing, and it came out beautiful, high gloss black, better than original.

It appears these rubber coatings are sprayed on like paint.
I don't like these coatings, prefer the plastic finish.
These coatings, being rubber, are going to fail long before the plastic part fails.
These coatings add production cost, and cause early part failure (sticky mess). It's a waste of time and poor design decision.

I worry about this because I have other items with these coatings on them.

Any other similar stories out there?

Thanks,

Gary

[edy]

Just a quick side-story about disintegrating materials. I have a Brother color laser 4040CDN that started failing and gave this obscure error code after 2 years store-bought brand new. After a long search I found a little post on a blog that explained the problem.....

Before any print, the printer lays down a "test patch" of the 4 colors on the sheet feeder and advances it in front of an optical camera/reader/scanner to check color intensity. There is a small swinging cover over this optical scanner that swings open and then closed (electromagnet) during the process.

There is a small piece of foam/rubber on the back of the cover so when it opens/closes it hits the material andand dampens the clicking sound and protects the swinging cover from damage (presumably).

So turns out this stupid little foam rubber patch started to deteriorate and get "tacky" to the touch. That caused the cover of this optical sensor to stay open a millisecond longer than normal, enough to make the printer report an error and refuse to print! The cover still opened/closed just the delay shutting due to a slightly sticky foam pad on the back of the cover!

The solution? I had to take the printer almost completely apart just to get to the sensor cover/shutter which was buried deep inside the machine, just to lay a piece of Scotch tape over it so it was no longer tacky and the cover would close without that small delay!

Several hundred dollar color laser completely paralyzed by a half cent piece of deteriorating tacky foam rubber that I learned about from an exhaustive online search where only 1 tiny post on some tiny forum/blog somewhere. Go figure!

[BradC]

So turns out this stupid little foam rubber patch started to deteriorate and get "tacky" to the touch. That caused the cover of this optical sensor to stay open a millisecond longer than normal, enough to make the printer report an error and refuse to print! The cover still opened/closed just the delay shutting due to a slightly sticky foam pad on the back of the cover!

Really common problem on the duplex solenoid of HP2200 printers too.