Soft touch finishes going nasty

[ppppenguin]

Quite a lot of modern and not so modern kit is covered with a soft touch finish. While this is nice when new it always seems to go horrible over time. My Evoluent vertical mouse had such a finish but fortuntely most of it has now gone, leaving ordinary shiny plastic which is fine.

I've just been given a simple slide/negative scanner that has a finish that's sticky to touch. It can be abraded off, though that also scratches the plastic. Rubbing with IPA seems to have no effect, though soaking, if possible, might work. Acetone will probably work, and dissolve the plastic too

Any ideas on how to deal with this nuisance?

[Refugee]

Is it not possible to peel it off to leave normal plastic.
Last time I had a computer mouse go like that it was cheap enough that I chucked it away and bought a new one that was just smooth plastic.
I had to clean it with oil free contact cleaner every couple of days. It was a total false economy.
I think it is made of extreme belt goo.

[ppppenguin]

My (expensive) vertical mouse has come out quite nicely in the end, with a smooth plastic finish.

I attacked part of the slide scanner with a heavy duty scouring pad and it leaves a reasonable smooth plastic finish but rather scuffed.

[BusyBee]

I have never tried it with anything like that but when removing old sticky labels there are sometimes patches of sticky adhesive left on the article. I have found that using the old label sticky parts and dabbing on the patches removes them without recourse to solvent. Maybe sticky tape of some form would remove the tacky areas in the same way?

Tracy

[Mike Watterson]

Some can't be peeled. It goes sticky. Rubbing in talcum powder works.
I've tried acetone. Doesn't work!

[ppppenguin]

Petrol (lighter fuel) has no effect. A cabinet scraper had some effect. If I resharpened it, it might work well. 120 grit wet'n'dry used wet certainly works but leaves 120 grit scratches. Obviously if you can be bothered to work through the abrasive grades you can get a nice finish but the time spent will usually be out of proportion.

So far best approach is stainless steel scourer pad, used wet. Leaves some scratches but not as bad as 120 grit paper.

Petrol usually works well for sticky label goo. Generally harmless to plastic too.

[Kalee20]

Petrol usually works well for sticky label goo. Generally harmless to plastic too.

I'd be cautious there - I've had petrol attack plastics. I once swilled out a moped speedometer with petrol, the little plastic drums with the numbers on distorted, and the clear plastic faceplate turned milky!

[ppppenguin]

I use petrol light fuel as a solvent for many cleaning jobs. Not yet had a problem. I wonder if petrol, the motor fule with all its additives, is nastier to plastics.

Many oils, including petrol, are bad news for natural rubber.

[ppppenguin]

My typing is a bit iffy today As any fule kno: "petrol lighter fuel" "motor fuel"

[Mike Watterson]

I tried acetone, white spirit, lighter fuel, actual turpentine, linseed oil, paraffin, methylated spirits, surgical spirit, liquid Brasso and various cream cleaners. Some things have it too thick to sand off.
You can use cream cleaner to remove the excess talc. You can get plain talc with no fragrance. Curiously Dispirin has a lot of talc but Bayer soluble aspirin has none.