removing melting rubber from metal?

[Chuck Guzis]

On 11/1/20 5:43 AM, Guy Dunphy via cctalk wrote:

> It's not heat. Just some rubber types degrade chemically over time. Cross links between the long
> chain hydrocarbons break, and the solid turns to a semi-liquid. Very sticky liquid.
> 
> I presume the body of your eprom programmer is painted metal or plastic. So 'acetone and hot air' - NO!
> 
> The gunky stuff is not terribly soluble. Mineral turps on a tissue pad, rubbing, kind of works.
> Mechanically scrape off what you can first. Use wooden or plastic spatula to avoid scratching paint.
> The rub with the pad. Solvents like turps, acetone, IPA etc - always try a little on your surface first
> to check the material isn't damaged by the solvent.

Sorry for the earlier blank reply.

You can simply mechanically scrape off as much of the old rubber as you
can and re-apply new feet, ignoring any residue.   That's probably the
safest route and achieves the desired result.

If you worked with QIC tape drives a lot, you'd recognize the
degradation.  It can be incredibly messy.  Solvents are of marginal use,
only really effective after you've mechanically removed all of the goop
you can.  I've found that MEK can help, but in the end, it's a messy job
that just requires patience.

In some cases, I've found that detergent and water can make cleanup
easier by coating other surfaces that the goop can otherwise stick to.

--Chuck