Removing sticky coating from remote control: Best practise?

[pixx]

Just managed to open two remote controls with a nylon tool.

What is the best way to remove the sticky coating from the top? Isopropanol 99,9 % seems to work, but will it kill the Logitech logo? Is there a better solution?

If the coating is removed: Do I paint the piece with a transparent lacquer? Or do I just keep it like it is?

Thanks.

[KeBul]

If you clean the old sticky rubber off completely you will lose any symbols or logos.

You could try a clear rubber coating spray over the top of the original, I did the rubber coated parts of a Boom renovation with a clear rubber coating spray, not the easiest thing I've ever done but pleased with the result:



Here's the Boom before:



Certainly the rubber coated bits are no longer sticky and the feel is the same as original, but I can't say how long it will last.

One of the guys on here suggested that if you wash the original rubber coating in pretty hot water first it cleans it up well enough to be sprayed once it has air dried. Worked reasonably well on fascia panel and buttons of my Boom project.
Because it has no symbols I used the knob as a test piece trying various chemicals to see if any could provide a miracle clean - ended up trashing the coating completely so stripped it right back to plastic, then polished and rubber coating sprayed it.

Good luck

Kev

PS: Just found Chill's post where he outlines this procedure and the product he used in much more detail...

https://forums.slimdevices.com/showt...nt-panel/page3

[pixx]

Ok, but I'm talking about the remote control of the Squeezebox Touch. I think that these different devices are reacting differently on cleaning.

[kidstypike]

Ok, but I'm talking about the remote control of the Squeezebox Touch. I think that these different devices are reacting differently on cleaning.

https://forums.slimdevices.com/showt...ear-Of-A-Touch

https://forums.slimdevices.com/showt...remote-control

[KeBul]

Ok, but I'm talking about the remote control of the Squeezebox Touch. I think that these different devices are reacting differently on cleaning.

Having Touch's, Radios and Booms plus remotes for all I would say the original rubber coating used on buttons, knobs & fascias on all of those devices is the same and all deteriorate and become sticky to some degree. The rubber pad on top of the Boom, is just that a moulded pad fixed in place with double sided tape and that does not suffer from sticky deterioration.

So for example, stripping down the Boom front panel leaves a rubber coated piece of plastic with holes for the buttons, exactly the same as the top of a Touch remote body. The buttons are the same as a typical remote style flexible silicon rubber keypad, just like the Touch remote keypad.

The second link from Kidstypike has an interesting tip using silicon remover which removes the sticky layer but not the lettering. I've got some silicon remover, might try that one day on one of my spare sticky remotes. I'll still respray it with the rubber coating though - nice to get that original feel back and I've got 3 cans of it!

Kev

[kidstypike]

Having Touch's, Radios and Booms plus remotes for all I would say the original rubber coating used on buttons, knobs & fascias on all of those devices is the same and all deteriorate and become sticky to some degree. The Rubber pad on top of the Boom, is just that a moulded pad fixed in place with double sided tape and that does not suffer from sticky deterioration.

So for example, stripping down the Boom front panel leaves a rubber coated piece of plastic with holes for the buttons, exactly the same as the top of a Touch remote body. The buttons are the same as a typical remote style flexible silicon rubber keypad, just like the Touch remote keypad.

Kev

The ruddy stuff should be banned!

[KeBul]

The ruddy stuff should be banned!

Yeah maybe, but to be fair my Boom was purchased in 2009 and at 11 years old must be one of, if not the, the oldest serving pieces of electronics in the house. So I grant it the right to deteriorate a little bit. Also I think that rubber coating originally gave the devices that little bit of "look and tactile edge" that oozed quality over say the Sonos of that time, I remember trying the Sonos remote back then and it seemed cheap and plasticky, the SB Controller felt and looked so much better.

I suppose I can't quite defend the longevity of the Touch remotes them being somewhat newer.

Kev

[pixx]

I cleaned the remote control of the Squeezebox Touch with 99 % Isopropyl alcohol (Isopropanol). It doesn't hurt the printing. It also works on the back of the Squeezebox Touch itself, where the part around the connections gets sticky.

It was very easy to clean a remote control where the sticky stuff already nearly started to peel of by itself.

It was nearly impossible on another control that just starts to get sticky. I will put this in a sunny warm place to speed up the decay and then try again.

The resulting surface is matte but a bit sensitive, so I will paint it with a transparent matte spray lacquer.

[Goodsounds]

A belated "second" for rubbing alcohol. I bought a couple of lightly used SB Touches a few months apart last year on Ebay. Both arrived in excellent functioning condition (thankfully that's what mattered to me most) but both with sticky remotes. Rubbing alcohol removed a bit of the glossy finish of the remotes along with the stickiness but not the lettering.

It's funny because none of the remotes I bought new with other SB devices have gotten sticky. That includes remotes for a boom, two Touches and even a SB Classic v3 that's obviously older. I wondered at the time if for the ones I bought, the stickiness was from an adhesive that had held on the plastic coverings that were on the remotes when new, and that perhaps the sellers I bought from had just removed the plastic? You know, how you sometimes have to peel plastic from the surface of something you've bought? The plastic on the remotes fit precisely with exact cutouts for the buttons.

[kidstypike]

A belated "second" for rubbing alcohol. I bought a couple of lightly used SB Touches a few months apart last year on Ebay. Both arrived in excellent functioning condition (thankfully that's what mattered to me most) but both with sticky remotes. Rubbing alcohol removed a bit of the glossy finish of the remotes along with the stickiness but not the lettering.

It's funny because none of the remotes I bought new with other SB devices have gotten sticky. That includes remotes for a boom, two Touches and even a SB Classic v3 that's obviously older. I wondered at the time if for the ones I bought, the stickiness was from an adhesive that had held on the plastic coverings that were on the remotes when new, and that perhaps the sellers I bought from had just removed the plastic? You know, how you sometimes have to peel plastic from the surface of something you've bought? The plastic on the remotes fit precisely with exact cutouts for the buttons.

The soft touch rubber coating on many items these days eventually breaks down into a sticky mess and is shite, it should be banned. The Classic (SB3) and Boom remotes are made of a plain black plastic and don't have that soft touch rubber coating.