Rubberised surface finish turned to goo

[tempestwizz]

My canon 15 by 50 is binoculars have a turret that swings open to adjust for width of eyes when viewing. This turret was covered in a black rubbery finish. After having then in a drawer in their case in my tropical location I note that what was a softish rubbery finish has now turned into sticky goo. The goo is like a viscous black mass that adheres to fingers and anything else on contact.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to sort this out?
Can it be simply removed with some solvent? Thanks in advance.

[Wavytone]

Try isopropyl alcohol or methylated spirits, these only partially worked on an old Canon EOS.

My guess is you will bin them though.

[LewisM]

It will come off with metho/isopropyl, but you'll need to remove it all. I had this issue on a very expensive Logitech laser mouse - plenty of metho on a rag and I removed the "non-slip" rubber goop. Still using same mouse 5 years later (EXTREMELLY precise) without issue.

[PhilTas]

Hi Brian,

I have the same issue living in Darwin.

As other respondents have suggested, removal might be the best issue.

The IS binos are too valuable to ditch just for this reason (if you do ditch them, then throw in the direction of Darwin)

I have a product called "Gummi Pflege Stift" which reconditions rubber. It seems to be popular for automotive uses. I haven't tried it for sticky rubber, it might be worth a try on a small surface.

Available from Amazon.

Cheers Phil

[LewisM]

Why so negative? Why on earth would he bin something so easy to fix?

Ay carumba. I'll happily take them and easily correct if he bins them.

Also, I found eucalyptus oil can attack the plastic underneath so be careful i you do that. The Orange Oil removers are more gentle and I dd have success with a combination of remove with metho then destick/rejuvenate with orange oil.

[ab1963]

I had a set of is 8x30's and they went the same way was advised to use teatree oil and worked fine so if you take the ludicrous advice to bin em please throw them in my bin.......;)

[gary]

Hi Brian,

Happy New Year! Hope you have been well.

If you happen to apply mosquito repellent containing DEET, a wise choice
in your parts, it might be the culprit for the rubbery finish turning to goo.

DEET will do that. When you apply the repellent to your hands or face
and then make contact with rubber components and some plastics, the
DEET acts as a solvent. You put the item away in storage for a while
then next time you go to use it the plastic has become soft and mushy.

I've done it to the triggers on video cameras, on notebook keyboards
and to the backs of cameras where you hold them next to your face.

If you think it might be a possible culprit, the trick to avoiding it in the future
is to carefully wash and wipe clean any repellent that is on your finger tips or
around your eyes.

As for cleaning up the goo, alas I have never found a recipe for doing that.

[tempestwizz]

Thanks all for the advice. Seems a climate issue! - climate because I have also noted the blue filter in the Lunt solar scope diagonal has grown another layer of gunge since I cleaned it only a couple of years ago.
Leaving stuff neatly packed and stored seems like no guarantee for preservation.

[Merlin66]

Brian,
The Lunt blue filter fails due to moisture...a sealed container with silica gel may help.....

[bojan]

I found out the petrol fuel works well as solvent for silicone rubber goo.
Of course, after cleaning there will be no that "rubber" feeling any more.. which is actually quite OK as far as I am concerned.

[Dennis]

We had a couple of Digital Radios (Pure brand) that had a nice to the touch soft "rubber" (or rubber like) coating that after a couple of years, became very sticky.

I used Meths (Bunnings) and a cloth to clean all the coating off and succeeded in revealing the underneath shiny plastic case and both radios are now non-stick and work as normal.

It took a fair bit of elbow grease as the coating was quite thick.

Good luck.:)

Dennis

[tempestwizz]

Thanks all. The meths cleaned up all the goo with relatively little effort. I now have two-toned binos. black and grey plastic. Won’t be an issue.

Gary, thanks for the info on deet. It is probably a good candidate for being the culprit. I will be more careful with the other rubbery things I possess from now on!
And thank too to Lewis. I was unaware of the potential issues with eucalyptus oil on plastic like surfaces.

[Wavytone]

Brian,

Also note DEET will destroy coatings on lenses and eyepieces, permanently. If you must use spray-on Aerogard etc please do it DOWNWIND of anyones scope.

Roll-ons are a whole lot safer but the risk remains.