Help me identify this goo!

[Poita (Peter)]

I have a film scanner, but there is a mysterious goo that seems to have originated near the PT Rollers and has dripped down through the entire machine.

I need to remove the goo, but nothing seems to touch it!

I cannot for the life of me work out:
a) What it is
b) What will remove it.

It is a honey coloured goo, the viscosity is exceptionally high at
room temperature (currently 18C) , similar to refrigerated honey, but
if you microwave it for 20 seconds, it will go to the consistency of
honey at room temp (say at about 20 degrees C).
It reminds me a bit of the contact-adhesive you buy in a can, you know
how if you apply contact-adhesive to two sides, wait, then bring them
together and then pull them apart, you get an incredibly tacky-goo?
That is what it reminds me of.

It is incredibly sticky, and nothing I have will remove it or dissolve
it, or seemingly react with it at all.
I have tried.
Methylated Spirits
Turpentine
Brake Cleaner
Citrus based 'goo remover'
Water
Dish-soap
Film-guard
Sewing Machine oil
Olive oil
Silicon lubricant spray
Boiling water
Swearing profusely.

EDIT: Have also tried acetone, eucalyptus oil, and isopropyl alcohol. No effect

Nothing will remove it from the metal parts, except scraping it off
manualy, if I rub incessantly with Methylated Spirits, it will
eventually remove most, but not all of the remining residue. A film of
tacky/stickyness remains.

Boiling water just makes it a little softer and stickier. It is driving me nuts.

See attached pictures.

Any goo experts able to solve this mystery, am happy to send samples

[Astro_Bot]

Good question as to what it is, but I can think of three more solvents to try:

a. Isopropyl alcohol
b. Acetone
c. Petrol

Be careful with that last one!

Does it look/feel like resin of some sought? I think there are commercial resin removers. You could try a hardware store.

[Lee]

I usually reach for acetone to remove sticky residues that aren't touched by metho/water.....

[Lee]

xylene as another option....

[Ric]

Look out Peter, it's the Blob.

[michaellxv (Michael)]

Eucalyptus oil is also good at removing sticky things.

[Poita (Peter)]

Thanks for the feedback.

Just tried acetone, eucalyptus oil and isopropyl alcohol. None of them worked at all.

It is tacky, if you stick your finger in it, it first feels solid-ish like nearly set resin, but then it becomes tacky like contact adhesive in a can, and will stick to your finger and stretch out strands like chewing gum. Nearly impossible to get off your hands.

Got me stumped.

I'll try xylene once I google what it is

[Octane (Humayun)]

Could it be the grease that lines the tracks has heated up from the lamp and managed to make its way down into one spot?

H

[Octane (Humayun)]

It's either that, or Ant-Rid.

H

[AstralTraveller (David)]

If you've tried polar solvents (eg water), highly non-polar (oils) and everything in between (metho, acetone) and none work then I suspect another organic solvent like xylene won't work either. I'm guessing it isn't organic but some sort of polymer, possibly silicon based or containing silicate groups. I'll see if I can find the appropriate solvent. Meanwhile, have you tried Shannon Lush?

[LewisM]

1. MEK
2. DCM

If you don't know these, best not to. They WILL remove most paint, and they are potentially very dangerous.

[sn1987a (Barry)]

Jif!

[Barrykgerdes]

Sounds like you had better put it all in the garbage and get a new scanner before someone finds out is toxic and it then will cost you the earth to get rid of it.

Barry

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

It is probably a bit late now that you have hit it with every type of solvent known, but what did the goo smell like?

[Poita (Peter)]

Don't worry, I have plenty of pristine goo that I scraped off to experiment with.
It has no real taste or smell that I can discern. It is cold here today so the goo is pretty hard, on the 30 degree days last week it was more like thick molasses but had no smell then either.

[Poita (Peter)]

I just got a blob of it on the end of a screw driver and tried to light it with a match. It doesn't burn, it just melts, almost like wax does. Gives off a very small amount blackish smoke when melting.
The hot screwdriver then penetrates the 'hardened' other blobs of goo easily, like a hot knife through butter.

[Poita (Peter)]

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

Sounds like you had better put it all in the garbage and get a new scanner before someone finds out is toxic and it then will cost you the earth to get rid of it.

Barry

The scanner is over a hundred grand new, so I might leave that as a last result

[LewisM]

Balsam maybe??? Any lenses of note in there???

[rat156]

Send me a bit, I'll try to work out what it is for you.

Cheers
Stuart

[DavidU (Dave)]

That would be damping grease. Sticky,gooey stuff.