Introduction
Soft touch plastic coatings are popular on consumer electronics devices. They decompose into an unpleasant, sticky goo after a few years that can be removed with a mild solvent.
Tips
- Avoid using stronger solvents such as acetone as they can damage the underlying plastic.
- For thicker coatings, allow more contact time with the alcohol before cleaning.
- These coatings are difficult to remove until they become sticky.
- Ventilation and gloves are recommended with any solvent.
Parts
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Generously apply alcohol directly to the goo.
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Let it dissolve for a few seconds.
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Scrub until clean.
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Coat or vinyl wrap the shiny plastic to your liking. Some ideas include rubberized paint (plastidip) or flocking.
One comment
Isopropanol is commonly called isopropyl alcohol. It's found in pharmacies as "rubbing alcohol". Also sold in most hardware stores. Typically sold in strengths of 70% or 91%. The rest is water.
Isopropyl alcohol evaporates fairly quickly. The higher percentage of alcohol the faster the mixture will evaporate.
To deal with the evaporation, either work on a small area at a time, or wet the sticky part and wrap it in plastic wrap to allow the isopropyl alcohol to work for a time. Use a bit of paper towel to hold the alcohol where you want it.
You may want something to scrape off the goo rather than just trying to rub it off. iFixit has a soft plastic "iFixit Opening Tool" which will work, and may be safer for the underlying plastic than, say, a plastic paint scraper. The link has others options too, like the Spudger and Opening Picks.
https://www.ifixit.com/Tools/Prying_and_...
Get some "Goop" or other hand cleaner too. (Goop might also help remove the sticky paint. Haven't yet tried that.)
Winston -