Its been quite a while since I’ve written I know but I’m currently working on something that has incredible potential… of course not without technology to help me which led me to this maintenance post that is particularly rewarding.
Several electronic devices you might own possibly has rubber components on them – don’t get me wrong, the material is great for traction, grip, feel, and all that except that it degrades over time and becomes somewhat sticky. This happened to mine because I discovered that lacing the rubber surface with alcohol (isopropyl) will make it somewhat immune to dust particles of which there is plenty here in our country… what I didn’t know then was that this process will eat up a special coating over the rubber and will lead it to degrade to that sticky feeling material under constant exposure to heat and humidity – this material is not comfortable to work with at all.
A few musings over the internet reveals that some people actually go through completely disintegrating the rubber through alcohol to reveal the plastic that it had been coating just so it would be comfortable to use once more… but there is a simple, cost effective alternative to this – Talcum Powder!
Yes folks, the humble baby powder will allow you to have a better feel of the material in no time at all – witness the transformation below:
First, a general helping I applied throughout the surface (1) which you then proceed to rub into the material with your fingers (2)… during this stage you will be able to feel if it needs a little more powder to get rid of the stickiness so just sprinkle a little more; after that you wipe it clean with a dry cloth first to get rid of the excess and then with a wet cloth to seal it in (3).
Doing this will result in the material having a whitish overlay but a smoother feel without any stickiness at all. This simple fix will return the material to comfortable levels when in use and that is so much better than putting it away because of the icky feeling it once had. Here you see me use it on the other side of the Alto.
While the general aesthetic of the once pristine black surface is affected by this process, the resulting feel prevails over the look, especially for specialized peripherals such as the two seen here (Alto and MX Revolution).
Try it for yourself and get to using more of the gadgets you might have previously put to pasture.
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