Cleaning A Ryobi Cordless Drill

[Dwight_Frye]

Kind of an odd question, but I have a Ryobi cordless drill, a 6V model that the housing is clad with some sort of blue rubber coating. It only receives light household duty and is about 10 years old. The rubber coating is very, very sticky. I have tried cleaning it with household cleaner, Simple Green and Murphy's Oil Soap to no avail. I suspect that the coating may be deteriorating ? It has not been exposed to any kinds of chemicals during it's use.
Any ideas ? I've been afraid to try orderless mineral spirits but that would be the next step.
Thanks

 

[Food Scientist]

Instead of cleaning it, I would try covering it with something else that isn't so sticky.

 

[royesses]

I use gojo waterless hand cleaner on rubber/plastic and it has always worked well. Not the kind with pumice, it may be too abrasive.

 

[Rick in PA]

Could be the plasticizer is migrating out of the plastic. A lot of times PVC is compounded with plasticizers to make it flexible like rubber. It's suppose to be permanent, but it often doesn't age well. Plastics are funny. We think of them as permanent, but they often change over time, soft stuff becoming sticky or melting (due to plasticizer migration), flexible stuff becoming brittle (due to cross-linking), white stuff becoming yellow (due to UV exposure), etc. You could try cleaning it with alcohol. Or maybe stripping off the "rubber" coating.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: Rick in PA
Could be the plasticizer is migrating out of the plastic. A lot of times PVC is compounded with plasticizers to make it flexible like rubber. It's suppose to be permanent, but it often doesn't age well. Plastics are funny. We think of them as permanent, but they often change over time, soft stuff becoming sticky or melting (due to plasticizer migration), flexible stuff becoming brittle (due to cross-linking), white stuff becoming yellow (due to UV exposure), etc. You could try cleaning it with alcohol. Or maybe stripping off the "rubber" coating.


+1. I have a pair of binoculars that are doing the same thing. While not perfect, I cleaned them up with some alcohol to make them usable.

 

[DBMaster]

I have had the same thing happen with an IR trigger thermometer. I used acetone to remove the rubberized coating. It's a little messy looking in some areas, but no longer sticky. Maybe a weaker solvent than acetone would remove the coating, but I think removing the coating is the only way to get rid of the tackiness.