How to clean rubber parts that stink?

[7bit]

Currently, I'm cleaning a rollermouse I got from fo... some guy lately ( ).

Thanks to my ingenious wiki article it was no problem to take it completely apart. I cleaned upper ans undershell and the roller bar. But all rubberparts, the rollerbar, the bads at the underside and the scrollwheel tyre still stink.


I tried:
- Alcohol
- Pril (for dish washing)
- Citrus Toilet cleaner
- Vinegar Toilet cleaner (Don't have almost pure vinegar here, so could not test)
- more Alcohol
- Hot water

Any tips? It smells like insect killing spray or so. Might as well be some after shave perfume, or a spilled out energy drink.

[Findecanor]

Does it smell anything like turpentine/white spirit? Then alcohol should be able to clean it.

I wonder also if it could not be deteriorating. Natural rubber would rot from having been subjected to oil from the user's skin, but then it would smell like rotten eggs. Synthetic rubber could also deteriorate.
Be careful that alcohol is also a solvent, so if it is melting then alcohol may only make it worse.
Just putting the theories out there ..

[webwit]

Coffee.

[ne0phyte]

Coffee.

Try this! That's how I fully removed the disgusting smoke smell of both my thinkpads (that I bought used).

[7bit]

I clean my rollermouse with alcohol from time to time, to remove fingerprints and getting the dust off.

Mine doesn't smell at all. I'm not sure what it is. If turpentine is Terpentin, then it does not smell like that. Might try Terpentin when the rest does not work.

[7bit]

Coffee.

Try this! That's how I fully removed the disgusting smoke smell of both my thinkpads (that I bought used).

Now I've got to know what I really need to do.

Do I need to place the parts in-between these:


Or should I get something like this to pulverize them:


Or should I do this ...


... and bath the parts in something like this:

[ne0phyte]

Take a box or a plastic bag, put a packet of the cheapest coffee powder you can find into it (or maybe just 1/2 or 1/4 for small items) and then put the smelly things into it, seal it air-tight and just leave it there for 2 or 3 days.

If it is something mechanical you might want to put some paper towels on the coffee powder and put your stuff on top of that.

It will smell like coffe at first (for a few days) but after that whatever it smelled like before should be gone. It worked perfectly for me

[7bit]

If it would smell like coffee, I would not ask to remove the smell.


Isn't more expensive coffee better to remove the smell?


ps: Good to know you don't smell bad anymore.

[ne0phyte]

Nah doesn't matter what kind of coffee as long as you use a freshly opened package.

I was of course talking about my ThinkPads

[Muirium]

I've an IBM RJ45 cable that needs some of this. Probably need to hold the contacts at both ends out of the coffee bath, I imagine. How strong should the coffee be? Basically just a cold version of the usual drinkable black stuff?

[ne0phyte]

Re-read my post. We're talking plastic bag + coffee powder here, not a brewed coffee bath

[Muirium]

Instant coffee or real coffee? And does 1/2 to 1/4 mean the ratio of power to water?

[ne0phyte]

Real coffee and 1/2 and 1/4 just meant half/quarter a packet. I used a full packet (500 gram) for each of my ThinkPads but I don't think you need that much for small parts like a cable or some rubber thingy.

[Muirium]

Cool. I'll try it out. Thanks.

[Game Theory]

Going to try this with my 5251.

[7bit]

Experiment started at 2013-09-24 20:03:

[Muirium]

With a mean looking Freude like that, this should be one hell of a test run.

[7bit]

I had a hard time to find the shelf and then the packs with real coffee and not coffe-milk mixtures.

This was the cheapest I could get. First I had a pack of Bio coffee which was 3.49 EUR, then I discovered this for 3.33 EUR. I don't drink coffee, I'm more a tea guy. Please don't tell me that tea would have done the job as well ...


ps:
I find the package irritating.

I thought there would be a coffee cup inside as an extra.

[ne0phyte]

Nope, I don't think tea works.

[webwit]

Would have been cheaper at ALDI.

[Game Theory]

Put a bunch of freshly ground coffee in a plastic container with the 5251. Hope it works.

[dirge]

Bicarbonate of Soda will remove smells.

[Vierax]

Would have been cheaper at ALDI.

Exactly my thought, but maybe there is no hard-discounter near 7bit's home/workplace.

It's funny to see that there are a lot of tea drinker here

Bicarbonate of Soda will remove smells.

It's a grandma's recipe, the cheapest solution because bicarbonate is the swiss knife of the house and the rest of the 1/2 or 1kg pack that you bought can be useful in many circumstances.

[Muirium]

Coffee is for pleasure. Tea is for life. Well, on this tea mad isle at least. I love them both.

[7bit]

Would have been cheaper at ALDI.

Exactly my thought, but maybe there is no hard-discounter near 7bit's home/workplace.

It's funny to see that there are a lot of tea drinker here

Bicarbonate of Soda will remove smells.

It's a grandma's recipe, the cheapest solution because bicarbonate is the swiss knife of the house and the rest of the 1/2 or 1kg pack that you bought can be useful in many circumstances.

We have Aldi here as well, but I only buy there toilet paper and these: .

[002]

ALDI was only a recent development here in Aus.
I like it...it's the only place where you can find televisions on the shelf next to oranges.

[ne0phyte]

ALDI was only a recent development here in Aus.
I like it...it's the only place where you can find televisions on the shelf next to oranges.

But no mechanical keyboards so far

[002]

Didn't see them lol, but I'll keep a lookout
One thing that shocked me when I first shopped at ALDI was that you have to bag your own groceries like a fucking barbarian! Here I was thinking that the European backpackers in at our local chain supermarkets were just being nice guys by bagging the groceries before the check-out girl could do it.

[ne0phyte]

It's completely normal in Europe to bag your groceries on your own after paying.

[Muirium]

Britain too. The clerk might help out, but you'd look a total dick standing there with your arms crossed, demanding that they do it.

Same story with gas / petrol stations. Self service is the only kind. There's more customers than staff anyway. Why make people wait?