that sticky deposit on things

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

What sort of elbow grease would be needed, I assumed that sort of stuff was merely just something like white spirit with some kind of abrasive? Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

Yes but we are always told that the throw away society is very wasteful, are we not. I'm not sure in the current climate the charity would be able to afford it, but if a tine of brake cleaner or some elastic bands were relatively cheap I see no issue. The elastic band idea is probably much faster and less likely to damage the sticks than using some kind of chemical which could also not be nice to work with either. Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

So does that merely stick to it or does it react with the material itself. I have some talc and I guess it might not look great? Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

Yes I tried a few cleaners, but not water as this is electronic stuff. I know that if it were just a few, I'd chuck them but I suspect that all of them will eventually go this way and they shuttle back and forth in the mail each week so eventually I'd expect them to fail electrically, but we have seen very few even after five years or more. The players can have problems with unknown types, its not as if they are being used on computers, there is no real operating system they just play fat and fat 32 formats by taking the fat table from entry one onwards, meaning that you really need to copy the files in the sequence you want them played as they will have no chance to be reordered on the players,

I have noticed that some more recent sticks do seem to not work in the players, so we need very generic ones it seems. The copier clones the sticks from a master, 11 at a time Brian

[TimW]

White spirit, kitchen towel and elbow grease worked for me.

Horrible stuff, a real pia but I couldn't bear to just chuck the radio out and buy another.

TW

[Andy Burns]

I'd expect if you dry them properly afterwards, water wouldn't do them any harm.

[GB]

I assume that you are very keen to stick with the existing players, as some of your users are less technical than others?

However, podcasts have been around for many years now. It would cut out all the duplicating, posting, etc.

[Max Demian]

I've got a set of busbi sticks of different sizes bought in '08 that are sticky.

The most disgusting thing I have is a little dynamo/battery torch. I have to wash my hands after holding it.

[Clive Arthur]

<snipped>

I've some which have gone sticky. They're the rubberised body with metal spring clip type. For some reason, yellow ones seem worst, but I don't know how old they are.

Like this...

[John Walliker]

Why not water? Save on the elbow grease by washing them in a dishwasher with the usual detergent. Then dry them out somewhere warm like an airing cupboard for a week or put them in a closed bag of silica-gel cat litter.

John

[Peter Able]

and if it caused cancer, surely we would know by now

Gosh, how naive.

PA

[Dave W]

I have a ram stick in front of me with a metal cover which can be rotated over the plug to protect it. The metal cover is just sprung onto projections in the moulding and can be easily unsprung.

[critcher]

My M&S umbrella handel has gone the same way, and one of my electric drills, got to wear gloves if im drilling now. Seems to be cheap Chinese manufacturing methods.

[Max Demian]

M&S sometimes save a few pennies by fitting inferior zip fasteners to trousers that fail after a couple of years. Now I check they are YKK.