> On May 3, 2016, at 1:14 PM, Mike Stein <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> What's the best commonly available solvent for cleaning the rubber goo that
> used to be pressure rollers, belts, feet etc.?
That depends on what the substrate is. If possible, I use lacquer thinner,
which is a very powerful solvent. For example, it removes label adhesive or
rubber cement faster than anything else I've tried. But if the substrate is
some kind of plastic, it probably objects to this, so something less potent
(and less effective) is needed. A label chemist told me that label adhesive
residue can be removed, slowly but safely, with WD-40. I haven't tried that on
former rubber, but it might serve for that as well. The key point is that most
plastics don't mind WD-40.
If it matters a lot, test the proposed solvent first on an
inconspicuous/noncritical part of the substrate. Sometimes you get surprised.
For example, ethanol is safe for nearly all plastics, but it badly messes up
clear acrylic ("plexiglas").
paul
