Sticky Tip

[Foil Girl]

In a fit of ignorance I let a vendor at nationals tape a tip for me and didn't check to see whether it was done correctly afterwards. He had taped it WAY too high up. I used this foil throughout the tournament, and after realized it had been withholding touches from me. Oh well, I had fun anyways, and that was the point!! But I've been kind of putting off cleaning the stickyness off, because I'm not sure how to go about doing it. I know how to clean the tip, where the contact is, but I'm failing miserably at finding how to get rid of the stickiness. Any tips? (pun intended)

[Zelda]

Foil Girl, try rubbing Alcohol (Isocol is a good brand), tea tree oil, or WD40 (car degreaser.) Under NO account try to just scrape it off. If its sticky actually inside the barrel I generally soak a cotton tip in rubbing alcohol and run it around the inside. If its just the outside, bung some of your degreaser of choice on a cloth and rub away. Then remember to clean the degreaser off with a clean cloth!
Z

[neevel]

You can use a cleaner/degreaser to clean inside the barrel and the tip. Be sure to get a plastic-safe type (some contact cleaners will degrade certain types of plastics)-- most contact cleaners on the shelf at a Radio Shack will be OK. Ideally, find a can with a spray-straw attachment that can fit into a barrel. Spray it into the barrel while holding a paper towel around the barrel to keep the cleaner from getting all over and swab out with a Q-tip.

-Dave

[Link14]

For the stickiness left by old tape, I've had good luck with a product called "Goo-Gone". It's citrus based but to be honest I haven't checked to see if it's safe for plastics.

Works great for de-waxing snowboards too.

[mifencer]

Under any circumstances you should use WD40. It's an oil base lubricant that will cause some electrical resistance. Also, using any kind of lubricant in there you're just asking for more lint and dirt to be trapped in there, therefore causing more resistance.

Use acetone (nail polish remover) it works great with glue and 'sticky tape substance' then wipe it clean it with rubbing alcohol.

[ 08-13-2001: Message edited by: mifencer ]

[oiuyt]

One comment about acetone, it's a fairly dangerous carcinogen and gets absorbed through the skin REALLY quickly... If you use it make sure that you're in a very well ventilated area (not your typical fencing armoury), it quickly vaporizes and you don't want to be breathing it either.

-B

[neevel]

Oiuyt--

You're overstating the hazard of acetone-- while some intellegent caution should be exercised, it's no more dangerous than many other common household chemicals (gasoline, ammonia, Drano, oven cleaners, all manner of paint/finish solvents, etc.). The NFPA Health rating for acetone is a 1, which means 'slight' toxicity
(may cause minor irritation, but innocuous when used responsibly). Remember, MSDS sheets are written to encompass large operations that are handling substances in mass quantities, and reflect a worst-case-scenario, c.y.a. point of view. The MSDS for methyl (i.e., common rubbing) alcohol states that goggles, gloves, and a fume hood should be used when handling it, along with a respirator .

The main safety concern for acetone in the home should be flammability-- don't use it near open flames, and don't leave containers open for any significant amount of time to prevent flammable vapor build-up (again, no different from gasoline, propane, or other common household substances). For the purposes of an acetone bath for removing wires and glue from blades, this means make an extended cap using a short length of pipe, a threaded connector, and an end-cap, sealed with pipe-thread compound, that you can screw on over the tangs when the blades are soaking.

-Dave

[Inquartata]

Switch to sabre and throw away your tape, your solvents, your weights, your shims, your wires and screws and most of your tools...

[TheScribe]

Mifencer, I dont know if you mean what you said, but I take it that you meant under no circumstances. Not only does WD-40 Reduce current flow, but it also has what you might want to call micro-bearings. It works good to free rusted bolts, but once they are apart CLEAN OFF THE WD-40. It erodes moving parts. Anyway, I dont think it would clean off anything sticky anyway. Stick to the M-2 approved rubbing alcohol.

-TheScribe