Manfrotto Gear turning to goo

[ggrantly]

Hello Listers. I have had my video gear sitting idle for a while. I've been busy being retired and mostly doing stills for fun. So I whip out some of my kit today and find that some of my Manfrotto camera attachments are deteriorating. Most of the Manfrotto items, like say my focus control, have a nice grippy rubber coating on top of an injection molded part. Nice feel when it was new. That molded rubber is turning to a sticky goo. A alcohol wipe helps some. Just wondering if anyone else has had this happen and or was there a cure?

Note: I have seen this happen on some other plastic products, but have never been compelled to attempt a rescue.

Grant

[Jim Feeley]

I'd guess the rubber is de-vulcanizing or otherwise deteriorating. Try using a little Windex or rubbing alcohol on a rag to wipe off the gooey layer (IME, you'll need to rub away more than you can with a typical alcohol wipe). In the old days, I'd use talcum powder on for something like that...if it was like sporting equipment. But talcum powder isn't healthy, and who wants to introduce powder anywhere near cameras and such?

I'm more than happy to hear what others are doing...

[cyvideo]

Hello Listers. I have had my video gear sitting idle for a while. I've been busy being retired and mostly doing stills for fun. So I whip out some of my kit today and find that some of my Manfrotto camera attachments are deteriorating. Most of the Manfrotto items, like say my focus control, have a nice grippy rubber coating on top of an injection molded part. Nice feel when it was new. That molded rubber is turning to a sticky goo. A alcohol wipe helps some. Just wondering if anyone else has had this happen and or was there a cure?

Note: I have seen this happen on some other plastic products, but have never been compelled to attempt a rescue.

Grant

Oh yes, have seen this issue. Canon broadcast B4 lenses are pretty bad for their "rubberized" tactile grip material deteriorating after a number of years of use. They get dirty, sticky and pretty tacky. Iso Propanol alcohol does work for the removal of this glutinous mess. Though it requires a bit of effort.

But if you don't want to remove the material one of the best things I've found to clean and rejuvenate this rubberized material is of all things 'Armor All'. The stuff you use for sprucing up your car's dashboard and interior rubber surfaces. Just get a piece of old towel or T-shirt material and spray the Armor All onto a bit of the material and then start rubbing it well into the rubberized surface. Only a small amount of elbow grease is required unless the surface has deteriorated pretty badly. It does a surprisingly good job of cleaning, rejuvenating and removing the stickiness of the rubberized surface. After I have cleaned up the surfaces I then get another piece of towel or T-shirt and spay it with Silicone spray and wipe that into the surface. Sometimes the end result can be close to a new condition. Now whether it works for Manfrotto rubberized surfaces I don't know.

Another thing you can try which I only discovered after I moved to Australia is that a lot of locals use Eucalyptus Oil for removing the sticky gummy residues left when you peel off labels, old gaffa tape, stickers etc. It helps clean up many different types of sticky surfaces and residues. The only drawback is for a while your equipment will smell like Gum trees

Chris Young

[Run&Gun]

Oh yes, have seen this issue. Canon broadcast B4 lenses are pretty bad for their "rubberized" tactile grip material deteriorating after a number of years of use. They get dirty, sticky and pretty tacky. Iso Propanol alcohol does work for the removal of this glutinous mess. Though it requires a bit of effort.

But if you don't want to remove the material one of the best things I've found to clean and rejuvenate this rubberized material is of all things 'Armor All'. The stuff you use for sprucing up your car's dashboard and interior rubber surfaces. Just get a piece of old towel or T-shirt material and spray the Armor All onto a bit of the material and then start rubbing it well into the rubberized surface. Only a small amount of elbow grease is required unless the surface has deteriorated pretty badly. It does a surprisingly good job of cleaning, rejuvenating and removing the stickiness of the rubberized surface. After I have cleaned up the surfaces I then get another piece of towel or T-shirt and spay it with Silicone spray and wipe that into the surface. Sometimes the end result can be close to a new condition. Now whether it works for Manfrotto rubberized surfaces I don't know.

Another thing you can try which I only discovered after I moved to Australia is that a lot of locals use Eucalyptus Oil for removing the sticky gummy residues left when you peel off labels, old gaffa tape, stickers etc. It helps clean up many different types of sticky surfaces and residues. The only drawback is for a while your equipment will smell like Gum trees

Chris Young

Had this happen on my first Canon IF lens from the late-ish 90’s. I think they called the coating “Protein Paint”(they have stopped using it). It was supposed to absorb sweat and stay somewhat grippy/tactile, but after some years, it just became a black, sticky, gooey mess that would stain your hands, clothes or anything it touched. Took alcohol and stripped it off and was left with a bare metal grip, but by the time I decided to strip it off, I had long since stopped using it.

I’ve also had the rubber mushroom caps on the bottom of K-Tek boom poles melt. The formulation was off for a while and they would literally start to “melt” in less than a year. They replaced at least one for me, for free, because they had so many complaints and knew that there was a bad batch in circulation. I have some bags that are permanently stained, that some of the rubber got on.