how to fix sticky casing?

[lowep]

My camera back has become sticky.

If I understand right it is due to breakdown of the hard plastic material the casing is made from with the result that the adhesive used to bind the plastic material has come to the surface.

I thought about using some kind of cleaning solution like acetone to remove the adhesive but have been advised not to do this as it could make the problem worse.

So I am stuck :bang:

Any advice on how to solve this or experiences trying to solve a similar sticky problem would be much appreciated.

 

[Frank Petronio]

My experience has been with Nikon F100 and N80 bodies, other cameras may use different materials but the 1990s Nikons are known for degrading this way. There are two schools of thought, first being that your hand/fingers get the covering oily and dirty so all that needs to happen is a good scrubbing. The other school believes that the covering is unstable and breaking down.

After experimenting with several online remedies, what works best is to buy a mint, clean camera ;-p But baring that, the first step is aggressive cleaning with rubbing alcohol and Scotchbrite or even mild Steel wool. Keep the alcohol away from the optics and electronics as much as possible. Once the camera is clean then lightly rub a small amount of mineral oil back into the covering to lessen the amount of tackiness. You can also rub a slight amount of Talcum powder in to counter the oil if you overdo it. Test and verify but you can achieve the proper feeling of balance between grippiness and smooth handling with a little trial and error.

The funny thing is that if you buy an Excellent Plus Nikon from KEH it will not have this tacky problem so I do not believe it has to do with the material breaking down but it is more from hand/finger oil left on the camera that prompts some sort of reaction that breaks the covering down.

 

[Steve M.]

I had a Nikon N90 that had this issue with it's back. I used a solvent to completely remove the material. Looked a lot better, and it was a nice shiny black under there. You might also try Goo Gone, a non solvent that will (should) remove the stickiness and keep the original material intact. If you have a Nikon N80 I am not sure any of this will work.

 

[rick oleson]

It makes a difference what your camera is, and in particular how old it is. The usual cause of a back door sticking is deterioration of the polyurethane foam used for light seals around the edges. This turns to tar over a period of a few decades, and glues the back shut... once this happens, often (with the rewind-knob back latch typical of 35mm SLRs) users will pull to hard on the latch release, bending the metal in the latch to the point that it will no longer release. At that point, in addition to replacing the seals, the latch has to be repaired.

If your problem is the foam seals, the best source of replacement materials and instructions is Jon Goodman, who can be reached at jon_goodman@yahoo.com

 

[lowep]

Thanks for this very useful advice.

I just wrote to Goo Gone to see what they have to say about the suitability of their product for this purpose.

 

[ssmc]

Don't know what kind of camera you have, but I had a similar "sticky back" problem with my Nikon N70/F70. It got so bad I stopped using it - it felt horrible and left sticky black smudges on my fingers. It appeared to be an extremely thin coating, probably sprayed on. Thankfully the moulded rubber grip on the front was fine.

I removed the back (easy) and the pressure plate (slightly less easy) and using 100% isopropanol and an old tee-shirt managed to gradually soften/wipe it completely off. The finish underneath is a very glossy but slightly uneven black which grips surprisingly well and doesn't attract dust (no longer matches the rest of the camera though). No signs of damage to the pastic back at all.

What put me onto IPA for this sort of thing was cleaning years of grunge off of a rather mangy-looking Minolta X-570 that I bought used (great camera otherwise!) The plastic looks and feels very similar to the Nikon and since I was no longer using it I figured I had little to lose (the N70/F70 is virtually worthless nowadays in any condition which made me braver)

I can't imagine taking Scotchbrite or steel wool to a camera unless I was removing adhesive left on a metal body while replacing the vinyl. That stuff will chew up plastic. Seriously. Along the same lines I would stay away from any kind of cleaner that has abrasive in it (even microscopic particles)

 

[ZeissFan]

You still haven't mentioned which camera. It does make a difference.

I have several Rolleis from the same time period, and they all were sticky. I was able to resolve it.

And is it the back that is sticky? Or the body covering?

 

[lowep]

Here is the reply from Goo Gone:

"Unfortunately, Goo Gone is a solvent based product and I would not recommend using it on the plastic."

The problem is with a Sinar eMotion75 digital back that I bought secondhand about five years ago. At that time it was not sticky that is a new problem. Sinar´s only suggestion is I spray it with "plasti-dip" but I am reluctant to use a product designed for car finishing on my camera back that as far as I can figure out has not been done before.

Fortunately my RD1 has no signs of any problem whatsoever even though it is older. Neither does my Mamiya 7. So the problem is not just due to age and I guess may have been caused by either a flaw in the manufacturing process or exposure to some kind of contaminant or even sweaty fingers?

Quite a concern as I usually take good care of my gear and am not so enthusiastic about heading out to photograph with a camera back that can double as a fly catcher.

 

[ronnies]

I have a similar problem with the back on a Minolta Dynax 7.

Ronnie

 

[BLKRCAT]

Plasti Dip isnt for car finishing. People just spray it on cars because its basically a cheap alternative to vinyl wrapping.

Plasti Dip is a great product. It is fully removable. Not sure about how it would react with something already sticky but on just about any surface you can spray it on and peel it off once you have enough layers. It will also add some grip.

Not a bad solution actually. I would try it.

 

[lowep]

Thanks ZF1 for the encouragement.

How would you try it, which I ask as am pondering how it could be done?

For example, would you try to mask off the LCD with masking tape then stand back and spray? How about the small buttons similar to those on any camera back... etc etc... as you suggest maybe not a bad solution... if it works,

and if it doesn´t work how easy/difficult would it be to remove the plasti-dip given the sticky surface it would have to be applied to, given the first step of any plasti-dip treatment seems to be to thoroughly clean the surface?

would you plasti-dip your camera back?

 

[BLKRCAT]

I would treat the plasti dip as paint. It can get into the little nooks and crannies and into buttons and such. On cars people do seem to be able to peel around seems to "cut out" from the dipped areas but I wouldn't risk it on a camera itself.

Just mask off the desired areas and treat as paint. Also make sure you get at least 4 or 5 coats on it and that there is no overspray. Any overspray is a HUGE pain to get off. The dip is peelable but only in layers. Overspray or very light coats can be annoying to remove but can be removed.

Don't be afraid to try a few things. The dip is completely removable on a lot of surfaces. as I mentioned Im not sure how it would react to something that is already sticky, but Ive removed it from plastic, unfinished wood, metal and it all comes off clean with no residue.

 

[lowep]

thanks ZF1 this kind of specific input is very welcome, as the back is very valuable so I am reluctant to try this solution until I can visualize the whole process all the way through including worst case scenarios. That said I have to do something, so continue to consider this option since so far it is the only viable one I have.

 

[Frank Petronio]

I'd see if you could disassemble it down to the metal casing itself and then strip the coating completely. If you don't want to do it then pay for a good tech like Bob Watkins at Precision Camera Works in Chicago. Once you see the base material then you can figure the best refinishing option.

I wouldn't try painting it while it's assembled, that's extra risky and it won't look right.

 

[lowep]

Now that makes a lot of sense, even to me 😀 At the moment I am in Mexico but it is a good idea to look for a good tech in USA or Europe then have them work on it when the opportunity arises

 

[Peter_Jones]

Sticky camera rubber - I have sorted this with talc or French chalk before now. It makes the rubber grey rather than black, but it doesn't feel "icky sticky" any more 😉

 

[Tokoza]

The back plate of my Contax Aria was very sticky and smelled awful. I tried to clean this away but the result was unsuccessful, still sticky and smelly… So I removed the rubber surface with very fine grained sandpaper. Little by little, with a small bit of water damped sand paper I finally had removed all sticky rubber from the back plate. This was a tedious process because I didn’t want to cause any damage. The cleaned camera back got some tiny scratch marks to some parts, but nothing that hinders me from using the camera…. 🙂

 

[lowep]

Hi Tokoza how long ago did you do this?

The reason I ask is that I suspect the sticky adhesive comes out of the underlying material as it breaks down and am curious if this is something that happens at a specific time then stops, or if it is a continuing process, in which case even if the gunk was removed more would rise to the surface to take its place?

 

[Tokoza]

Hi Tokoza how long ago did you do this?

The reason I ask is that I suspect the sticky adhesive comes out of the underlying material as it breaks down and am curious if this is something that happens at a specific time then stops, or if it is a continuing process, in which case even if the gunk was removed more would rise to the surface to take its place?

I did it about 4 weeks ago. The surface is still smooth and non sticky today. The stickiness was there very close to the last millimeter of rubber material. But I removed all of the rubber. The under laying plastic was already exposed on a couple of places when I started the “operation” with the sandpaper (due to wear and tear).

 

[lowep]

Anybody have any experience with WD40 that I was advised could be good as it is made mostly out of fish oil (surprised me too) however according to wikipedia it is mostly solvent:

WD-40's main ingredients, according to U.S. Material Safety Data Sheet information, are:

• 51% Stoddard solvent (In 1953 this was the predominant cleaning fluid used by dry cleaners.)
• 25% liquefied petroleum gas (presumably as a propellant; carbon dioxide is now used instead to reduce WD-40's considerable flammability)
• 15+% mineral oil (light lubricating oil)
• 10-% inert ingredients

The German version of the mandatory EU safety sheet lists the following safety-relevant ingredients:

• 60–80% heavy naphtha (a petroleum product used e.g. in wick type cigarette lighters), hydrogen treated
• 1–5% carbon dioxide

So probably not the ideal solution for removing adhesive from a camera unless you wanted to do it by blowing it up!

Would not talc replace the sticky surface with a crumbling one?