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When rubber (computer mouse) gets old and sticky, what can you do

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mouser:
Have experienced this quite a lot recently, where what was originally some matte rubbery area on a computer mouse or something similar, is starting to deteriorate(?).. it gets sticky and unpleasant.

Is there a solution to this?  Attempting to wash it with soapy water does not help.
Maybe put oil on it?

Maybe there's a preventative way to stop this from happening in the first place?

Ath:
Most likely the plasticizer in the material is breaking down, so eventually the surface will get less rubbery over time. Nothing you can do about it, AFAIK, except of course replace the entire mouse. Had quite a few of them doing this, over time, usually after many years of good use though.

4wd:
A light dusting of talcum powder well rubbed in over the surface?

Removed the stickiness for me, usually comes back after awhile though since the rubber coating is still deteriorating.

In the end the coating completely wore away which fixed the problem.

Target:
Methylated spirits/denatured alcohol should remove the offending material, but you'll want to clean it all off

Shades:
My boss has a 3D printer. And he can get his hands on a rubbery filament, which allows him to make gaskets and such. Perhaps the same material could be used to print replacement rubbery sections for your favorite mouse?

If the fading rubber is the only problem the mouse has, of course.

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