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

[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.

[Ath]

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

My experience is that once the external of the mouse is (severely) deteriorated, than the internals aren't that good as well.

Recently replaced a switch on 3 Logitech M705's, where they started to double-click 'for free', but on 2 of the 3 I also need to replace the other switch, it seems. And it isn't a bad batch either, as the ages of those 3 are quite different (youngest being < 1 yr old when it started failing, second ~5 yr and oldest > 7 yr before it failed).

[c.gingerich]

This is what I do and it works a treat.

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

[4wd]

My experience is that once the external of the mouse is (severely) deteriorated, than the internals aren't that good as well.

After 11 years, my CM Sentinel Advance still works well, coating fully wore off about 5 years ago.

Apart from the coating about the only problems with it is that some of the OLED segments are a little dim and the coating they had on the metal mesh inserts started wearing off - so I removed them, cleaned to bare metal, then applied gun blue about 6 or 7 years ago.

IIRC, the removal of the metal mesh to gun blue it has been the only time I've had it apart to clean it ... must be time to give it another surprise 😬

[Stoic Joker]

This is what I do and it works a treat.

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

Same here, but with a spray surface cleaner (Stoner brand I think) that they use at the office. Also consider using it to clean the mouse pad if it has a hard(ish) plastic surface, as they can get a bit tacky as well over time.

Just had to do this (both) at work a few months back. Quarter fold paper towel, spray some in the center, wipe down mouse and pad.