this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2024
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Chemistry

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I acquired a ~16 year old laptop. The mat black plastic top (back of the LCD) is sticky. At first I thought the previous owner had stickers on the back that were removed. But that seems like a bad theory now. I rubbed it with a cloth and denatured alcohol and it only got slightly less sticky, but black residue came off on my hands and the cloth. This is apparently not adhesive.. it’s the plastic itself.

What’s my best move? I don’t suppose I can do anything to re-polymerize it. I don’t care about cosmetics.. I just don’t want it to be sticky and marking anything that touches it. One temptation is to put plastic film on it, like cling wrap. But that could just make a bigger mess.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Whenever I see that stuff on the shelf I think “I have acetone.. why would I buy that? Probably just acetone with a different label”. But I’m probably wrong.. if that were acetone it would not be “surface safe” and they’d get sued for damages. So indeed, probably worth a try.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

It's actually made from orange peels. Very different and it smells great.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Glad to hear that. So got me thinking about the wood glue dissolving on the bottle (polyvinylacetate). PVA is also used as a heel on some cheeses (gouda, I think). Maybe goo gone could be used to take the heel off cheese.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

We used goo gone in a facility I once worked in where we had to remove stickers from plastic totes. Nothing got rid of the adhesives as quickly or easily. Theres like half a dozen different solvents in goo gone, I definoverprnot just brand name acetone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

It's more of turpentine replacement than an acetone replacement.