Rubber doesn't age well.
I guess that we've all had some kind of gear that still works fine, but the rubber coating is all tacky and nasty, and leaves smears on your hand.
I had to toss out a bunch of really good mice because of that.
I guess that we've all had some kind of gear that still works fine, but the rubber coating is all tacky and nasty, and leaves smears on your hand.
I had to toss out a bunch of really good mice because of that.
Generally, I try to avoid buying anything with rubber. It is usually the first part that goes bad. Either it gets sticky and starts melting or it gets hard and dry and breaks up. Also, I avoid using rubber bands. They usually end up damaging objects they hold together.
Here's a good page about conservation of rubbers and plastics for those who like to preserve their vintage stuff for a long time. https://www.canada.ca/en/conservation-institute/services/con...
This is not to say all plastic is this way, some plastics that are more flexible, like on the gas containers themselves, can last for years. But the cap rings are made of hard plastic.
The problem is on many models they were meant to bend some to release a clip, for example to open the top of a case.
Or they just can’t hold the stress they were supposed to, like the display hinge attachment points on many classic Mac laptops.
This morning I replaced the rubber grip on my manual coffer grinder. By my math I'd ground about 40 kg of coffee by hand over 4 years, and the grip had gotten to the point where it just spun around the body of the grinder unless held very tightly.
I assume I could extend the lifespan by wearing gloves when I grind coffee to keep my hand oils off the rubber, but the replacement was only $5.
Didn't work for me. Still sticky and messy, with the added benefit of adding schmutz from the cloth I used.
And change the paper towel frequently. It works by dissolving the sticky stuff, not mechanically wiping it off. So the paper towel picks up the dissolved crud after only a few wipes, then switch to a clean one.
I’ve cleaned cameras, mice, umbrella handles, and the back of a Samsung tablet this way.
"Rubber" means lots of different plastics, some of which are very stable and some of which are very unstable. Some are natural; others are synthetic. All they have in common is that they are soft and very elastic—if even that, since sometimes ebonite is called a rubber as well, comprised as it is in large part of natural latex rubber.
Silicone rubbers in particular are extremely stable.
What are steering wheels made of? That material seems to last longer, and they exist in much harsher conditions.