He ain't lying, alcohol is the best. 91% worked like a charm but be careful with the scrub. Even if you take some of the coating out, it's still better than not being able to hold the recorder.
I just did this today, I removed the gunk with armor all, a couple of cheap microfibre cloths and about an hour or so of polishing. Result is very good, I have smooth plastic now, no stickiness (mine was truely disgusting to touch beforehand, made my hands sticky- eewww!)
Just discovered that my H1 suffers this. Now it's in the ultrasonic bath with some chemicals (plastic enclosure only). I don't know if it will help. Kind of strange that so common problem isn't solved by producer yet. I'm frustrated badly. *Acetone dissolves ABS and some other plastics used for plastic enclosures so it's not a good idea to use it for cleaning for them. Some transparent parts can be ruined completely with it. **Oh, ultrasonic bath helped! I used isopropanol (99.99%) solution about 30-40% by volume with water and added about 20 ml of liquid soap and about 50 ml of hypochlorite-based liquid for sanitary. Temperature was about 65 deg C. Time -- 30 min.
I would strongly advise using the proverbial *lint-free cloth* (NOT paper towels including blue shop towels). I had to rub pretty hard to get the sticky/tacky layer off. Some parts took extra work and multiple passes but but the alcohol worked for me.
70% isopropyl alcohol is the sweet spot. 50% you gotta scrub a lot. 90% you gotta be careful scrubbing so it doesn't discolor. Also use a microfiber clothing in the video. Much easier to scrub.
I tried acetone and it took of the rubber and a plastic surface is seen and not sticky but it is a tablet so is it good to keep on it or it is okay to leave the revealed plastic
If you don't mind the look and feel of the plastic, it's OK. I had to remove that coating from some of my electronics as I just couldn't stand the feel of the sticky stuff.
Isopropyl alcohol will remove a layer of degrading rubberized plastic stickiness. Of the entire thing is degraded, this will not work. On a laptop with a sticky palm rest, I could not clean it with isopropyl alcohol, but a tiny layer of ArmorAll Protectant stopped the stickiness here.
I just took out my H4n this morning to find it a sticky mess! I saw other vids about using Alcohol. Fortunately, I have 99% that I use for electronics work. This just wiped off the sticky like it was no big deal. However, the rear cover is a problem for everyone, so I've seen. So I'll try a small test along one edge with the 99%, but if that doesn't work, I'm going to try WD40. I remember using that before on this kind of rubberized crap. I'll see if that works. If nothing works, then I guess it'll be time to hit Fusion 360 and try to design a new back cover. It doesn't look too difficult to duplicate. Or perhaps, someone has already designed it and put it on thing i verse. ????
Thank you for the Video But this is not Rubbing Alcohol and is pure Isopropyl Alcohol There is a slight difference between them as the Rubbing Alcohol has water added to it, so it is not as pure as Isopropyl Alcohol If you were using Rubbing Alcohol, it would actually say that on the bottle's label NEVER use Acetone on any type of plastic it will ruin it, period Thank you
For ABS I'd usually go with IPA, some low quality / thin plastics may get discolored, but usually it's safe to use IPA on ABS. Too much acetone can ruin ABS parts, but people doing 3D printing have been using acetone to remove layer lines from ABS parts for a long time. Also, nail polish remover may be labelled "pure acetone" or "100% acetone", but it's very likely diluted acetone. Pure acetone is hard to come by, often it's sale is heavily regulated/restricted and it is pretty dangerous to handle. Also, it's good idea to make sure you know what kind of material you're dealing with, this looks like regular plastic, probably ABS, most of the other videos I've seen about cleaning sticky stuff isn't on the actual ABS parts, but on that rubber like coating that companies put in lots of stuff these days that always get nasty after some time. What works on one material may not be the best thing for other materials.
As I read this, I'm using Isopropyl 99%. The slime is coming off with no problem..... SO FAR! LOL Edited here: Actually, most of it comes off on first rub. But I notice that after it dries, there's still a tiny bit. I can actually see if with the LED light I have over it. But it seems to come off with a 22nd pass. As it turns out, Zoom just responded to my email. LOL As others have said, they won't cover it after 3 years (mine is from 2015) and they want $110 + $10 shipping to replace with a newer model. Obviously, now that I can get the sticky off, I won't bother.
It worked! Cheap 70% alcohol fixed the stickiness
I have been using acetone for years with poor results. The 70% isopropyl is a miracle! Thanks for posting!
That's because acetone dissolves plastics and that's not what you're trying to do here. Alcohol dissolves sticky stuff and the zoom's get very sticky.
Thank you for this great info. I used ethanol which is like a denatured alcohol and it worked perfectly.
He ain't lying, alcohol is the best. 91% worked like a charm but be careful with the scrub. Even if you take some of the coating out, it's still better than not being able to hold the recorder.
50% worked okish so I bought 91%. That's when you gotta be careful scrubbing.
I just did this today, I removed the gunk with armor all, a couple of cheap microfibre cloths and about an hour or so of polishing. Result is very good, I have smooth plastic now, no stickiness (mine was truely disgusting to touch beforehand, made my hands sticky- eewww!)
Glad the armor all worked for you.
@@VideoGizmology I found that I needed to keep applying it as I went, really I think the microfiber cloth did most of the work.
I hope Zoom manufacturers feel embarrassed.
The alcohol did the trick! Thanks for this. Before using it my H4N was unusable.
Just discovered that my H1 suffers this. Now it's in the ultrasonic bath with some chemicals (plastic enclosure only). I don't know if it will help. Kind of strange that so common problem isn't solved by producer yet. I'm frustrated badly.
*Acetone dissolves ABS and some other plastics used for plastic enclosures so it's not a good idea to use it for cleaning for them. Some transparent parts can be ruined completely with it.
**Oh, ultrasonic bath helped! I used isopropanol (99.99%) solution about 30-40% by volume with water and added about 20 ml of liquid soap and about 50 ml of hypochlorite-based liquid for sanitary. Temperature was about 65 deg C. Time -- 30 min.
I would strongly advise using the proverbial *lint-free cloth* (NOT paper towels including blue shop towels). I had to rub pretty hard to get the sticky/tacky layer off. Some parts took extra work and multiple passes but but the alcohol worked for me.
Great tip! Thanks!
Thank you so much. The alcohol worked great for me.
70% isopropyl alcohol is the sweet spot. 50% you gotta scrub a lot. 90% you gotta be careful scrubbing so it doesn't discolor. Also use a microfiber clothing in the video. Much easier to scrub.
i used 99% alcohol and it worked great
I tried acetone and it took of the rubber and a plastic surface is seen and not sticky but it is a tablet so is it good to keep on it or it is okay to leave the revealed plastic
If you don't mind the look and feel of the plastic, it's OK. I had to remove that coating from some of my electronics as I just couldn't stand the feel of the sticky stuff.
The easy way is hand sanitizer, 60% alcohol content is perfect 10 minutes, the microfiber cloth helps
Isopropyl alcohol will remove a layer of degrading rubberized plastic stickiness. Of the entire thing is degraded, this will not work.
On a laptop with a sticky palm rest, I could not clean it with isopropyl alcohol, but a tiny layer of ArmorAll Protectant stopped the stickiness here.
I just took out my H4n this morning to find it a sticky mess!
I saw other vids about using Alcohol.
Fortunately, I have 99% that I use for electronics work.
This just wiped off the sticky like it was no big deal.
However, the rear cover is a problem for everyone, so I've seen.
So I'll try a small test along one edge with the 99%, but if that doesn't work, I'm going to try
WD40.
I remember using that before on this kind of rubberized crap.
I'll see if that works.
If nothing works, then I guess it'll be time to hit Fusion 360 and try to design a new back cover.
It doesn't look too difficult to duplicate.
Or perhaps, someone has already designed it and put it on thing i verse. ????
Thank you for the Video
But this is not Rubbing Alcohol and is pure Isopropyl Alcohol
There is a slight difference between them as the Rubbing Alcohol has water added to it, so it is not as pure as Isopropyl Alcohol
If you were using Rubbing Alcohol, it would actually say that on the bottle's label
NEVER use Acetone on any type of plastic it will ruin it, period
Thank you
For ABS I'd usually go with IPA, some low quality / thin plastics may get discolored, but usually it's safe to use IPA on ABS.
Too much acetone can ruin ABS parts, but people doing 3D printing have been using acetone to remove layer lines from ABS parts for a long time. Also, nail polish remover may be labelled "pure acetone" or "100% acetone", but it's very likely diluted acetone. Pure acetone is hard to come by, often it's sale is heavily regulated/restricted and it is pretty dangerous to handle.
Also, it's good idea to make sure you know what kind of material you're dealing with, this looks like regular plastic, probably ABS, most of the other videos I've seen about cleaning sticky stuff isn't on the actual ABS parts, but on that rubber like coating that companies put in lots of stuff these days that always get nasty after some time. What works on one material may not be the best thing for other materials.
99% isopropyl alcohol and rub with microfiber cloths
Got the classic sticky rubber-like plastic but isopropyl 70% did not do anything. Not even tape or blue-tac can remove the dust anymore!
As I read this, I'm using Isopropyl 99%. The slime is coming off with no problem..... SO FAR! LOL
Edited here: Actually, most of it comes off on first rub. But I notice that after it dries, there's still a tiny bit. I can actually see if with the LED light I have over it. But it seems to come off with a 22nd pass.
As it turns out, Zoom just responded to my email. LOL
As others have said, they won't cover it after 3 years (mine is from 2015) and they want $110 + $10 shipping to replace with a newer model. Obviously, now that I can get the sticky off, I won't bother.
Omg i regret buying it cause cant use it with this stupid sticky surface 😭
Use gasoline/petrol
It's Rubber.