Best way to protect rubber grommets?

[NightGod]

I have Gorf cabinet and am currently in the process of refurbing the joystick and am looking for ideas on ways to protect and care for the huge rubber grommet in it. Wondering if anyone has any recommendations for some sort of oil or spray that will help keep it in good condition?

[shardian]

At auto stores you can get a conditioning lubricant for the belts on your car's engine. That may work well on grommets.

[NightGod]

At auto stores you can get a conditioning lubricant for the belts on your car's engine. That may work well on grommets.

That's exactly what I was thinking of using LOL-I literally just picked up a can of it two days ago for my truck and was thinking of using it on the grommet, but was wondering if anyone had any experience with something else-guess I'm worried that the belt stuff might be for a different kind of rubber?

[D_Zoot]

The problem with automotive belt dressing is that it after it dries it tends to remain sticky to provide additional "grip" for the belt.   Really what it does is make a gooey mess.

I'd be hesitant to use that in a joystick, it would attract dust, dirt and gunk the thing up.

I would suggest silicone spray, it will help keep the rubber pliable, but dries without being sticky.   Or, you could check electronics suppliers, there are several products on the market made to condition old rubber parts like idlers and belts in things like vcr's, tape players and stuff like that. 


D

[fredster]

Use Armor all.

[ChadTower]

Rubber ages.  Rubber parts are generally considered consumables.  Not much you can do about it.

[NightGod]

I know it ages, just trying to do what I can to slow down that progression. It's actually in really decent shape right now-stick springs back quickly and centers nicely. I picked up some pure silicon spray today, planning on going with that if I don't hear of anything better within the next few days.

[shardian]

Rubber ages.  Rubber parts are generally considered consumables.  Not much you can do about it.

Great advice. Preventative maintenance is so overrated, we shouldn't try it with anything should we?

 

[ChadTower]

Sure, and the suggestions thus far have been counter productive.  Lube it with an adhesive?  That will just gum up the stick when dirt lands in the lube and makes it putty.  Spray it with a dry lube?  That won't accomplish anything either.

Lubing a flexible rubber part will do nothing.  Lube is meant to reduce friction between two contacted surfaces.  Friction isn't a factor here as this is a nonmoving part.  It is a flexing part. 

The most reasonable thing to do with a consumable part is to have a couple of spares for when this one breaks down.

[D_Zoot]

 Lube is meant to reduce friction between two contacted surfaces.  Friction isn't a factor here as this is a nonmoving part.  It is a flexing part. 

Chad,


I'm not a chemist, so I can't explain why, but some substances are known to help reduce rubber aging.  Car weatherstips are a good, common example of this.  It's well known in the industry that coating the weatherstrips in your car doors/trunk/t-tops etc...  with something like silicone spray reduces the occurance of cracking and dry rot and helps keep the rubber pliable.   Many vehicle owners manuals actually specify this in the maintence section.

There are multiple products in the electronics/repair industry that perform the task of conditioning rubber components used in vcr's, photocopiers and so forth.   Check any major supplier like Mouser,  stop by a local TV repair shop and ask.  Conditioning rubber is a common practice.


D

[Stingray]

http://www.meguiars.com/?pro-vinyl-rubber-care/Vinyl-Rubber-Cleaner-Conditioner

a complex formula that cleans, penetrates and rejuvenates vinyl and rubber surfaces

It's possible that something like this might do the trick. I've never used it for this application, just brainstorming.

-S

[shardian]

As a side note - don't buy belts for your car from Advance...unless you want to change and/or break down again in less than a year.
We now return you to the regularl scheduled program.

[ChadTower]

I'm not a chemist, so I can't explain why, but some substances are known to help reduce rubber aging.  Car weatherstips are a good, common example of this.  It's well known in the industry that coating the weatherstrips in your car doors/trunk/t-tops etc...  with something like silicone spray reduces the occurance of cracking and dry rot and helps keep the rubber pliable.   Many vehicle owners manuals actually specify this in the maintence section.

Those are infrequently flexing parts.  It will help some there, yes, but that is more a hedge against the expansion and contraction of temperature changes than it is against flexion.  That's not going to help much at all with a part that flexes 2500 times every use and rarely changes temperature more than a few degrees at a time.

There are multiple products in the electronics/repair industry that perform the task of conditioning rubber components used in vcr's, photocopiers and so forth.   Check any major supplier like Mouser,  stop by a local TV repair shop and ask.  Conditioning rubber is a common practice.

Once again, those are not flexing parts.  Rollers are for friction and grip.

That Cleaner just pasted isn't much different than Armor All in concept.  It will keep the grommet shiny and clean.  It won't stop the rubber from aging materially.  It may just attract crap and gunk it up and do more harm than good.

[Kremmit]

Chad, you're sounding like Howard.  Are you OK?


Oh, and I think the purpose of coating a grommet in silicone is to seal it off from the air, to prevent drying.  Won't do a think against actual flex wear, but might help fight plain old aging.  Can't hurt, anyway.

[NightGod]

The grommet in the stick is coated with "something" and, considering how good of condition it appears to be in 25 years later, including god knows how many years in a barn, I'm guessing it has some property that helps preserve the rubber. Silicon sounds like as likely a candidate as any to me, so I think I'm going to go with that.

And I know nothing I do will protect it against flexion, I'm just looking to prevent excessive cracking from it drying out. Considering the source I found for them charges $25 and doesn't look anything like the one in my stick, I'm going to not go with the "keep a couple of spares" idea. If you know of a source that has ones that match up to the original and charge $10 or less a piece, I'd strongly consider that idea, as well. And then I'd be asking how to keep them from drying out while I'm waiting to use them....oh wait...silicon...

[Kremmit]

If you know of a source that has ones that match up to the original and charge $10 or less a piece, I'd strongly consider that idea, as well. And then I'd be asking how to keep them from drying out while I'm waiting to use them....oh wait...silicon...

As a matter of fact, Ponyboy in  Buy/Sell/Trade sells replacement grommets for exactly $10.  I thought they felt softer than they ought to, but others seem to like them.  At any rate, they fit, they're in brand-new condition, and the price is right.

[ChadTower]

I looked through my game cleaning arsenal and came up with this.  It's probably about as close as you're going to get to a real preservative.  Good at cleaning rubber in any case and does refresh the surface a bit.

[NightGod]

Cool, thanks for the link Chad.

And when you say softer Kremmit, how much we talking? Say putting an original one at a 5 with 1 being nothing and 10 being a piece of metal?

[horseboy]

If you know of a source that has ones that match up to the original and charge $10 or less a piece, I'd strongly consider that idea, as well. And then I'd be asking how to keep them from drying out while I'm waiting to use them....oh wait...silicon...

As a matter of fact, Ponyboy in  Buy/Sell/Trade sells replacement grommets for exactly $10.  I thought they felt softer than they ought to, but others seem to like them.  At any rate, they fit, they're in brand-new condition, and the price is right.

Does he carry 2 different types of grommets? I thought he only had replacements for the wico's.

[Kremmit]

As far as I know, he's only got replacements for the Wicos.

As far as softness, if 1 is nothing and 10 is a rigid piece of metal, I don't think an original grommet is a 5.  How 'bout 1 = nothing, and 10 = an original grommet?  On that scale, I'd rate Ponyboy's replacements around 7. 

[NightGod]

Hrmmm, I think I'll just do what I can to preserve this one and worry about a replacement sometime down the line if I ever need one (I've already got a spare from another stick that I got precisely to have spare parts available).

[SirPeale]

As a side note - don't buy belts for your car from Advance...unless you want to change and/or break down again in less than a year.

Can you expand on that more?  I ask because I just bought a belt from Advance Auto Parts, and I *really* don't want to replace it anytime soon.

[SirPeale]

I looked through my game cleaning arsenal and came up with this.  It's probably about as close as you're going to get to a real preservative.  Good at cleaning rubber in any case and does refresh the surface a bit.

Ah, Wildcat rubber cleaner.  Good stuff.  Cleans tons of items.

[shardian]

As a side note - don't buy belts for your car from Advance...unless you want to change and/or break down again in less than a year.

Can you expand on that more?  I ask because I just bought a belt from Advance Auto Parts, and I *really* don't want to replace it anytime soon.

I bought an alternator/fan belt for my tracker. It broke less than a year later. I brought it to NAPA and we had a conversation that the broken belt looked like it was about 5 years old. It was cracked all over the place. The new NAPA belt was far more subastantial than the Advance one.

As a side note - I just had to replace the battery that was barely a year old from advance too. It was under warranty, but it is a PITA to keep breaking down due to sub-par parts that cost the same as good parts.

[Kremmit]

As a side note - don't buy belts for your car from Advance...unless you want to change and/or break down again in less than a year.

Can you expand on that more?  I ask because I just bought a belt from Advance Auto Parts, and I *really* don't want to replace it anytime soon.

I bought an alternator/fan belt for my tracker. It broke less than a year later. I brought it to NAPA and we had a conversation that the broken belt looked like it was about 5 years old. It was cracked all over the place. The new NAPA belt was far more subastantial than the Advance one.

As a side note - I just had to replace the battery that was barely a year old from advance too. It was under warranty, but it is a PITA to keep breaking down due to sub-par parts that cost the same as good parts.

Look on the bright side, Peale- at least you'll still remember how to change the belt, having done it so recently.