Rubber coating deteriorating

Thanks guys for the speedy reply and for the welcoming @craig aig
Ok will contact Elektron to see what they have to say about it.

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They might say no if it’s out of warranty. But if you’re nice and you offer to pay whatever minimal amount the buttons are, I’m pretty sure they will sort you out with a fresh set.

Just curious, Push 2 has the same issue with the coating as Push 1?

Lets see, I’ve send an email to the support. fingers crossed!

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The entire tray (sides, front, back, underside) of P2 is covered in it. Only the top plate and encoders are free from it. It’s shite. I managed to remove the gunk from the sticky areas and went right down to the shiny smooth plastic beneath which looks fine. Will do the rest of it when I can get hold of some more Isoproyl Alcohol.

Yikes! that’s a bummer. I don’t understand why they used the same coating on push2. I generally dislike this coating after what happened to my p1 and now it seems its happening again on my Digitakt. it feels silky smooth at first, but its disgusting when it goes bad!
Amazing you had the patience to clean it down to the plastic.

at the bakery

Has anyone actually worked out what causes the issue?

Feels like there must be some materials science here. The only time I’ve seen coatings go bad like this is with cigarette smoke, but I feel like these days that’s unlikely to be the problem with you folks.

Or cleaning products - I only ever dust mine, never used any kind of cleaning products not even a damp cloth.

My DT is exposed to the sun and heat all the time, and although my hands are clean when I use it i dont pay any special attention not to get finger grease on it, and im as greasy as the next synthesist.

I love the rubberised coating I’d like to know what causes the issue so I can avoid it!

Sorry, IMO no chance to avoid that stickiness (even it you don’t use it any more) because it seems to be a chemical ‘feature’ of the used materials.
So only a matter of time and it’s a real problem even for much more expensive optical equipment.
There are a few lucky people who claim not to have any problems but that’s not reproducable to me.

Edit: Just google for sticky coating, sticky housing etc.

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It seems far from inevitable though I’ve had my DT for years and you can buy used ones now that are older than mine with no issues.

There’s clearly some kind of catalyst or reaction that takes place with something that at the very least brings about the issue prematurely (coatings of any kind will degrade with time)

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So do you have an allways working solution for that problem?

If yes, you will get the community noble price for sure. At least from the Canon high end binoculars community. :wink:

That or the material itself is inconsistent between batches or even within the same batch and it’s just the time difference between the bad batches and other batches before they naturally degrade.

This link describes 2 processes of rubber degradation (I assume it’s rubber in these coatings) : A Guide to Rubber Degradation & Rubber Deterioration Causes
It states that products “should generally be stored in cold, dark, dry and oxygen-free conditions” - heat, light, humidity are likely to be the ones we can control the most

I’m pretty sure I saw a vid where someone was rubbing talc on the degraded rubber to resolve - possibly on an old laptop case.

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This rubberised coating that melts is ridiculous.
Its happened on my digitone, moog sub 37, a focusrite audio interface, 2 sets of octatrack knobs, a set of roller skates, the list goes on.

I wish Elektron would stop using it. The hard smooth buttons on the mk1 octatrack - zero issues ever. And there never will be.

Not neurosurgery is it?

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If anyone needs talc I can supply it in heaps as I am a professional in the talc industry. Talc might resolve the sticky feeling but will do nothing to fix the problem underneath, which is the coating deteriorating. The deterioration might come from from a bad batch of coating, sunlight, heat or other chemicals like finger grease. Interestingly there are some major differences between the acidity and amount of finger grease between different people. So personally I dont find it strange to read that people have issues with different types of gear and some never have problems. That might just be caused by a difference in the acidity and amount of finger grease.
Anyway, just order the new buttons. Nothing lasts forever and you will be sorted for the upcoming future for a reasonable price. If this really worries you, clean your equipment after usage instead of cleaning your hands before usage.
And if you still want some talc ti address the issue. Let me know and I can deliver you a few containers on your doorstep :grin:

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Yeah, I should have said alleviate rather than resolve.

This has never happened to me with the Digitakt, but I had this same problem with the Gopro: the coating breaks down and it becomes sticky. I solved the problem by cleaning with alcohol. Each type of plastic reacts differently, so I recommend you try on just one button first and see how it reacts

The mod wheel on my Pro 3 is starting to get sticky. I really wish product designers would just stop using this coating. :face_vomiting:

I would boycott products that use it, but sometimes it’s hard to even know if this coating is being used until you get the product in your hands.

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I do, but I have 2x OTmk2 a grey and AE, I dread the day they go sticky. I won’t buy any gear from now on which has this awful coating, I have had too many products turn into gunky horrid mess. Headphones 2 pairs different brands, lots of computer stuff, tools, moog LP stage wheels, the list goes on.

And I don’t even like the feel of it when new either.

Apparently one way to avoid it happening is to coat it with a lacquer, better to just don’t buy stuff with it on.

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Like adding a protective seal? Interesting.

Maybe there should be a topic that outlines what products don’t use this coating… I’ve made a topic to list gear that doesn’t use the funky gunk

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Heat and sun