Erasing printing on soft rubber parts

[Bob De Quatre]

Hi there,

For my next (real brick) project, I need to erase some printings on a ninjago dragon head.

The heads are made of a soft rubber and not ABS.

I was thinking that a hard pencil eraser might work, but maybe some of you already faced the problem and have a better solution.

[emilstorm]

I recently, by an unfortunate accident, removed some prints from minifigs by soaking them in toilet bowl cleaner. After one night in that stuff I could rub it off with my fingers. But I don't know how the rubber will respond to it, my fingernails were blue for a couple of days after....

[Mutant Orc]

I don't know how you'd go about erasing the print, but I am very curious why you'd want to... What are you going to build with it??

[Bob De Quatre]

Found some techniques on youtube, but none for rubber parts

I'll try some and see how it goes...

I don't know how you'd go about erasing the print, but I am very curious why you'd want to... What are you going to build with it??

That shouldn't be too difficult to find

[Cult_Of_Skaro]

I'm really looking forward to seeing how Space Ninjas look in the brick.

[CustomJoe_MD]

I recently, by an unfortunate accident, removed some prints from minifigs by soaking them in toilet bowl cleaner. After one night in that stuff I could rub it off with my fingers. But I don't know how the rubber will respond to it, my fingernails were blue for a couple of days after....

emilstorm could you post the cleaner you used to remove the prints, and tell us if there were any effects on the plastic afterwards. Always good to know this kind of thing, also if you have a list of the chemical ingredients involved, that would be nice. Thanks.

Edited May 10, 2014 by CustomJoe_MD

[emilstorm]

Hi CustomJoe sorry about the delay, I saw your post but forgot all about it... It is just some generic supermarket brand toilet cleaner.

Chemical content:

<5% nonionic tensides (Detech-8), Water, Citric Acid, Formic Acid, Xanthan Gum, Propyl Gallate, propylene Glycol, Color & Perfume

It didn't have any effect on the plastic, except a delightful citrus smell. It was however really tough on the print, especially silver and yellow. I had about 5 of those silver swords from 90's castle soaked in it and it turned the thick layer of chrome color into a slimy substance overnight. The result can be seen in my "flexible arms" topic in this forum.

[CustomJoe_MD]

Thanks for getting back with the info Emilstorm.

I know that printer inks can be cleaned off with window cleaner/glass cleaner from the printer heads, and I'm betting it's the propyl glycol over there the one who did the magic, which is the common ingredient with window cleaner with the help of it's friends.

Very good to know, I'll fire up my mad cientist Lab and do some tests.

WE the people who are about to customize salute you. :b

[emilstorm]

You are so very welcome Dr. Joe.

Just out of curiosity I am going to do some more experiments as well. I was sorting my mini fig parts the other day and found a bunch of damaged torsos that will be my test subjects. Unfortunately I don't really have time to customize so much these days, but it would be nice to find something you can just dump parts into, instead off using brass or the likes.

I will update in here if I find something that works.

[CustomJoe_MD]

Brasso removes a bit of the surface shine and you can't really get it like factory torso afterwords, so it's not ideal for PAD work, thats why this is such an interesting thing, if I can PAD over a torso after this with no difference from factory blanks, it would change everything in our community.

I asked my people to try it and come back to me. If they do I'll let you all know

Edited May 13, 2014 by CustomJoe_MD

[emilstorm]

I found this today, don't know if it really works, but worth a shot

From Alexander Ericson:

There is a much, much easier way to remove print from a lego piece than any that I’ve heard before. It involves no sandpaper, no shaving, and no Brasso.

Simply take a piece of white Sculpey Brand “Original Scupley”, knead it for a few minutes to soften it up, then firmly place it over the print that you want to remove. Wait a few minutes, then remove the clay. I’m not entirely sure how this works, but I presume that the plasticizers in the clay eat away at the print. Take a bit of rubbing alcohol and wipe off the clay/print remants. If any print remains, repeat process.

I accidentally stumbled upon this process while I was trying to make a mold of a minifig head. After failing at this task, I removed the clay cast, only to find that there was clay stuck to the face. I wiped it off with my thumb, only to find that I had taken the face with it!

Original Sculpey is a low-quality polymer clay, as far as sculpting goes. It comes in bricks of 1.75 pounds, in white or terra-cotta.

[emilstorm]

Update on toilet cleaner. I have had bunch of torsos and heads soaked in pure toilet cleaner to removed some acrylic paint I had applied and wanted off. They had been in there for about a week. Not only did the acrylic paint peel off with minimal effort, but the original print could be scraped off with a finger nail. The plastic appears unaffected. I am off to bed now but tomorrow I will try with some brand new figs to make sure u can tell if the plastic is affected.

Good night folks :)

[CustomJoe_MD]

You might all want to take a look here

http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

the part about window cleaner might be interesting, and future can be used to seal decals and painted designs too.

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2005/09/stuff_eng_tech_canopies.htm

Might have to create a full topic just on those two links alone.

------------------------------------------------------

Safe Stripping with Orange Zest Solvents

An acrylic hard ground can be stripped off in a strong soda ash solution (1 part crystals to 3 parts warm water). Or use one of the excellent citrus-based safe solvents now on the market (such as 'D*Solve', 'CitraSolv', or 'De-Solv-it') which remove acrylics, etching grounds and hardened ink and paint with great ease.

'This truly revolutionary solvent was formulated as an alternative to petroleum-based turpentines and thinners. It is made from 100% renewable agricultural resources of soy, corn, and citrus, and is non-polluting, non-carcinogenic, and bio-degradable. Less than a teaspoon will thoroughly clean a large plate. DSolve will even strip dried ink from etched lines.' Dick Blick

There is a growing number of such citrus-based solvents on the market. The key ingredient, D-Limonene, also known as orange oil, the safe and innovative solvent extracted from orange peel, can be purchased directly from the citrus industry. For example, see www.citrusdepot.net. This solvent is more powerful than mineral spirits, strong enough to dissolve hardened acrylics, oil paint, printing ink, (and even some plastics) with ease, yet medical studies have found no carcinogenic or neurotoxin hazards comparable to the petrochemical solvents. Users should, nevertheless, still handle the solvent with care: ensure good ventilation and take fire precautions when using the new orange oil solvents. Unlike oil-based products, orange oil is considered biodegradable.

----------------------------------------------

d-limonene is the oil in orange peels and lemons, the white rind part, might be interesting to try it on lego prints, would be funny if it worked on plastic and rubber parts. You could go to the market and get some lemons, later that day have clean torsos, no scratches.

Emil back to the lab ;)

Don't use it on styrofoam it makes a glue as strong as woodworkers gorilla glues.

Edited May 20, 2014 by CustomJoe_MD

[emilstorm]

Thanks Joe, will have a closer look later

I actually tried Coca Cola just for fun. When I was in the army we used to clean machine gun flash hiders in it, it was quite effective at that. But not against Lego print

[CustomJoe_MD]

https://www.google.p...iw=1360&bih=599

I'm ressurecting this conversation to ask you if any of these are the scouring cream you used?

We want to try all you methods see which one is better to go over with pad ink. If you have the brand you used let me know so i can tell the printers. Thanks Emil

_Joe

Edited July 12, 2014 by CustomJoe_MD

[raminator]

BUMP

I just tried the thinner for Revell enamel paints.

Took about a minute to get all the ink off.

The torso seems to be as shiny as before.

Have to try this on other torsos to because this one was white.