Maintenance Question: How to remove stickers and the goo residue?

[unirox13]

"Organic" sticker residue remover?

Hey everybody,

Ok, so here's the deal. I recently got a new to me 11x11. It's already been lubed and tensioned pretty well, so if I can avoid taking it apart completely, I'd like to. After removing the poor quality stock stickers in preparation for restickering there was, as expected, a lot of gooey sticker residue left on the puzzle. Now, I know about all of the chemical ways of getting sticker residue off. I've found those difficult to clean up after unless you have the puzzle in pieces and can really wash each piece, well. So, since I don't want to disassemble this puzzle if I don't have to, I was really hoping to avoid using a harsh chemical. I would imagine that some of those chemicals have the potential to cause delayed damage to the puzzle if they were to get inside. My goal here, is to find some way of sticker glue removal that will cause as little potential damage to the puzzle as possible.

Here's where you guys come in. I've heard of a couple of different natural substances, vodka and vegetable oil, that can work wonders at getting rid of sticker goo. Do you guys have any other ideas? Have you tried either of those I mentioned above? Did they work well? Basically, any help that you all can provide here, good substances to use, methods when using those substances, etc. would all be beyond helpful. Thank you so much in advance.

 

[4Chan]

Hey everybody,

Ok, so here's the deal. I recently got a new to me 11x11. It's already been lubed and tensioned pretty well, so if I can avoid taking it apart completely, I'd like to. After removing the poor quality stock stickers in preparation for restickering there was, as expected, a lot of gooey sticker residue left on the puzzle. Now, I know about all of the chemical ways of getting sticker residue off. I've found those difficult to clean up after unless you have the puzzle in pieces and can really wash each piece, well. So, since I don't want to disassemble this puzzle if I don't have to, I was really hoping to avoid using a harsh chemical. I would imagine that some of those chemicals have the potential to cause delayed damage to the puzzle if they were to get inside. My goal here, is to find some way of sticker glue removal that will cause as little potential damage to the puzzle as possible.

Here's where you guys come in. I've heard of a couple of different natural substances, vodka and vegetable oil, that can work wonders at getting rid of sticker goo. Do you guys have any other ideas? Have you tried either of those I mentioned above? Did they work well? Basically, any help that you all can provide here, good substances to use, methods when using those substances, etc. would all be beyond helpful. Thank you so much in advance.

I've used vodka, it's not that great. Just use chemicals, don't go overboard, they won't damage the puzzle.
I drip some paint thinner on a paper towel to wipe off the glue, then I clean the cube off with methanol. I've never damaged a cube doing this.

Source: I have a degree in chemistry and I'm currently doing a PhD in Organic chemistry.

 

[unirox13]

I've used vodka, it's not that great. Just use chemicals, don't go overboard, they won't damage the puzzle.
I drip some paint thinner on a paper towel to wipe off the glue, then I clean the cube off with methanol. I've never damaged a cube doing this.

Source: I have a degree in chemistry and I'm currently doing a PhD in Organic chemistry.

You definitely sound like the most reliable source so far, thank you.

 

[Felipe Rigon]

I don't think thinner is a good idea... Just go with products specifically made to remove glue goo.
And be very careful if you try methanol, it is poisonous and can cause permanent eye damage.


Source: trust me, I'm an engineer.

 

[Abo]

I haven't tried chemicals really, but, as I have seen in videos, I use an old crappy eraser from school, and I must say it is quite effective. Also doesn't take too long, just a bit of elbow grease. Have fun with the 11x11

 

[Mollerz]

A standard run of the mill eraser generally performs well as an abrasive to remove the goo. A lot of rubbing and a lot of removing excess with your fingers is generally the best way I've found. It's not particularly fast but it gets the job done.

 

[Aysha]

I use baby oil to remove the residue and then rubbing alcohol to clean off the baby oil. It works perfectly with the older Moyu cubes that leave off a lot of residue. And there's no damage to the cube, at all!

Also, if you use a just little bit of the oil into the paper towel it won't seep into the pieces of the cube and won't affect the lube.

 

[Datboi06]

Does anyone know how to remove hardened glue from a cube? Specifically a gan RS 3x3

 

[I'm A Cuber]

Does anyone know how to remove hardened glue from a cube? Specifically a gan RS 3x3

If it is a large blob of glue, waiting until it dries and popping it off with your fingernail should work. However, if it is just a thin layer, I haven’t found a way to get it off