Removing adhesive

[Deleted]

Sturdy plastic toys are convenient but after a while they're all nothing but mirrors and dubious bells.

Anyway, I decided to remove the thin mirrored pieces from some of the toys, but keep them if they had moving parts that would still be fun to twirl. They were stuck on with what appeared to be double-sided tape but for the life of me I could not remove all of the stickiness.

I've stuck paper strips to them for now, which may break off so that there's only a flat bit stuck on and nothing to grip, but ideally I want to remove it properly so nothing gets accidentally swallowed.

Anyone got any tricks for removing stickiness from plastic surfaces?

[tweetiepiesmom]

A little baby oil should do the trick. Put a bit on. let it sit a couple minutes then gently massage it with your fingertips. Wipe the excess oil off and wipe it down with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and then the clean up with soap and water should work fine.

[willowsmum]

I have an ongoing battle to remove the labels from jam jars etc (just so they look nicer and can be relabelled for future contents). I've found that the type of residue left behind differs and that the same removal technique doesn't work in every case. I had a hexagonal jar recently that I really wanted to re-use but it was covered in a sticky residue that I couldn't shift. OH announced that it was just one jar and I should put it out for recycling which of course made me even more determined to clean it up. The answer was a quick wipe with isopropyl alcohol and it was clean in seconds. It might have taken me until 1am to find the right solution on youtube but I didn't need to tell him that, did I

The method's I've had some success with are using a piece of kitchen roll and dabbing/wiping with the following (individually, not all at the same time!) white vinegar, isopropyl alcohol (although something like vodka might be a similar alternative), tea tree essential oil (probably not a good ides for bud toys). Good luck @sillycat84 !

Thanks for the tip tweetiepiesmom , I'm going to add that method to my tool kit 

[Deleted]

Thanks both! I will give these a go!

[Deleted]

I had neither baby oil nor rubbing alcohol, so I tried vegetable oil and hand santiser and it seems to have worked!

[tweetiepiesmom]

Good job improvising with what's on hand!

[Deleted]

Thanks! I figured I might as well try what I already had before buying stuff.

[Hezz]

Eucalyptus oil is the best thing for hard-to-remove sticky residue.

[starrymist]

My mum has something called “Sticky Stuff Remover” which works like magic!

[birdguhl]

I've tried most of above techniques with varying success but recently bought a bottle of stuff for purpose which was good. Goodness knows what horrible chemicals it contains. I think some manufacturers are starting to use different glue which is easier. Maybe we should all email their customer helplines demanding more friendly adhesive!