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Slider caps - rubber coating is melting?!
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TagPass
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Joined: 21 Apr 2006
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Location: Pennsylvania, USA

PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:54 pm    Post subject: Slider caps - rubber coating is melting?! Reply with quote

This morning during my weekly studio dusting, I noticed that a lot of lint from a "Swiffer" duster was sticking to one of the slider controls on my O. The control was sticky to the touch -- EXTREMELY sticky, as a matter of fact, like it had rubber contact cement around it.

With some effort, I removed the cap, and washed it with a mild soap mixture, and noticed a "coating" all around the plastic that appears to be coming off. The rest of the tactile controls on the Oasys are fine, although three or the remaining first 4 sliders have a slight tackiness to them -- nowhere near as bad as I found on slider 1!

Any idea what is going on here? I haven't been using the Oasys much this summer, but my room is adequately temperature-controlled, and though I have kids in the house, they are all old enough to understand not to touch things with jelly fingers and/or what wrath will ensue if they bring food into my studio space Wink

I had a Blue "Blueberry" mic cable once that was always sticky to the touch, which was apparently an issue with the material Blue used for the casing. I ended up throwing it out because it it got "hairy" upon contact with the carpeting in the studio. This is the first issue I've had with my Oasys since I bought it back in '07.

So my questions are:

1) What might cause such a phenomenon?
2) What might be a good method to remove the goo coating that WON'T damage the plastic?
3) Can these parts be purchased or replaced?

Anyone's insight is much appreciated!
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Last edited by TagPass on Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:06 pm; edited 1 time in total
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TagPass
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's a quick snapshot of the condition of the control AFTER cleaning with a mild detergent (basically, dish soap).

Close up, it looks pretty disgusting, but I assure you, I did NOT sneeze on it!


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franzlp
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Are you sure you are not near any nuclear power plant? I heard everything dissolves near radiation... learned that from Homer Simpson.
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TagPass
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

franzlp wrote:
Are you sure you are not near any nuclear power plant? I heard everything dissolves near radiation... learned that from Homer Simpson.


LOL!

I *am* within about a 50-mile Radias of one, but I think I'm still in the safe-zone!

EDIT: Interesting. This forum auto-corrected my spelling of "r a d i u s" with the "Korg-approved" version! Korg is filling my day with interesting anomalies...
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Gusfmm



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PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As a Materials Engineer myself, I'm initially quite puzzled by your description and that picture. As much as I'd like to throw in an initial guess, intrigue makes me strongly feel I need to be back home to look at my Oasys' sliders first. The little yellow-gooish residue in the white painted middle slot is indeed weird; I guess how it got there first and foremost. You sure you've confidently eliminated all possibilities of somebody else sneaking into your studio and meddling with your Oasys? (wait, I said I wasn't gonna guess yet...)
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franzlp
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 7:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey here is my final hypothesis on this... The OASYS was developed from Area 51 secret alien technology. The slime is alien goo in the manufacturing?
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TagPass
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 8:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gusfmm wrote:
As a Materials Engineer myself, I'm initially quite puzzled by your description and that picture. As much as I'd like to throw in an initial guess, intrigue makes me strongly feel I need to be back home to look at my Oasys' sliders first. The little yellow-gooish residue in the white painted middle slot is indeed weird; I guess how it got there first and foremost. You sure you've confidently eliminated all possibilities of somebody else sneaking into your studio and meddling with your Oasys? (wait, I said I wasn't gonna guess yet...)


The picture may be a little misleading, since it's a close-up, and the camera flash really accentuates the residue color and texture.

So here's what transpired. Initially, the slider cap was "extremely" sticky to the touch. So sticky that my finger adhered to it momentarily. On a tacky scale of 1-10, where 10 is "super-glue" and 1 is "not sticky at all", I'd say it was about a 5 or 6. I inspected the remaining caps, and removed the biggest offender. Remembering my experience from the Blueberry cable I mentioned in my first post, I took the cap to the sink and washed it with a mild soap and warm water mixture, and saw that some of the gooey substance was starting to break up. With my fingernail, I started to scrape some of the goo off the surface (you can see this most clearly on the near side -- there's a line that goes across the entire side). Then I snapped the picture and posted here.

After doing some research, searching for "rubber coating deterioration", I found several interesting discussion topics describing a similar phenomenon with camera and gun parts, binocular housing, and most prevalently, interior surfaces of VW and Ferrari automobiles, along with several courses of action to combat or solve the problem.

Since then, I've soaked the pictured cap in an isopropyl alcohol bath, which has removed about 90% of the rubber coating, and have one cap that is now shiny black plastic, as opposed to the default matte "rubberized" finish on the remaining knobs and sliders. I have removed all the caps from my Oasys and upon closer inspection have found nearly all of them -- including the rotary knobs -- slightly tacky.

I have submitted an inquiry to Korg USA concerning replacement parts, and am also asking for a quote from Selco to see if I can get some compatible parts that come in nifty new colors. I'm still awaiting replies.

In the meantime, I've been experimenting with whatever other knobs that also have a 6mm "D"-style shaft that are available in my studio. The control knobs for the padKONTROL look kind of nifty, although they are wide enough to obscure the LED ring (and I've only got 2!). I also tried one of my Prophet'08 knobs, and that looked interesting too, but I think until new, non-sticky ones arrive, I will pull a few off the MS-20 Controller which isn't hooked up at the moment. I don't have anything on hand to try out for new sliders at the moment.
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Arend Groot
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i did have a similar problem and received new slider caps, never solved the reason. Till now it is all working fine. Never changed the conditions in my room.

http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=46289&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=sticky+sliders&start=0
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TagPass
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 12:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for reposting that link, Arend. I actually remembered that thread when I saw Mike Conway's milk spill picture Smile
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Kevin Nolan
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 3:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A few thoughts:

- My OASYS is 5 years old and I keep it in a very clean environment (give my room a hoover and all gear with a soft brush every week or two). The brush is always washed before use (not to spread dirt and grease).

- I have noticed that in recent months the OASYS fader caps have become a little tatty - though I have not abused them. So I suspect some of this is age related.

- Given other synths and components haven't degraded in the same way, it does look like the particular rubber compound making up the OASYS fader caps is of a particular soft mix that degrades quite fast.

- Perhaps issues such as humidity, some residue on your hands you're generally not aware of, a chemical aerosol in your house or from a manufacturing plant near by - some or all of those may be contributing to an accelerated degradation of your fader caps.

- It's not the Nuclear power plant 50 Km away!!

Kevin
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TagPass
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 5:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

All signs from my research point to simply natural deterioration of the rubber compound due to age.

Though I'm currently trying to rehabilitate the original sliders, I ended up ordering some replacement caps from Mouser Electronics. They weren't *exactly* what I wanted, but the other company, Selco -- which had an extensive selection of compatible caps, all pictured in a nice, full-color product catalog! -- required a $50 minimum order. Total cost from Mouser was $12 plus shipping. I actually ordered 2 sets of knobs (one set rubber and one set plastic) plus some larger slider caps, which weren't the color I would've chosen, but for $12, I figured I'd give em a shot. And I'm still awaiting word from Korg USA as to whether the "real" parts can be ordered, but I'll post a pic when the replacements come...
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EJ2
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can confirm the same problem here in South Western Ontario. I just noticed the stickiness of most of my slider caps last month. I was trying to figure out what happened while I was away. No one touched my OASYS, so it was a mystery. Now that I have read your post, I guess it's some sort of deterioration of the material used. Strange.

I wonder if Korg has caps available to replace the sticker buggers...
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swe1957



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PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 1:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Same problem for me in downtown Woodford, Australia. I thought it was because of my appalling hygiene practises. Thanks for saving me from that shame. Only one slider doing it, but it's really annoying.
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Chriskk
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 5:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
All signs from my research point to simply natural deterioration of the rubber compound due to age.


Then, Korg must have used extremely cheap caps.

Rubber compound caps on my 10 or 20+ year old old equipment don't show such deterioration.
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TagPass
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 11:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

New slider caps and knobs arrived today from Mouser:



I was unsure about the grey slider caps, but they actually look pretty good with the Oasys' silver accents and panel legending. They're also about 1/3 larger than the originals and best of all, have no sticky residue on them.

Wasn't so lucky with the knobs, though. Apparently, the sets I ordered are oriented "South", so when I stuck them on, they were upside down. (The ones pictured are from my Legacy MS-20 Controller.) Again, the replacements were larger, and dare I say *much* better quality than the factory originals.

Still have yet to receive any sort of reply from Korg as to replacement availability, so I'm trying to sort out the orientation issue with Mouser while I wait and wait...
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