Cleaning Electronics with Sugar

legoburner writes "Instructables.com has an article on removing logos from your PDAs or Cell Phones using sugar. Basically, the sugar crystals are strong enough to remove the logo (sticker), but are too soft to scratch the casing leaving it unscathed. The article has many pictures of the process as well as a thorough walkthrough. Let the rebranding of all your electronics begin!"

One sweet PDA?

[GIL_Dude (850471)]

I guess the sugar makes it one sweet PDA?

Samsung vs. sugar 1 - 0

[aitio (794921)]

My sweet cell phone now has sweet scratches and the logo's still there.

So use only the most fragile sugar you can find.

Sweet

[MrSteveSD (801820)]

Sweet!

Anyone else more interested in the

[antifoidulus (807088)]

DIY stripper pole [instructables.com] that was advertised on the left side?

Re:

[novus ordo (843883)]

I have 5 installed. Hard time getting auditions though.

Re:Anyone else more interested in the

[Mad_Rain (674268)]

hmmm... I wonder if there is a connection between that link and only 40 posts over the last hour. ;)

See?

[RAMMS+EIN (578166)]

``Cleaning Electronics with Sugar''

See? I've always told my mom that nothing bad was going to happen because of me eating candy over my keyboard. It even keeps it clean!

Re:

[prichardson (603676)]

"Please correct me if my facts are wrong."

(from the parents signature, for those who have them disabled)

I don't even know where to begin... :-)

Re:

[prichardson (603676)]

Truthfully, I misremembered it. I'm not sure what that does to the joke. Perhaps it does enhance it?

I never noticed before that replying to comments strips away the signatures. Why is that anyway? You hear that slashdot?

Re:

[hesiod (111176)]

> replying to comments strips away the signatures. Why is that anyway?

My guess is because if you are replying to a signature, it's most likely off-topic. Unless someone's sig happens to apply to the discussion at hand.

I wish I knew sooner

[maxrate (886773)]

You know how much smack I've wasted doing the same thing?

Re:

[voice_of_all_reason (926702)]

Dude, I love that cereal. Especially after a little weed...

Re:

[ZiakII (829432)]

Dude have you seen his car?

Re:

[hesiod (111176)]

Oh! You make pointless jabs at someone on Slashdot because their hobbies and vernacular differ from yours. How utterly boring you must be.

Careful doing this

[popo (107611)]

This technique works great on PDA's and phones where the natural casing texture is what's under the logo,
but if you've got a 'chromed' phone/PDA (particularly with a color), you may find yourself scratching off
the background color as well.

Sometimes the logos are actually printed in 'negative', where the background color 'is' the print and the
logo is negative space.

Hmm

[xinu (64069)]

Words of advice: don't add water when rubbing off the logo.

My hands are stiiicky...

Much easier way...

[by Anonymous Coward]

I've used this [mgchemicals.com] to strip logos before, as long as the plastic can take it, this will wipe them off with only one or two "swipes".

Goo Gone

[PapayaSF (721268)]

I use Goo Gone [magicamerican.com] for getting stickers and adhesive residue off of books and such, and since it doesn't damage paperback books, it should be fine for plastic surfaces. It's available at most any hardware store.

In other news...

[MyDixieWrecked (548719)]

Columbians relying solely on the instructable and cannot read or speak english use highly corrosive cocaine on their electronics.

Cleaning your PDA with sugar?!

[creimer (824291)]

Put the straw down, step away from the sugar bag and put your hands on your head, sugar junkie!

Re:

[TheDreadSlashdotterD (966361)]

In Soviet America, sugar rubs out YOU!

Baking soda

[by Anonymous Coward]

I use baking soda to scrub when I want to reduce the chance of scratching.

But I thought...

[RAMMS+EIN (578166)]

And here I was thinking that people bought things only for the logo on them...

And those sticky label ion my laptop?

[mdm42 (244204)]

Now if someone could tell me how to remove those crappy "Designed for Windows XP" and "Centrino Mobile Technology" labels without leaving a residue or damaging or scratching the casing, I'd be ever so grateful.

I hate those things.

Re:And those sticky label ion my laptop?

[Carnivore (103106)]

I'm really good at this. The best way to remove the adhesive residue is to use the residue that stuck to the sticker when you pulled it off. Take the sticker, find an area that has adhesive on it, and stick that part on the residue on your computer. Push, twist, and pull straight out and the residue will roll off. It takes about 30 seconds, and you end up with a totally clean computer.

It's especially useful for notebooks due to the sheer number of the things that they put on them.

Re:

[voice_of_all_reason (926702)]

I've been using that technique to clean labels off used DVD/video game cases for years. In most cases, it works.

Re:

[maxwells_deamon (221474)]

A great thing to remove sticky remnants is peanut butter.

Apply just a little more than a four year old would, and then rub in a circular motion.

When the sticky is gone, remove the peanut butter with a damp cloth.

This works because the peanut butter has both oil and water based solvents in it.

Re:

[Stunning Tard (653417)]

And once you got it all off you can replace it with a free ubuntu sticker [system76.com].

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[GeneralAntilles (571325)]

Pick up some Ronson lighter fluid (accept no substitutes! It has to contain naphtha) at your local drug store and put some on a paper towel and just rub the remaining adhesive off. It works well on any non-porous surface. I used to work at a used book shop and we used this stuff to get off just about any sticker imaginable, even those crazy big stickers some universities slap on their used books. http://www.ronsoncorp.com/accessories.cfm [ronsoncorp.com] (big yellow container) Good luck!

Something else that works

[wkitchen (581276)]

I used some 3M Citrus based spray cleaner to get some old labels and label glue off of a monitor. After letting the cleaner sit for a few minutes, the label glue wiped off easily, as did the Dell logo. Totally clean, as if it had never been there. The plastic housing was unharmed. Didn't even dull the surface.

Re:

[hesiod (111176)]

> used some 3M Citrus based spray cleaner

At work some people decided to use something like that (Citrace -- might be "industrial grade") to clean their keyboards. Turned them a nice, inconsistent, chalky grey.

Great, that's all I need

[shwonline (992049)]

A cell phone that's a magnet for ants. Maybe if I use Equal instead...

Poll Suggestion: Favorite Logo Remover?

[sepelester (794828)]

Sucrose (Cane Sugar)
Saccharin (Sweet'N Low)
Aspartame (Nutrasweet)
Sucralose (Splenda)
Honey (Bees)
Maple Sugar (Trees)
Sodium Chloride (Salt)
Bitter Sarcasm (CmdrTaco)

I'd go for the CmdrTaco option. But only after applying a sweet sugar coating on the device, letting him lick the tasty sticker off it.

And yes, I realise I will be branded a pervert after this post.

Nice but.

[1 reply beneath your (961840)]

Is it legal? I mean, if I was verizon coming out in the market with a rebranded cell phone I'd probably like to make it illegal for users to unbrand it, just like it's illegal to unlock the software and use it on another network. If you don't like being locked in, buy the more expensive unlocked phone ... Then again if we're talking manufacturer brands, I am proud of my Sony Ericsson P990i, why would I wanna hide it's brand?

Brandalism

[lullabud (679893)]

It's actually pretty sad that people would even have to question the legality of removing a logo from a product... that the thought would even enter our brains. The way corporations use their weight to twist moral principles seeds our thoughts with doubt about the other innocent things we're doing...

To take the matter even further to the opposing side, I quote the graffiti artist Banksy, as written in his book "Wall and Piece":

Brandalism

People abuse you every day. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you're not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They're on tv making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are the advertisers and they are laughing at you. However, you are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with impunity. Any advert in public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. You especially don't we them any courtesy. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs.

Re:Hm...

[Albert Sandberg (315235)]

Isn't sugar also small enough to slip through any holes on the product though? I wouldn't want bits in my electronics rattling about.

I suppose this is why he uses tape to cover other parts than the ones he's cleaning

Toothpaste

[by Anonymous Coward]

Toothpaste has a very mild abrasive that's great for removing things, but it's a great way to remove small scratches.

Re:

[backwardMechanic (959818)]

Brasso works well too. A little bit more aggressive than toothpaste. They make a nice two step process.

Re:

[TubeSteak (669689)]

One of my friends has a grandmother that is somewhat abrasive.

The only difference is that she doesn't remove scratches, she inflicts them.

Maybe not so useful in this context :o\

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[starrsoft (745524)]

I prefer Bitter Sarcasm (CmdrTaco) for removing stickers from electronics. Furthermore, ever since I spilled a Coke on a keyboard as a kid, the whole idea of sugar (read: sticky) to clean electronics is more than slightly repulsive. Maybe it also has something to (entirely illogically) do with sugar in gas tanks, but I have a very knee-jerk reaction to using sugar on electronics. Sugar is something I would try not to spill on electronics.

Re:

[tomhudson (43916)]

Try the scouring pad on the back of a cheap foam+scouring pad from the dollar store. Because they're so cheap, they're really soft - which is what you want.

Or you can just breathe on them and peel them off - keep breathing on it as you pull - the moisture in your breathe breaks the adhesive bond. You should be able to pull the logo off a car that way on a hot day.

Re:

[Squalish (542159)]

I've found the opposite - sponge/scouring pads seem to be surprisingly low grit compared to liquid abrasives - less rough than steel wool, but not by that much. Paintjobs have been sacrificed to find this out - I don't recommend it.

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[bcat24 (914105)]

Because it'll give you a flippin' sweet phone!

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[Arker (91948)]

why would i do that to my $200 razr?

Umm, to remove some tacky crap that some moron stuck on it?

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[Badfysh (761833)]

I think the stickers mentioned are actually the screen printed logos you get on a lot of kit these days. You're not supposed to use solvents like lighter fluid on plastics, although I have done it a few times and only ruined one Jornada 430. Incidentally, I fixed that by sanding down the whole front casing with fine emery paper, then I buffed it up with metal polish. It didn't look too bad, better than a half melted case anyway.

Re:

[by Anonymous Coward]

Please MOD up the parent...this guy is the first person who knows what he's talking about. The logo on the PDA from the article is not a sticker. It is in fact a screen printing or silk printing, which is just a layer of paint that has been applied to the surface and allowed to cool. We do this all the time at my factory facility.

Re:Sugar sounds good but I use to use this method.

[Majik Sheff (930627)]

I can attest to this. Part of our business where I work is refelting pool tables. To hold the felt in place at the edges we use 3M Super 77 spray glue (banned in California). The only and I mean ONLY way to get the glue off of the slate is by using lighter fluid. The stuff is simply amazing at removing just about anything solvent based. When we clean the crap off of our other equipment we use :

Wildcat tape remover (for lightweight labels and tape residue)
Ronsonol lighter fluid (for high-strength dec

Re:

[Russ Steffen (263)]

Unless 3M is selling a different glue under the Super 77 label in CA, it's not banned here. You can buy it pretty much anywhere (Home Depot, Staples, art and craft stores, etc). I have several cans, as it's an important structural component in my Zagi [zagi.com].

Re:

[Russ Steffen (263)]

Okay, did a little googling and found there is a different version sold in CA and about 8 other states. Seems to be the same glue but a different "ozone friendly" propelant.

Re:Sugar sounds good but I use to use this method.

[ultranova (717540)]

Lighter fluid, such as the kind that comes with a Zippo, works incredibly well for this purpose. I've used this on everything from CD cases to electronics to books.

I don't think that mixing flammable liquids, electronics that heat up enough to vaporize (and possibly even ignite) them, and electric current is neccessarily a very good idea. Especially since lighter fluid works well as a cleaner because it's a dissolver, and many such dissolvers are capable of dissolving plastics - like the ones used in el