Just pull up on it. I've heard lighter fluid works really well to clean rubbers.

So does simple green.

Novus 2 works great...same to clean playfield

Congrats on the rookie question of the year (how to take a rubber off)

Haha just poking fun, but someone had to say it...

Lighter fluid is what I use to clean pinball rubbers.

A buddy of mine just uses his tongue. I can't recommend it to others but it works for him!

Pull straight up and off. If it holds it's shape, fatigued or worn. Consider replacing with new.

I use lacquer thinner to clean them.

LTG

They are so cheap, I just replace them.

I just replace them also. Flamables and degreasers might work but rubbers are very inexpensive.

Just my opinion. I would never have gasoline, thinners or acetone - like products anywhere near my pins. they can deform plastics, cause damage to the playfield and are bad for you.

You don't clean them with lighter fluid while on the pin or even put them back dripping wet. If you can't clean your rubber without dripping lighter fluid all over your PF, while smoking and huffing the fumes then don't clean, just replace. Water is worse for your PF than thinner and LF. Pumping gas can be lethal if your not careful also but were all still alive. Lol.

Flipper bats are made of plastic. I don't even want to try to see if they can handle it.
Novus products contains water.
Just my 2c

I used denatured alcohol to clean the stuck rubber from the flipper bats...then simple green and a green 3M buffing pad.

Robert

Lighter fluid/naphtha is not going to damage anything used in that way. If anything it's less likely to cause damage than water alone. I used to cringe when I'd watch Clay use it so much in his videos, but then the "common sense" bug stung me.

I replace unless they are old, but when needed, this is the one application I use Goof Off or Goo Off, whatever it is for. NEVER use it for anything else pinball wise, it takes EVERYTHING off.

I think there might be some confusion as to what the op was talking about. Cleaning/changing the rubber is totally different than removing residue from the plastic bat. The goof off is what I would use for the bat if I didn't have new bats handy. I generally just replace the bats though to have a clean and smooth look.

Yikes, I read it wrong, my post for for the bats. As for the rubbers, change them, but I will clean whatever there is off every month or so with N2 on the replaced ones.

Rubbing alcohol works just fine for wiping off newish rubbers. No need for the nastier stuff for this application. If they are so bad alcohol won't clean it off easily, then just replace.

Am I the only one who finds the notion of using a highly flammable substance anywhere near my pins extremely daunting?

Well, it's not really dangerous, especially if the machine is off.

Non-natural (synthetic) rubber is made from hydrocarbons, so a hydrocarbon based cleaner/solvent works best (fastest) to remove it. Similar to trying to remove oil from something, a hydrocarbon solvent works better than a water based one.

I always finish up with a water based cleaner, as it removes most of the residual hydrocarbon, that is sort of nasty to rubber & plastics.

Water is called the universal solvent, but is too slow in most cases to remove hydrocarbon based materials.

Robert

I found the best way to clean them by accident, I stuck them in my pocket and forgot they were there and ran the pants through the washing machine.
Came out like new, so did the Cliffy post sleeves.

This is what I use... If it's good enough for a $60 TT rubber it's good enough for a .70 cent flipper rubber.

rubbercleaner.png

What could go wrong?

No really I am!!!!!
I was doing a mylar removal on my day one mylar High Speed, this thing
was friggin' beautiful, I was going to take it to Expo this year! I
use the hot air gun and it comes up like a dream, colors are even
brighter than I hoped!! Unfortunately, it leaves the regular tough
glue on the playfield and I do the goo gone with the paper towel thing
and then move on to VM&P Naptha and finally on to goof off!
Nothing is working on this machine! I finally decide to heat up the
playfield a little to soften up the glue, hopefully.
I take the PROPANE torch, don't ask me why, I don't know.....(why
didn't I use the hot air gun, I did it wasn't working fast enough, but
it was working)
Well needless to say I got about 30 seconds of heating it up and
POOF!!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!! Black smoke rising, tripping over the dog, and
grabbing the bucket of soapy water that I used yesterday to wipe down
the cabinet and throwing it all over the playfield only caused the
flame to roll to the underside of the playfiled! Now I'm dousing it
out with a rag trying to blow out the remains of the flames and the
fuel slick accumulating in the bottom by the coin tray.
Aired the house out, friggin' freezing now! Stripped the playfield
bare in the hopes of doing an overlay or who knows anybody have a
playfield for sale? God I'm stupid! Lets just say at this point Jesus
wouldn't be playing my High Speed!
Did I mention I'm stupid?!?!?!? Mr. coil sleeves ain't got nothing on
me! I wonder if home-owners insc. will cover this? I hope I don't have
a dummy clause.
Excuse me I have to go to bed now and cry myself to sleep....
Eric A.
P.S. Did I mention I'm STUPID?!?!?!?!?

I just have to say, wow!

You did mention it a couple of times, but giving a concrete example was very useful in helping me form a real opinion.

Robert

Different Eric Bob, this was Eric A., I am Eric J.
Try and keep up will ya.

What could go wrong?
No really I am!!!!!
I was doing a mylar removal on my day one mylar High Speed, this thing
was friggin' beautiful, I was going to take it to Expo this year! I
use the hot air gun and it comes up like a dream, colors are even
brighter than I hoped!! Unfortunately, it leaves the regular tough
glue on the playfield and I do the goo gone with the paper towel thing
and then move on to VM&P Naptha and finally on to goof off!
Nothing is working on this machine! I finally decide to heat up the
playfield a little to soften up the glue, hopefully.
I take the PROPANE torch, don't ask me why, I don't know.....(why
didn't I use the hot air gun, I did it wasn't working fast enough, but
it was working)
Well needless to say I got about 30 seconds of heating it up and
POOF!!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!! Black smoke rising, tripping over the dog, and
grabbing the bucket of soapy water that I used yesterday to wipe down
the cabinet and throwing it all over the playfield only caused the
flame to roll to the underside of the playfiled! Now I'm dousing it
out with a rag trying to blow out the remains of the flames and the
fuel slick accumulating in the bottom by the coin tray.
Aired the house out, friggin' freezing now! Stripped the playfield
bare in the hopes of doing an overlay or who knows anybody have a
playfield for sale? God I'm stupid! Lets just say at this point Jesus
wouldn't be playing my High Speed!
Did I mention I'm stupid?!?!?!? Mr. coil sleeves ain't got nothing on
me! I wonder if home-owners insc. will cover this? I hope I don't have
a dummy clause.
Excuse me I have to go to bed now and cry myself to sleep....
Eric A.
P.S. Did I mention I'm STUPID?!?!?!?!?

Dont feel bad, your not the only one.....well unless this is yours

hs_burnt_sm.JPG

That looks like Eric's game, the High Speed Black LE.
Those go for the long dollar, very rare.

ROFL...

Lmao! That was funny!

Here's the link. It' as repairs gone bad page.

http://www.pinballmedic.net/tech-tips/coin-op_catastrophe_collection.html

WD-40 cleans the rubber off the flippers quite well. Just don't spray it on the flipper though. Put it on a cloth, and gently rub the rubber residue off the arm. Then just use any light cleaner to get the residual WD-40 off.

This is what i use for most of my cleaning needs. good for Bloody Mary's too

spiritus.jpeg

Sir, this is for your own good so please do not resist. Now slowly put down the wd-40 and step away. No sudden moves, just slowly put it down and we can all go home to our family's. You will thank me for this later. I know it's tough but there's people that can help. That stuff is bad news man. Your better than that. You have a good support group here. Next time you feel the need to spray just post the question "is there a better alternative"? Lol

Holy effin' shite!!!

1. Explain how it's bad.
2. Obviously you've never used it to clean.
3. Apparently you didn't read the entire post.

I use alcohol swabs

Thanks for the mention. I learned some very interesting facts about WD-40 when i was in firefighter school a decade ago. While I haven't used WD-40 on my pins I'm going to try it on those pesky flipper bat rubber marks...

From WD-40's FAQ:

I've heard that people use WD-40 as a cleaner/remover. What can it be used on?
WD-40 removes sap, tar, adhesives, labels and tape from surfaces without damaging existing paint. It's an effective cleaner for tools, equipment, and vehicles. Use it to remove splattered bugs from the front of cars. WD-40 will even help remove gum from carpet. Just spray, wait, and wipe with a clean cloth.

Meds, meds...where did I put my meds?

Robert

Oh ye of little faith...I found this on the internet, so it must be true.

Robert

Wow, bit touchy are we. Well first of I did read your entire post. It's not like it was a novel or anything. Why is it bad? It's not bad, it has a use, but not for the Pf. First off I think it's silly to use something on your PF that you need to be sure you completely remove when there's plenty of things that work just as well or better and leave no residue. Why use a two step process or even two products when you can use one. Second off wd-40 contains petroleum distillates and many of them are bad for rubber and plastics. Wd-40 means water displacement 40th try. It's a solvent made to displace water. It's not even ment to be a lubricant its a petroleum based solvent. The lubricating propertys dry up fairly quickly and attract dirt. So go right ahead keep using wd-40 on all the stuff pinster68 regurgitated off the wd-40 website. I can do the same thing but if you look past the sales pitch this is what you get.

its main ingredients are all petroleum distillates:

Aliphatic Petroleum Distillate
Petroleum Base Oil
LVP Hydrocarbon Fluid
Now for your second question, have I ever used it to clean? (i paraphrased to make this an actual conversation)
I've been in the service industry for 18 years and one thing every good tech knows is you use wd-40 when you need penetrating oil. Other than that leave it alone. One can will last me years. When a bolt it stuck I pull it out, that's it. I guess you can fix everything with duct tape and a hammer also.Lmao. I'll tell you what you can use it for, you can use it to loosen up your sense of humor. Look like that's good and stuck. Lol.

Does no one get jokes anymore? Or is it no one is allowed to have an opinion, or worse yet an opinion different.than your own. How about people do a little research before developing such strong opinions based off some regurgitated sales pitch pasted on the home page of a web site. And for the record, I never said.it wasn't a good cleaner, I'm sure it is. There's lots of good cleaners out there, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid,.....(see another joke watch, here comes the lol)LOL

Sorry original WD-40 poster, I have to agree with this. It's bad on rubber and some plastics long term. Years ago, I also accidentally discovered that it worked great to clean the road dirt and shit off my office front door. That is until it started removing the paint. I always keep it nearby for squeaky metal hinges and parts around the office and house, but you'll never catch me putting it anywhere near my pinball machines. I've used naphtha to clean rubber rings and flippers before, but I generally just go with Novus 2. It's safe, works pretty good, and I can clean just about anything else on the machine with it. Otherwise, I just replace the rubber.

Any reason you assume I've developed my opinion off the internet? I've been servicing commercial and residential appliances for 18 years. All the same parts as a pinball machine but in a different box. I've seen first hand what Harry homeowner can screw up with wd-40. Wore out bearings from washing the grease away and rotted out rubber o-rings and seals from petroleum based solvents. Just to name a few.I've trained for weeks at a time at the Viking range factory and the whirlpool factory, not to mention others. The manufacturer will tell us to keep that stuff away from there product unless a bolt is stuck. When you walk around these factories you don't see wd-40 laying around and being used on stuff. It has its use but it sure isn't cleaning rubber on a $5000 machine. So next time you discount someone's opinion how about you see where they got it from instead of assuming it came from the net.

Back to the question...it may not make too big of a deal but when I remove and install the bat rubber I always start with the larger (wider) end. What I mean by that is when you are putting pressure on the bat it would seem to be a good idea to put the most pressure on the secured side and not at the end of the bat where the pressure could be exponentially multiplied. Like I said it may not make that much of a difference but it makes sense so I do it. And for the cleaning part, I either use novus 1, which works well, or just replace them if they are too bad.

Wow. Way to not read my post guys! I did NOT say to clean the rubber with WD-40, I said to use a SMALL amount on a cloth to clean rubber residue off flipper arms. NOT to spray it on a machine (and I wouldn't spray Any cleaner on a machine by the way). This is to clean the flipper arm to prep it for a new band. Not to clean the play-feild plastics, or the play-feild. And there are ways to use ANY product the wrong way, not just WD-40.
I get jokes, but not outright patronizing insults from people who can't read and insinuate that I suggested something else. If you wan't to chastise people about using WD-40, go to the "Who invented play-feild Mylar, Satan?" topic where several people suggested using it on a play-feild.

BTW I've been servicing arcade games for Thirty years, and know what I'm talking about.

How you remove it doesn't matter. When I replace them, the new ones are tighter. So the easiest way is slip the rubber ring around the big end then stretch and pull and slip the other end over the narrow end.

LTG