melting Obi: anyone had this happen?

[Jedi2016]

Gah! That's horrible. That's a Larbel O? I've got one of his, and the o-ring's fine. In fact, I was looking at it the other day, because the o-ring shifted position a little and I pushed it back into place. Still felt like a normal piece of rubber to me.

Good luck getting it cleaned off.. The ring itself should be easy enough to replace, but getting that rubber off in the first place might be a bear.

 

[fuelish]

If you replace the o-rings use viton, they are pretty tough, and not much more than the cheapies.

 

[defstartrooper]

Seen a few people post here with the same problem in the past, always with a Larbel saber, really strange never seen it happen before i saw these posts, seen plenty of o-rings perish and crack but never melt like that before.

 

[Darth Gius]

Huh, haven't had this problem with my Larbel, but I'll know whats the deal if it ever does occur now I suppose.

 

[jediscout]

Here's a rather late update, for any who may run into this. I'll update main post too.

Wiped off as much excess melted o-ring rubber as I could:

At this point it's a nasty, sticky mess.

Then, with just a small amount of rubbing alcohol, all the rest cleaned up beautifully:

Couldn't have been easier. None of my other Larbel o-rings have melted like this one. Mostly when they age they just crack. But thanks to everyone with clean-up tips. Rubbing alcohol was plenty gentle and did the job.

 

[Kennyd]

Things like this can happen to wheels on model cars, and it can affect the plastic hub.

 

[Phelyx]

Kind of off topic, but interesting... o-ring failure can also happen to the actual Space Shuttle, with disastrous results.
Look up Richard Feynman, Nasa and o-rings for an interesting story about how he addressed a very serious issue with o-rings. His demonstration involved ice water, too.

 

[tim]

I put mine in ice water, let it get cold and it peeled right off.

Worked for Richard Feynman!