Remove glue and markers from floppies

[a600fan]

Hi all,


I'd like to remove glue (old labels residue) from floppies.
I am thinking about using a heat gun to do the job.
Is it safe to use a heat gun on a floppy?


I have some floppies with markers text on them, is it possible to remove it?




Thank you

[JoeJoe]

Simply smear with butter and after 1-2 days the label can come off wonderfully. I remove markers with an eraser.

[Viceroy]

Buy a tin of Swan lighter fuel or similar, squirt a small amount on the whole label and wait a few minutes, the label will just peel off! put a little more on a piece of tissue to clean any residue on disk, I was shown this years ago when I used to collect records to get the silly homemade labels off the covers without any damage ;-)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brymay-Swan.../dp/B005349DZG

[deimos]

Originally Posted by a600fan

Hi all,


I'd like to remove glue (old labels residue) from floppies.
I am thinking about using a heat gun to do the job.
Is it safe to use a heat gun on a floppy?


I have some floppies with markers text on them, is it possible to remove it?




Thank you

For the glue, you might want to try LRM Label Remover https://fr.rs-online.com/web/p/netto...hesifs/2361874

While I've never tested it on floppy disks, it's worked well for me on other things. You'll obviously need to make sure it doesn't get inside the disks at all. There are other similar products that are more gel like, which may be more suitable for that reason.

[sneeker]

Back in the day I used to use my mums nail varnish remover, amazingly it never damaged the disks, just used to use it on a cotton wool ball and all the glue would come off.

[Jope]

Originally Posted by sneeker

Back in the day I used to use my mums nail varnish remover, amazingly it never damaged the disks, just used to use it on a cotton wool ball and all the glue would come off.

This is basically acetone, don't leave it on the plastic for a moment longer than you must, or it will eat it. :-)

[deimos]

Does anyone know what kind of plastic the floppy cases were made from? That would let us know exactly what was safe to use.

[pandy71]

No, no, no! no hot air, no acetone! In typical label removers light paraffin oil (kerosene) is used as a main ingredient - it is safe for plastics, doesn't have high volatility (so it can wet and soften glue not vaporizing too fast).
Or buy ready to use adhesive remover (or brake cleaner - widely available in spray form in nearby supermarket).

Light paraffin oil is used as fire starter in grill (barbecue) applications so you can search for such things really in your neighborhood (just check label - alcohol based are no good)

[zipper]

Originally Posted by deimos

Does anyone know what kind of plastic the floppy cases were made from? That would let us know exactly what was safe to use.

I suppose polystyrene / ABS kind of plastic. So no acetone!

[jotd]

isopropyl alcohol already works okay to remove glue.

[deimos]

Soak them in paraffin and set them on fire?

[NoX1911]

Copy data to a clean disk?

[jotd]

if we're talking about original floppies, the whole point is to keep the original floppy.

[pandy71]

Originally Posted by deimos

Soak them in paraffin and set them on fire?

Technically it may reduce wear of the floppy...

Some wet play techniques are used on vinyl discs https://www.vinylengine.com/turntabl...ic.php?t=22360

Also wet film scanning is practiced sometimes
https://petapixel.com/2017/02/14/wet...lm-scans-home/

Audio tapes can be also wet played https://richardhess.com/notes/2006/0...arie-oconnell/

Fire definitely is not helpful...

[mkrleza]

Originally Posted by a600fan

Hi all,


I'd like to remove glue (old labels residue) from floppies.
I am thinking about using a heat gun to do the job.
Is it safe to use a heat gun on a floppy?


I have some floppies with markers text on them, is it possible to remove it?




Thank you

Don't use the heat gun! And do not use the acetone. Be gentle and patient with 99% IPA.

[Viceroy]

Just use Lighter Fuel, no brainer!