Re: Rubbing alcohol = Isopropyl alcohol? Acetic acid?
Small molecule alcohols, like methanol and ethanol are more damaging to some rubber, plastic materials, adhesives, etc. and they are not particularly recommended as a cleaning solution unless the material is known to be safe. These days there are fewer problematic materials in mainstream use in consumer products, but a lot of special purpose materials are easily damaged. Also lots of vintage products use those easily damaged materials. One good example is the plastic used the heads of some old tape decks (just outside the magnetic circuit but inside the opening of the metal case). Another example is the viewfinder screens used in many SLR cameras. Many professional quality tape deck manufacturers recommended isopropanol or their own branded proprietary cleaning kit. Many SLR viewfinder screens should be cleaned by mild water-based cleaner after disassembling the part. -- Ryuji Suzuki "Don't play what's there, play what's not there." (Miles Davis)
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