The case of the exploding gel wrist guard

This is what the gel wrist guard is supposed to look like.

I’ve always liked using gel wrist guards when using a full-sized keyboard sitting at a desktop typing away. Whether it be the longer ones meant to be used on a keyboard or the smaller ones when using your mouse. After a long day they do make a difference for me.

I forgot that I had one stored in a cupboard for years until I discovered it by accident today. Stuffed in the back resting against an unopened spindle of Taiyo Yuden TYG02 DVD-R’s, this gel wrist guard sat patiently. At some point this wrist guard gave up the ghost and completely burst while spilling its contents all over the shelf.

The dvd recordable discs took the brunt of damage and I needed to open this pristine piece of computing history to transfer the unused contents to a new spindle. The bottom of the spindle was a pure syrupy mess that couldn’t be saved. The sticky bowels of this product remained localized on the back of the shelf without any dripping downwards which was nice to see.

Cleaning was another story.

Paper towel helped remove the large blobs and always stuck like mad. A handy bottle of Goo Gone was applied and left for 10 minutes imparting a very strong smell of oranges. Once that was cleared off it was still sticky. Out comes the household cleaner with several sprays and wipes multiplied twice. The surface looked clean but once you placed a finger on it you would stick.

As a last resort I grabbed the 99% isopropyl alcohol and some paper towels. After a dousing of the towel and wiping, the stickiness was gone. This seems to be the real trick.

A word to the wise…

Store these gel guards in a bag as they die a horrible death with only you to clean it up.

You don’t go quietly into the night do you?