So went into the storage shed today to dig out some hardware that I need and found my old Saitek X52. As I pulled it out of the box it was stored in, I was disappointed to see and feel that the black plastic on the stick and throttle grip areas had become all gummy and sticky…almost like tar. Ewwww… I was pretty bummed. Did a bit of Googling and saw a suggestion to try cleaning softened plastic with a bit of baking soda and some water in a paste and it worked perfectly! All the gummy residue is gone and the plastic is hard and clean feeling.
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Cool…but what yoh want to do with this?
I had my old X52 since 2004, but threw it out a few years ago after cannibalizing it for parts (used some buttons to repair a washing machine control panel). A lot of the buttons had quit working, but I wish I’d held onto it and repaired it now. 
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That’s a story I want to hear!
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Not much to it; my parent’s washing machine had a problem where the power button wouldn’t work or worked poorly and rather than spend ~$500 for a maintenance guy to come out and replace the $50 board, I took a look at it and tested the simple press button, finding it worn out. I wasn’t using my X52 anymore and it was just sitting around collecting dust, so I popped open the throttle and found that the buttons for the LCD were of a similar type, so just used a soldering iron to pull one out and replaced the one in the washing machine with it.
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Awesome!
Everytime I fix something around the house, that requires my ”nerd” tools, as Mrs. Academic calls them, I make a point of addressing the cost my tools and spare parts have saved the household… Now, as far as she know, my nerd tools and parts were all bought at a discount. 
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Has your washing machine now got an afterburner cycle because if it has …that’s cool. Lol
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I made my collective with my old x52. Pull for power ftw 
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YES!
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I bought my toolbox via my old business (I owned a garage years ago) but I bought my tools myself.
.
Over the years just on car repairs alone they have paid for themselves at least 3 times over. My wife’s VW Passat had the oil pump let go over a year ago and I bought a used pump and made some ramps with my welder and fixed it myself over a weekend (it was inside the sump and a proper horrible involved job)
That one alone saved me £1900 as the garage quoted me 2300 to do it with supplying a new pump kit.
My tool purchases are the one thing she never questions anymore.
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It must have because 2 years later I had to replace the switch again!
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