ok so I’ve been looking through your blog and checked the tangle care post but I couldn’t find any info. I got a zuru tangle from target a few months ago and now whenever I use it it makes creaking and crackling noises. Do you know if this is common and/or if there’s a way to fix it? I live in the US if that helps.
@horribleprotagonist: I am so sorry for being slow on this–I’ve been away from Tumblr for much of a week or so and I don’t seem to be getting all of my notifications. I didn’t know I had anything in my inbox for a few different blogs until this evening when someone else sent me an ask on another blog!
I can tell you, unfortunately, that it’s pretty common. I’ve been having it with both Zuru and Tangle Creations Tangle Jrs, although it seems to happen more often on the Zurus (and my worst-creaking TC Tangle Jr is really well-used and has been subjected to experimental boil treatments, so a lot of that is my fault).
I find that Tangles that have been pulled apart (especially the custom Tangles where you pull apart a few to make solid-coloured or custom design Tangles) tend to be more prone to this than unmodified ones. (I have a blue solid FrankenTangle that is just unusable for this reason, even though I’ve lubricated it–practically soaking it in petroleum jelly–a few times.) This said, I have some custom Tangles that are perfect, and I have a few unmodified ones that become just so creaky oh my god.
My success in fixing this is partial at best, I’m sorry to say. Some of my Tangles have been fixed via lubricating the pegs, although there’s others where it’s only decreased the sound a little. My current-favourite way of doing this is by using petroleum jelly (brand name version by Vaseline, but should be available in no-brand versions at most chemists and supermarkets). I dip the peg into the jelly so it’s lightly smeared and click it back into place before repeating eighteen times*. Coconut oil may also work, but it’s often more expensive (least here in Australia it is). A less hand-intensive approach (that doesn’t pull the Tangle apart) is using a spray lubricant–a silicone-based sealant is best–and spraying at the joints of the Tangle before wiping clean with a damp cloth.
(I’ve always used Selleys RP7 spray, the kind that comes with a straw nozzle, with no problems a year later, but I’ve no idea if that’s available in the US.)
This usually results in loosening the Tangle, which sometimes helps with the creaking if it’s occurring because of stiffness, and I find it worth trying even on looser creaking Tangles* (please see below proviso, however). Aside from the risk of pulling a Tangle apart if that’s your lubrication method, it doesn’t usually harm the Tangle, even if it doesn’t work.
It may be worth checking to see how much dust, dead skin sells and other gunk has caught up around the Tangle pegs: if you use a Tangle a lot, and it spends time on open benches or in pockets, dust will gather in the sockets and around the pegs. (It’s a kind of sticky, clingy, fine greyish lint-dust–pretty gross, to be honest.) A damp cotton bud/Q-tip will wipe this off pretty easily, including inside the socket, and I’d make sure the Tangle is clean before lubricating. I don’t think it too much a factor in noise-reduction, but it’s worth removing before lubricating to cut down on the lubricant worsening the dust clumps if it’s very bad.
However, if lubrication doesn’t work and the Tangle still creaks? That I haven’t yet found a fix for. Boiling–which hasn’t worked that well for me–is said to make the creaking louder, and I agree based on the Tangle I have boiled, so I don’t think I’d try it here.
This is not much more than a fleeting observation as yet, as it only occurred to me the other day, but I have noticed that the Tangles I shove into a pocket or leave at the bottom of my bag also seem to be more likely to be creaky; the Tangles kept in a basket on my desk or inside a pouch tend to be quieter. This may be coincidence as opposed to correlation at this point, and I have Zuru Tangles that were brand new and creaky, but at this point I’d loosely recommend not shoving a new Tangle into the bottom of a backpack where it can get bounced around, just in case. I’ll do some experimenting on this point with a couple of new Tangles to see where this leads me.
In all honesty, it may be easier to get a new Tangle than it is to lubricate an old one, if you have reasonably easy access to them.
I’m sorry for the lack of a good answer, but I’m yet to find one myself. The best response I can give is a reassurance that you’re not alone here–this is really common issue, and unfortunately for those of us who grow attached to specific Tangles, solving it isn’t easy.
* I want to note that there is a risk of breaking every time you pull apart a Tangle, depending on the fragility of the plastic, and if you’re the kind of stimmer that likes tightly twisting Tangles, you’ll put more stress on the pegs over just coiling it, resulting in a greater likelihood of snapping if you pull them apart later. If your main Tangle stim happens via tightly twisting the Tangle against itself, I recommend that you avoid pulling your Tangles apart if at all possible. I’ve lost a few of mine this way!
