Simple (and hopefully not too stupid) question: How do I keep these black rubber pads from falling off the top of the machine? Every time I lift the cup warming tray/lid, to refill the reservoir, they sneakily end up sticking to the bottom of the lid, which I don't see when I set it down. Now I'm down to three of the pads, because one fell between my cabinets and my stove. I know they help keep the noise down by preventing metal to metal vibration and scratches in general, so I don't want them to keep disappearing.


I don't want to mess anything up, and am thinking about in the future, if for some reason I need to take them off, I don't want to have to carve them off and risk scratching the stainless steel if I use a hard glue like superglue or Gorilla Glue. I had kicked around the idea of a bit of rubber cement....

Any other ideas? Anyone else encounter the same problem? I keep both the underside of the lid, and the rubber pads nice and clean. I just think heat causes them to stick to the underside of the cover.

Maybe I'm just paranoid about risking having glue residue migrate down the sides of the metal as the machine heats up.

That's what I was leaning towards...

I remember when I was a kid, and we put new rubber handlebar grips on our BMX bikes, we used dish soap to lubricate the inside, and slip them on the steel shaft, then let it dry in the hot desert afternoon. An hour or two later, that sucker was permanently adhered to the handlebar and wouldn't slip off. But a utility knife would take it off and leave no permanent glue residue.

I might look into PEX tubing. I've never heard of it. What's it used for generally?

I have that exact foam padding already. I used to use it for a special kind of artwork. I have small pieces I have used in the past for a padded backing when I do scrimshaw artwork. It holds the ivory nicely in place, is non slip and also works well as a quick wrap that protects the small pieces of ivory from scraches since I would take it with me to work and work on the art projects from time to time. I don't intend to irritate anyone about it being ivory. This material was bought years ago, and originally came from a resource that recycled old piano keys, when they were made of ivory back in the day. A company that is carefully scrutinized and monitored by the government, is allowed to sell a volume of old stock ivory from materials left over from a very long time ago. I bought four small pieces like this, and if I do it again in the future, it will likely be mammoth ivory, since they were extinct and dead long before mankind came along a decided to shoot an animal for its teeth.
I don't want to wander off topic too much. But I'll share the two pics here.

I pulled up a few pictures of the padding and artwork, if anyone is interested in fine art as well. I don't want to get completely off topic, since this is a coffee forum, but I'll share them since they have to do with the padding you pointed out. I edited one image so that it wouldn't offend anyone. I don't think it's distasteful, but I will remove the one, which is of a model if it's somehow deemed inappropriate. That was the first one I ever did, back in 2006. It took hours and hours tapping literally several hundreds of thousands of small dots with a sharp tool. Then a nice dark brown oil paint is rubbed onto the surface. The small dots retain the color after I rub off the excess.


The second one is a work in progress that I haven't touched in a while. It might look good when I finish it, if I ever get around to it.


I had considered trying to figure out a way to scrimshaw an image of a coffee bean into the white cap on top of my tamper as well. The Delron material is quite hard, and a completely different surface to work with. I don't know if it would work.

cannonfodder wrote:Clear silicone caulk, dont use contact cement.

I guess the new tube of superglue will stay in it's package. Off to the hardware store on Sunday or Monday when I get a day off. Thanks all, for the tips. Glad you liked the artwork LaDan.