Same issue with many Atari's ST/E, the plastic becomes super fragile. On Wed, Sep 2, 2020 at 9:11 PM Rico Pajarola via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> I have a friend who is a Materials Science Technologist and specializes in > injection molded plastics. So... basically the same thing that's in > computer cases (even though he doesn't deal with computer cases). I grilled > him at length on this topic, and he insisted that the brittleness with age > (and UV light) is expected and irreversible. Basically, the plastic > softeners are off-gassing, and there's no way to put them back in. > > I'm still hoping for a happier second opinion, though I'm not holding my > breath. > > In my experience, brittleness varies wildly and goes from "no big deal" to > "crumbles if you blow at it", even for otherwise identical machines. I > recently acquired a Japanese Ultra 1 clone, and the back was smashed in > shipping, and crumbled into a thousand pieces not even large enough to glue > back together. Luckily the front only had a single crack that could be > glued back together. > > > > > > On Fri, Aug 28, 2020 at 9:38 AM Tom Hunter via cctalk < > cctalk@classiccmp.org> > wrote: > > > Today I was working on a very nice 1995 vintage SPARCstation LX with > CDROM > > and QIC-150 tape drive (3 lunchbox type units). I was trying to install a > > newer version of NetBSD on it than was already installed. The stack of 3 > > units was stored in a museum grade glass display cabinet. Sadly all 3 > units > > have a small degree of yellowing but more importantly the plastic cases > > have become very brittle and bits just break off with minimal mechanical > > strain. > > > > Is there any process to reverse the brittleness which could be used to > > preserve the cases? > > > > Thanks > > Tom Hunter > > >
