Re: [AH] Damn sticky plastic...

From Kenny Balys
Sent Sat, Feb 3rd 2018, 18:12

I built the Revell Grumman F4F Wildcat when I was a kid. Sadly, on a top
secret mission over sandbox it had engine trouble and had to ditch in
swimming pool. Something about the chlorine in the pool and dark blue
metalic paint scheme reacted with the plastic and the model became
squishy and the clear bits cloudy.

After I rinsed off the pool water, the plastic hardened again but
remained ever tacky and so the model was utterly destroyed.

The inner lid foam on my Doepfer LMK controller is getting gunky and
needs to be replaced. It just started leaving hard to clean black gunk
on the keys. Its from 2005. It just started a few weeks ago.

The roadcase I have for my JP6 has the exact same problem with the foam.

A friend's Realistic MG-1 is full of this gross black gunk from
something else that broke down.

Rubber always needs to be replaced, foam too (it seems) and everything
else that's gunky, gooey, squishy or crumbly.

Funny, I have 2 Telefunken Echomixer's from the 1950's made with
enameled steel, bakelite, tin and copper that have 0 gunk or decay. They 
just arrived grimy but were easily cleaned during their 50 year 
refurbishing.

Some plastics from the 60's and 70's and 80's seem now to really suck.
Same for Tantalum capacitors.

Hope the future is better for things made now.



On 03.02.18 17:24 , Fernando Zarone wrote:
> Hi all after moving to my new house (more than 1 year) finally I am
> cleaning / recalibrating / overhauling my machines in order to tweak
>  their knobs again… I have noticed that some stuff, after more than
> 40 years, is going to age, as I am   :-( In particular, plastic and
> rubber  seem to be very prone to some problems: - the soft original
> case of my TB303 has an oily, somewhat sticky surface, although
> maintaining its colors and shape. - some of my Moog modulars’ cables
>  (the original s-trigger ones) have a short collar of black rubber
> around the cable at the level of the metal screwed “tie” locking it
> to the Chinch Jones Jack. Such collars are melting, leaving a black
> sticky stain that is very hard to remove Any suggestion?
>
> Ciao
>
> Fernando
>