Model Boat Mayhem

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Author Topic: Plastic weirdness  (Read 2376 times)

NFMike

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Plastic weirdness
« on: August 13, 2012, 06:00:27 pm »
I have noticed this before, but today when I went to get some feet for my newly built boat stand I was amazed/astonished/appalled by how bad it had got.
I have some of those multidrawer storage things with plastic drawers for bits and bobs. This one has a load of grey 'rubber' feet in it. They have somehow reacted with the plastic of the drawer so as to impress themselves into it. This has taken place over probably 10 years or more.



I've had similar with black grommets too. The really strange thing, to me, is that the actual grey feet seem unaffected. They have to be pulled off the plastic as they are quite stuck, but once freed there is no sign of damage to them - only the plastic drawer.

Years ago I painted over some domestic wiring cables (PVC sheathed) with (vinyl) emulsion, and found that the paint never fully set - for years it remained a little sticky. I guess that the vinyl of the paint and the vinyl in the PVC were somehow interacting. So is this business with the drawer something similar?
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dodgy geezer

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Re: Plastic weirdness
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2012, 06:25:53 pm »
Maybe you should enter that for the Turner Prize...?
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Artistmike

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Re: Plastic weirdness
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2012, 06:27:18 pm »
I've had similar problems with my feet too....  :embarrassed:
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Circlip

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Re: Plastic weirdness
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2012, 07:05:55 pm »
You'll probably find the feet are made of PVC.

  If by some chance anyone uses Expanded polystyrene as a packing or bouyancy aid in a toy boat, made sure that any PVC coated wires are isolated from it as they will bond with the foam. It's a chemical reaction.

  Regards  Ian.
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malcolmfrary

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Re: Plastic weirdness
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2012, 10:13:01 pm »
We had a problem years ago that was traced to plastic dust seals on equipment panel covers.  It seems that the long tail co-polymers in the plastic were degenerating and giving off monomeric vapour, which found its way into the working bits of electromagnets and tried to glue them operated.  I read something like that on the packet for an early superglue, so possibly, over time, soft plastic can evolve a sort of superglue.  Thats if I haven't got my polymers and monomers mixed up after many years.
The cure was to remove the seals, clean the polefaces, and fit melamine shims to the offending magnets.  Maybe superglue won't stick to melamine?
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Plastic weirdness
« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2012, 10:52:30 pm »
Just goes to prove that all our styrene based models are ultimately doomed. I've always preferred wood as a constructional material. It was good enough for the Ancient Egyptians so it's fine with me.

Colin
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Norseman

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Re: Plastic weirdness
« Reply #6 on: August 14, 2012, 08:13:55 pm »
What a coincidence Colin -  :o
Only minutes ago I was reading about the invocation of the Godself and Amen, the Hidden One
then I find  the Ancient Egyptians waiting on Mayhem  {-) might buy a lottery ticket tonight.

I got some old LPs out a few weeks ago and some cellotape put on the plastic covers had turned into an amazingly sticky substance - far stickier than the tape ever was.

Dave

Just reread this again after posting .............. please don't read it the wrong way Colin ......... perhaps I'm just getting paranoid

Just edited it again .......... I am definitely getting paranoid
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