brittle plastics?

[dan-man]

Hey all,

I just got a C64G from the bay and as I took it out of the box I noticed that the plastic of its shell feels a lot sturdier and less "creaky" than the case of my VIC. Now a wave of preservation paranoia flames up. I once had a bucket standing by the window for a couple of years and it began to fall apart at some point.
Now what about the plastics used in VIC 20 / C64 cases? Are they any different (e.g. if it comes to that fire retardant) Are they prone to age-related disintegration? If yes, what can be done?

Have a nice weekend,
dan-man

[Boray]

They will get yellow in time from sunlight. I spread out old newspapers on my retro-computers which will save them from both light and dust. I guess thick towels will do as well.

[dan-man]

They will get yellow in time from sunlight. I spread out old newspapers on my retro-computers which will save them from both light and dust. I guess thick towels will do as well.

Yes, I know that the yellow colour is effected by sunlight. Hence, I put it up in the basement. But I would be interested if the integrity of the material itself weakens as time goes by.

[Boray]

Not that I know of.

Do you have windows in the basement? I think they get yellowed even in indirect sunlight.

[dan-man]

That makes me sleep better tonight...
yes, there are windows. I bleached the thing using curtain washing soda/bleach and it lightened up a bit. Hope it stays that way for a while.

[RJBowman]

Some plastics are brittle by nature, and have chemicals added to them to make them more flexible, which makes them less brittle. Sometimes these additives evaporate over time, and the plastic looses its springiness. It may be that after thirty years, this has started to happen to some computer shells.