I guess that's the loss of plasticizer ...the same thing you see in
stiffening and embrittlement of vinyl.
I've never see thermosets go bad, unless attacked by solvents (altho' I've
seen epoxies go gummy.)
----------
> From: classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu
> To: Manney
> Subject: Re: Plastic rot
> Date: Monday, December 22, 1997 11:19 AM
>
> At 09:22 12/22/97, you wrote:
> >I have several old HP computers that have done the same thing. Is there
> >any way to repair or restore the color?
>
> No, there (currently) isn't. And the real bother isn't the
discoloration,
> but the accompanying embrittlement -- I picked up a mustard-colored HP
> terminal once and had a piece of the case break off in my hand.
>
> A bloke who was researching this at the Science Mus. in London wrote an
> article for the ANALYTICAL ENGINE in which he basically said that there
was
> no reversing the effect, and the only way you could limit the
deterioration
> was to keep the artifact in near-total darkness. I also asked the
> Smithsonian and they concurred with this.
>
> __________________________________________
> Kip Crosby engine_at_chac.org
> http://www.chac.org/index.html
> Computer History Association of California
>
>
Received on Mon Dec 22 1997 - 18:45:05 GMT