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16 thoughts on “Big outgassing problems of old plastics”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Mark Novack says:

    Logical. As I grow older I am turning into plastic.

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Ivle says:

    Keep nitro in firesafe cabinets?

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Chris Osborne says:

    The trouble is we're trying to keep stuff that was never intended to last. Our local history centre has vellum documents dating back to the 12th century & keeping them safe isn't too difficult, but keeping electronic records is nearly impossible (the history centre have a load of radio tapes from a few years ago that they cannot read at all). I've got writable CDs from only 10 years ago that are now unreadable, also 3 1/4" floppies (I used to have some 8" single density ones too) – all unreadable even if you still have the hardware.
    Future archaeologists will probably think of our age as a new version of the dark ages as they won't be able to recover much of our data at all!
    If you want to keep information a long time it's still best to just write it on bits of dead animal – we should still have the Domesday book in another 1000yrs, but look what happened to the BBCs Domesday archive laser-disk!
    The same goes for electronic equipment – by the time you have replaced drive bands, rubber insulated wires, electrolytic capacitors & germanium devices (usually dead by age-related diffusion) you may as well have gutted the lot & replaced the circuitry with a Raspberry Pi or something similar. I'm amazed that 70 year old valves (vacuum tubes to you!) still hold their vacuum, but they alone still seem to be fairly reliable. As for plastic decaying, that's probably a good thing. It will help Nature clean up after we're all gone!

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars theGarinator says:

    That happened to my tent fly's both my Moss Outland and my Eureka Alpine Meadows. They got really tacky. So hung them to off gass. Same thing happened with my Gorilla Lithium battery. Rubber housing has become all tacky. Thanks for this video!

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars H P says:

    entertaining +educational +cuteness factor to the power of infinity = ❤️ FranLab

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Mis Dangered says:

    I outgassed yesterday, and it was one of those that had ‘bits’ in it 🙁

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Keith Gardner says:

    Pocketknife collectors encounter old knives with celluloid handles. I had some handles that gave off a smell and shrunk.

  8. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Richard Richard says:

    I follow several tech / science / music based content creators and with regards to your Hi-Fi and the licorice smell …. I know that I heard, that when old transformers start decomposing they give off a licorice smell ( may have been Brad @ the guitologist channel who said that but not really sure if it was him or another ).

  9. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars gatesmw50 says:

    Some old Carver stereo equipment has had a plastic disintegration issue with front panels.

  10. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Bit Rage says:

    I cant decide if you are just VERY overly cautious, or if you have some crazy substance/elements in your shop that are actually that dangerous…

  11. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Charles Kinzer says:

    I wish my uncle were still alive to ask the best way to handle this. But he passed away at age 100 not long ago. He was head chemical engineer at Western Electric for many years. Then they "promoted" him to Liaison Officer between Western Electric and the EPA. After two years of that (and being put in an awkward position when maybe the company wasn't doing the right thing) he said he would retire if they didn't give him another position. So they made him Liaison Officer between Western Electric and OSHA (ouch) After two years, he had really had enough and left the company. But he had learned a lot and very early got involved in the business of "Industrial Hygiene" and became CIH which is "Certified Industrial Hygienist". If you can find somebody like that (perhaps contact the "American Board of Industrial Hygiene") you might get some knowledgeable answers and suggestions. Perhaps a college or university in your area has this as part of some program and might have somebody that will talk to you gratis. At any rate, if your ventilation isn't already good, consider making it good. That's important especially for soldering and for all manner of chemicals and dusts you probably encounter.

  12. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Charles Kinzer says:

    Fittingly, or perhaps amusingly, the ad that came up before your video was by "U. S. Plastics". They were hawking plastic and showing examples for clear dividers for COVID protection.

  13. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Hex says:

    Just get an industrial freezer in the arctic.

    More seriously, maybe the most dangerous stuff could be safely kept in sealed steel boxes, with sealed inside surfaces too. It would be a big step up to keep them in an anoxic and dry atmosphere.

    The plastic stuff though, keep it sealed and maybe install a fume extractor on a flexible hose and stand. It's a bit of effort and investment but it could keep you safe. Just bring it to the box you want to open.

  14. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Adam Chess says:

    Think how much simple and healthy your life would be with out all that "Stuff"!
    and less expensive too, I mean you can always make new stuff right?

  15. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars gutfinski says:

    The simple words are “cool” and “dry.”

  16. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars gutfinski says:

    Many continue to assume that plastics are inert. They are not.

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