9 replies to this topic

[cncfreak]

Well i thought i would take out my master system out of it's box and play it some last night. To my horror it looks like at some point the styrofoam heated up and has melted to everything in the box. Thank god most of the components were in plastic bags so its mostly on the cables. This is the 3d setup complete with system, controllers, zapper gun and 3d-glasses. This ever happen to anyone before and is it possible to remove the nasty film from the cables? it really does look like it melted to the plastic of the cables but I'm no expert. Any suggestions on how i could possibly clean this up as best i can?

[SlowCoder]

Gosh. Where were you storing it? If it got hot enough to melt the styrofoam ... THAT'S A BAD PLACE TO BE STORING AN SMS!!! Is it possible some caustic chemical got in contact with the styrofoam? Maybe a bug bomb you set off in the house that could have reacted with it?

[cncfreak]

At first i thought heat but maybe it wasn't. I had my stuff stored for about a year but it was a climate controlled storage facility. Bug bomb is always possible. At one point it was probably in my garage but now all my stuff is in a spare room in my house.

Edited by cncfreak, Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:20 AM.

[TMOSteel]

I've had Styrofoam "melt" before on cables and such, specifically boxed ColecoVisions and Adam computers (some of my Bally/Astrocades too). Mostly the RF cable and controller cords, but I don't think it’s ever gotten stuck on the console itself. I think this is pretty common with Styrofoam and old consoles, so I wrap everything in plastic before putting it back in the box for storage. Don't know if this is specific to heat or not since I can't tell the history of a console before I purchased it.

[SlowCoder]

Some rubber and plastic compounds do have a tendency to soften and deform over time, due to oxidation, or other environmental reactions. I've had to remove rubber band residue from old consoles and wires.

But I've never seen styrofoam do it without some sort of reactive chemical. I've never even seen styrofoam melt due to heat unless it was under extreme conditions, i.e. boiling water. So I'm gathering a chemical reaction to something airborne at some point.

[zylon]

Unfortunately, I've seen that happen to many boxed SMS systems that have been stored in the styro for a long time. However, I've only found it from before my ownership of them. Haven't had one do that for me.

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[jferio]

There's definitely something with the system that causes concern. I snagged a boxed Master System at a thrift a couple of years back (and passed it to my friend Mike), and it had the same problem with the cables having "bonded" to the styrofoam inside at some point.

It looked like there was something on the cables between the bits of styrofoam and the cable covers... I wonder if it's actually something with the formulation of the cable sheath plastic/vinyl/rubber that starts breaking down when in contact with the styrofoam in the packaging?

[Eltigro]

It's not SMS specific. I've had it happen to my TurboGrafx. I may post pics at some point, but right now the box with the styrofoam is buried under some other boxes. But you can see in the styrofoam where the cable was, IIRC. It didn't stick to the system or game case (my copy of Keith Courage was in there, too), just the cables. Must be something about the plastic in the cables themselves or a combo of that plastic and the styrofoam over periods of time. They were always stored indoors in a house in a closet or something. Never subjected to extremes of heat, nor to any strange chemicals.

[cncfreak]

Interesting to see this wasn't just specific to me. Is there anything i can use to help remove as much of this gunk as possible? Some of it does look bonded to the cables and don't have much hope with that but in other spots i might be able to remove them.

[SeberHusky]

"Always store in a cool, dry, place." That is printed just about on everything, it seems like a good idea. lol

You could try rubbing alcohol and a small scraping device possibly. Just don't scrub too hard with the alcohol. I found out it takes the...black "paint" off of the surface of the cord insulation. Maybe Google "styrofoam remover" or perhaps some kind of soak with a chemical that won't hurt the cord insulation.