Damn you melting styrofoam!

[7800fan]

Pulled my TurboCD box out of storage, I hadn't seen it in oh about 20 years and it's very nice condition. It only looks like it's been on the store shelf for a few weeks and then kept in dark storage since then.

 

Still got all the foam blocks, CD box, some wraps, original TurboCD manual and brochure plus NEC AV cable. When I moved to my current location and had game stuff setup, I forgot there was one still in the box.

 

20 years later the cable was still there and it had melted into styrofoam blocks. Some part of the wires can be moved but some seems permanently stuck.

 

 

The system was kept in dark, cool, and dry place for 20 years and AFAIK no chemical were stored nearby so why? I have seen the same thing with many C64 cables in styrofoam and even on some plastic.

 

PS TurboCD system box is frickin' huge. Was there any accessory box bigger? TurboCD box is about 2.5 feet by 2 feet by 1 foot.

[+save2600]

Yep, it sucks and I see it all the time. It's why I ask sellers to be sure things get wrapped in plastic before simply plopping down into styrofoam. Especially important during summer months. Funny though... seems to happen even if things are stored in a decent environment too, as you observed. So it's not just limited to a heat thing. As if the styrofoam leeches onto certain plastics or rubber over time. You see it on the bottom of rubber pads too, joysticks, consoles, etc.

[R.Cade]

The coating on plastic/rubber wires to keep them flexible deteriorates and melts other plastic near it. Usually the wires get wrapped around other plastic things and the result looks like old cigarette burns, but they aren't. In this case, it melted into your styrofoam...

[Blazing Lazers]

I've seen this thing happen too, every once in a while, without regards to what temperatures and conditions things were stored in. I've always chalked it up to some sort of minor chemical reaction- probably something like what R. Cade said above.

 

Longer term, things like this could be an issue with sealed and new systems and games- how is one to know the conditions inside the box?

[CatPix]

Longer term, things like this could be an issue with sealed and new systems and games- how is one to know the conditions inside the box?

And this is where the beauty of the whole BS about sealed things come : IT DOES NOT MATTER!

Since sealed things are more and more likely to be kept sealed because they fetch more monies that unsealed items, then it doesn't matter one bit how everything goes inside the box - since the chances are that sealed items are going to stay sealed.

[+Random Terrain]

And this is where the beauty of the whole BS about sealed things come : IT DOES NOT MATTER!

Since sealed things are more and more likely to be kept sealed because they fetch more monies that unsealed items, then it doesn't matter one bit how everything goes inside the box - since the chances are that sealed items are going to stay sealed.

Related link:

 

google.com/search?q=Schrödinger's+cat+Wikipedia

[CatPix]

Do you imply there might be a dead cat in my sealed NES?

[nanochess]

There could be a whole universe inside your sealed NES

[CatPix]

There are whole universes in my unsealed NES when I stick games in it to play and explore those universes!

[carlsson]

If you're willing to put your sealed, boxed NES through X-ray, you might be able to detect if there is a dead cat inside.

[7800fan]

So if a sealed box rattles, it could be to melted styrofoam or some carefully resealed box full of used car parts?

[jhd]

Do you imply there might be a dead cat in my sealed NES?

 

Schrodinger's cat?

[CatPix]

 

Schrodinger's cat?

 

[HardZero]

If you're willing to put your sealed, boxed NES through X-ray, you might be able to detect if there is a dead cat inside.

But what if the dead cat has melted while inside the box and now is the shape of an NES?

[carlsson]

The options are endless! I'm sure somewhere, someone has invented a hard container that you can snap around a kitten so when it will grow, the body will take the shape of the container. If it works as intended, you could grow a NES-shaped cat, how cruel it ever might sound like.

[thadsilverfox]

Interesting topic. I picked up an old Sears Pong game that was inside the box. It had the melted marks on all four corners of the console where the RF cable was wrapped around it and could never figure out why that happened. I knew the RF cable melted it somehow but never knew it was because of a chemical reaction. Good stuff.

Edited April 14, 2016 by thadsilverfox

[CatPix]

Make me think I got a console with markes like that on the side. Since I got it loose, I never though it could have been the cable. I though about iron soldering, but this wasn't consistent with the rounded shape. Now I know what happened!

[Video]

Certain plastics don't like certain other plastics. I remember reading a long time ago it had somethig to do with it being oil based or chemical based, but not the reason.

 

Most plastic will take ages to interact with different plastic, but some will do it in a matter of just a few months, or possibley even faster. Though in the case of packing material made for consoles it's probably more on the lines of years, since they were produced to go together, and aren't really intended to be permanent resedents together, after all most people buy it to open and use it, and most throw the insert away, assuming they don't throw the whole package away.