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Post by jimmyhackers on Dec 7, 2018 7:31:35 GMT -5
the title kind of says it all......
sadly some of the rubber bung/stoppers (not sure what they are called) are no longer squishy and have turned hard/brittle....
is there a way to revive them?
i was thinking along the lines of either heat or solvents of some sort..........
i thought itd be best to ask the experts first before i have a go at it...
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Post by Snowflake on Dec 7, 2018 16:47:40 GMT -5
Oh no. I think you need to use a certain plasticizer, but it also might be too late
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Post by Maethius on Dec 10, 2018 16:53:32 GMT -5
I've run into this before, and just got a kit with supre fragile, crumbling caps. I'll throw my hat in the ring for an answer, too!
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Maiasa Liger
Corporal
Most active on Discord @ Maiasa Liger#0994
Posts: 114
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Post by Maiasa Liger on Dec 17, 2018 7:02:48 GMT -5
Okay so what I've discovered is that the deyellowing method I use can also help making caps softer again - see this post on Zoids Ignition (Google translate is your friend). I can confirm from my own experiments that it really does help quite a bit - but it can't reverse the damage completely, so you still need to handle the caps with care. Still, it's for certain my personal go-to method to treat dry, brittle rubber caps. |
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Post by Maethius on Dec 18, 2018 12:48:44 GMT -5
Thank you for this! I do wish there were a way to truly turn back the clock. The only kits I have received with "fragile cap syndrome" have come from Singapore.... is there something about the environment there that is destructive to soft plastics or rubber?
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Post by Snowflake on Dec 18, 2018 19:17:38 GMT -5
It's more likely a different plasticizer is used. Possibly even a different rubber material entirely
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Post by jimmyhackers on Aug 23, 2019 5:59:17 GMT -5
thats very interesting.....i cant find any of that product though in the UK.....is it just bleach?
just out of interest.....did you try anything after the wide hiter bleach....like the silicone or wintergreen oil?
its possible this could restore it further.
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Post by jimmyhackers on Aug 25, 2019 6:51:06 GMT -5
ive been doing my own experiments....
soaking in silicone spray desn't work..
a 1:5 mix of isopropyla alchahol to wintergreen oil, has most definately softened the rubber......but they peices have swollen. a 2 day soak was too much....i did a 12 hour soak and that was also too much.
its looks like after being out of the solution they are slowly shrinking after a few day but atm i cant recomend this method.
i will try only painting the inside of the bungs with it and see if can get some useable results.
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Post by Snowflake on Aug 25, 2019 13:55:35 GMT -5
Hehehehehe.. bung.
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Post by jimmyhackers on Aug 27, 2019 7:14:51 GMT -5
a few more days on.....and the bungs have shrunk to a useable size.....it would appear they have begun to get less soft but are still pliable. only time will tell if/how long they re-harden.
the ones i painted in the solution and left instead of soaking in it did soften but i could tell on their internals they were still hard....and potentially breakable.
another side effect is......they were bright green but the redness of the wintergreen oil has soaked in and made them a darker muckier green.
i have decided to soak all of my dibison bungs in solution......one of whcih disintergrated in my hands upon removal from the model, which shows just how hardened n brittle they were.
on removal from the solution.....one has a crack across its top but was still usable and another had a crack on top and down one side so its not usuabke...
out of 14 left on my dibison....one broke on removal...and two on restoration.
if you have spares......id say have a go. but if you dont, this method could ruin your model.
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Post by Maethius on Aug 27, 2019 13:27:55 GMT -5
Ouch... I think I'll keep looking for a solution.  |
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Post by jimmyhackers on Sept 1, 2019 12:33:09 GMT -5
i ordererd wintergreen oil.....rather than pure methyl salicylate, which is clear. im pretty sure this would address the decolouration issue.
i think the two that broke during the process were most likely already cracked beforehand but the softening process finished off the fractures.
its possible the extra stuff in the wintergreen oil hampered the softening process in other ways.
i dont have any more bungs left to test....ive ordered another dibsion from japan. maybe that will have some more hardened bungs to test.
i resoaked all the bungs in the solution for longer (48hours) they once again re-softened. no extra decolouration but the softness seems to be lasting longer. they also appeared to shrink down to their normal size quicker than before while retaining even more softness for longer.
from brittle/hard enough to turn to dust with a light squeeze, to going to being fully squishable again. its not bad.
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Post by Maethius on Sept 2, 2019 1:32:12 GMT -5
I've wondered lately about if it would be worth it so scan and print new caps for different kits, but I think the stresses placed on them would result in their eventual failure. Good luck with the next test!
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Post by Snowflake on Sept 3, 2019 19:36:30 GMT -5
as far as I know, 3D-printed objects are still made of a rather inflexible material
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Post by jimmyhackers on Sept 7, 2019 11:56:12 GMT -5
you can get 3d printable materials that are rubber/flexible. i think the name brand one is NINJAFLEX. ill see if one of my 3d printing friends can do some for me.
also.....the bungs rehardened eventually.....it appears they leach/sweat out the wintergreen over time.
i should of asked this a lot earlier but what are they actually called? ive been using the word bungs...what are they call them normally?
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