Snapping the plastics - a better way not to?

[LaPorta]

So, my father's Quadra 660 AV finally got so brittle that one tab of the case top cracked off. I managed to get the other off without snapping it by wedging a flat head screw driver in between the tabs and pushing the one from the bottom of the case in. You can still see the stress lines forming on the other tab though. I had a thought: why not just grind off the angles of the tabs on the bottom of the case? Sure, the case will never be totally secure, but how often are you flinging the machine around so that the case comes off? Has anyone done this before? It stinks that this occurs, but we all know it is Apple's fault.

I can only hope that someday @maceffects sets up a premier, world-renound operation that sees all plastics reproduced someday!

 

[David Goodson]

I'm trying to clean a machine with brittle plastic that I need to bend to clean the parts properly. I was wondering if there wasn't some kind of chemical you could put on it to strengthen it, even temporarily?

 

[joshc]

but we all know it is Apple's fault.

Yes and no. While the overall manufacturing quality of Apple products seemed to wane in the early-mid 90s, any plastic can become brittle with time, but especially the ABS plastics used by Apple. It also depends on storage/environmental factors - a lot of sun exposure for example can also contribute to it weakening more over time.

I would probably try to limit any further modification of the case at this point, if its that brittle who knows what else could crack, break or snap off...

I recently cracked the CD tray cover on a 6320 by just pushing it on one corner by accident - these are definitely at the age now where anything and everything is fragile.

that I need to bend to clean the parts properly

Try warming up the plastics a bit beforehand with a hairdryer, they might snap less easily if they are warm.

 

[LaPorta]

Not blaming Apple for plastic necessarily, but design. Having plastic clips instead of some sort of screw, or the mechanism that the Mac II used for example, probably wasn’t the greatest idea.

But yes, the quality wasn’t there. When was the last time you snapped off part of an Apple II or Mac Plus? In my experience, never...and those are nearly a decade plus older.