What substance in the SNES's plastic causes it to go yellow?

I always wondered this. Most plastics that game consoles are made out of don't turn yellow over time like the SNES does. Interesting enough, it seems that keeping it out of sunlight keeps it from going yellow. For example, we have a few SNES' at work in the back that are kept in the dark, and they never seem go yellow.

Also, is it just the SNES that goes yellow? Does the Super Famicom also go yellow overtime?

 

So basically, it was a cheap plastic that Nintendo of America used that broke down much quicker then other plastics?

 

i had a snes for along time and never got yellow, you biyatches dont know how to take care of stuff, thats all there is to it.

 

It's not Nintendo's fault, most beige plastics will yellow that includes Super Famicoms and PAL SNES too. The solution: keep your valuables in a a very dry place (important, some plastics yellow in damp environments), don't expose to humidity, don't expose to too much direct sunlight, store in some new bubblewrap or something sterile. Lots of people try all sorts of crazy topical solutions which will probably just end up staining your system, unless you couldn't give a flying fuck, then I'd probably try bleaching it.

 

I've heard that there was a flame retardant used in some of the SNES shells that causes it to go yellow.

 

I sold my Super Famicom last year which I had stored in the attick for 6 years. It haddn't yellowed at all. Before that it was kept in my bedroom next to the TV. I guess the sun never reall hit it though since I kept my bedroom curtains closed most of the time. So I guess that Sunlight is the biggest factor in turning a SNES/SFC yellow. I've seen one or two Dreamcasts and white saturns that look an odd colour too.

Yakumo

 

My SNes was also kept in a sun free environment, and NEVER EVER yellowed until late 2003, early 2004. I was almost done with college, and I started taking less classes per semester (so I could work, and because there weren't classes available), so I had time to play a lot. It wasn't yellow per sé, but it wasnt' fully white when I brought it out of the box to use it after a couple of years.

Today, the bottom half ot the machine looks yellow, like a very old, very used denture.
It's not the sun, it's the humidity of the air, methinks. Either way, It's also a piece of hardware bought in 1992, so I guess it's gotta have some yellowing, because that's just the way life works and stuff.

 

Who knows.
I can tell you that i have an old Macintosh computer that has really yellowed over the years. It's not a matter of not taking care of it ( believe me, I treat my items with the utmost care and don't smoke either), it's just something with the older white/beige plastics that happens over time.

 

Oddly, the bottom half of my PAL Super NES, and the front panel which has the power LED and the Super NES logo printed onto it, have not yellowed at all.

The two 'strips' down the side of the top part, however, look like they have been left in a smoke room for several years.

Evidently, Nintendo used several different types of plastics to make the Super NES' casing.

I have always taken care of it, like all my belongings. I would consider myself very fussy when it comes to things like that, so it's not about looking after stuff.

Plastics and rubbers do indeed break down over time, there's not a lot you can really do about it. Some types have even been known to secrete sticky oils!

 

Here you go, just a few basics to help you guys understand the basic issue's...

Most commercial plastics are manufactured by processes involving chain polymerization, polyaddition, or polycondensation reactions.

....These processes are generally controlled to produce individual polymer molecules with defined:

>molecular weight (or molecular weight distribution), degree of branching and composition.

Once the initial product of these processes is exposed to further shear stress, heat, light, air, water, radiation or mechanical loading, chemical reactions start in the polymer which have the net result of changing the chemical composition and the molecular weight of the polymer.

These reactions, in turn, lead to a change in the physical and optical properties of the polymer.

In practice, any change of the polymer properties relative to the initial, desirable properties is called degradation.

...In this sense, "degradation" is a generic term for any number of reactions which are possible in a polymer.

Photoxidation of many polymers is often base 'compared' with natural rubber as a 'known' benchmark.

The important aspect of this 'comparison' is that once oxidation starts, and it always will, it sets off a circular chain reaction which accelerates degradation unless stabilizers are used to interrupt the oxidation cycle.

Exposure to sunlight and some artificial lights can have adverse effects on the useful life of plastic products.

...UV radiation can break down the chemical bonds in a polymer. This process is called photodegradation and ultimately causes cracking, chalking, color changes and the loss of physical properties

Photodegradation, once started, essentially follows the same scheme as shown above. Since photodegradation generally involves sunlight, thermal oxidation takes place in parallel with photooxidation.

Photodegradation differs from thermal oxidation in that it can be started by absorption of UV light.

...Most pure polymers are theoretically incapable of absorbing UV light directly. Trace amounts of other compounds within the polymer, such as degradation products or catalyst residues, can however absorb UV. For this reason, effective thermal and processing stabilization is a prerequisite for effective long-term light stabilization.

To summarise:

>Basically avoid strong light of any kind.

>Avoid extreme's of temperature change.

>Keep the item clean.

Hope this helps

 

I think it does depend on the quality of the plastics. I have a 9-year-old Dell PC, and the cream front bezel has barely yellowed. And the computer lab it used to be in in college gets a lot of sunlight, flourescent lights which are pretty much permanently on, and it does get pretty hot in there with about 60 PCs - it's one of the only places in my univeristy with air conditioning but they don't know how to set the bloody things properly! It's either too hot or fucking freezing in there!

However I have a cheap-ass Generic Inudstries (or something lame like that) CD-ROM drive that I used for about 3 years, and that's yellow as hell!

I've seen it happen a lot with SFCs and PAL SNESes too, and like idc said, often only with certain parts. And I've never seen a BBC Micro that wasn't yellow, except for in promotional pictures and old ads and stuff.

 

My Gateway 2000's (1996) bezel only yellowed after being boxed and put in my damp basement.

 

My SuperNES was always kept in the dark as I had it set up at a desk under our stairs. I kept it clean, so in this case I can only assume that it was the temperature.

I think that it is very hard to prevent certain plastics from yellowing, unless you can seal your items in a pitch-black, vacuum environment.

 

It is very difficult to prevent some plastics from going yellow.

...This is mainly down to the type of catalyst / process used / applied.

Cheap catalyst / poor processing = more susceptable to going yellow over time, even under acute 'wrong-side failure' conditions.

 

Bringing this topic alive again, I'm getting ths kind of problem with my Dreamcast stuff.
I *never* had any problem with plastic turning yellow, but in less then 6 months some VMUs/Pads/Puru Puru and even the console itself are now yellow. Nothing changed in the way I store them, the only thing I changed on my room is from a ordinary incandescent light bulb to a fluorescent lamp, could this be the problem? (I really doubt, but...).

Something funny about the puru puru pack: the plastic part connected to the DC pad is still totally white, while the other "exposed" part is yellow.

Acetone can be used to clean them, but it will "flay" the plastic, not a very good solution.

 

I've seen very ugly yellowed dreamcast controllers, and somewhat yellowed machines in the black market here, but then again, black market conditions are awful.

Mine has not been at all stored, since being bought. There's not a lot of light in my rooms, as I'm very sensitive to it - so that could be a factor. Do you live close to the sea? It could also be something atmospheric.

 

My grandma's SNES (Yes Grandma, 78 and a SuperMario Fan at that) was given to her by my old roomates g/f for her bday and it looks fine except the two plastic peices in the middle which are yellow as hell. System still runs great though. Never had any other of my systems go yellow. I have only really seen SNES consoles yellow.

 

Yeah, my Dreamcast has yellowed some, too. Not nearly as bad as many SNESes you see at flea marfkets and such. In fact, I didn't really even notice it until I bought a second Dreamcast a couple years ago and saw them side-by-side. I lived just a couple blocks from the ocean, so if that could have anything to do with it, maybe it does. I tend to blame light, though. Damn you, Sun!!!

My DC has also developed a chronic resetting problem which I have "fixed" a number of times (reseating the AC adapter board and cleaning the contacts), but it always comes back. I love you, dear Dreamcast, don't die on me.


...word is bondage...

 

Hehehe, this is one funny post.

I have both a SNES & a PAL SNES for years which have not changed any colors.