I suspect that airborne pollutants are a large factor in foam deterioration. We
run into the same thing with bicycle tires, some customers have tires that last
for years, others have tires that dry rot in no less than a couple of seasons.
For my own use, I have replaced the foam on all my original OMs and gone to
replacing the foam in any used camera I buy unless I know it has been done
recently. The foam is inexpensive, and the work is relatively easy (although
cleaning the old out can be tedious.)
Jim Couch
clintonr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> There have to be a number of factors that would affect deterioration of the
> foam -- heat probably, moisture perhaps, maybe sunlight or even dust/dust
> mites for that matter! (For all I know there's someone on the oly-list with
> a doctorate in "foam-ology" that can tell us!) I've seen cameras that are
> 30 years old with foam that's in great shape, and cameras that are less than
> 10 years old that the foam has turned to mush.
>
> Our test for years has been to drag a tool across the foam at the top,
> bottom and side of the back, all three -- sometimes only a portion of the
> foam shows evidence of failure (a fancy way to say, "it's turning to
> mush"!), so we check it all. And if _any_ portion looks bad, we replace it
> all. How long does it take for foam to go from "good" to "bad"? Beats me!
>
> Pete Prunskunas wrote:
>
> > > Many problems can occur _just_because_ a camera sits idle for
> > > an extended period. I've seen cameras come back that I worked
> > > on two or three years ago that the foam was fine then, but mush now
> >
> > Mushy foam in three years! How could that happen so soon? Would
> > the owner have had to leave the camera in a hot, stuffy closet for years
> > without exercise?
> >
> > Pete
> >
> > < This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
> > < For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
> > < Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
>
> < This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
> < For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
> < Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|