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Talking about Cyber Leads and Polystyrene

NFGx

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Like most of the Cyber Lead cabs out there, mine's a lovely brown colour not entirely unlike its original purple, and what was once white is now a consistent yellow hue. So I'm going to try and restore it to its glory.

I'm not the first and I won't be the last, but I thought I'd share what I learned yesterday while talking to a local plastics expert. I asked for advice on restoring the polystyrene panels, and what my options were, 'cause I don't know what I don't know. Probably a lot of this is already known, but in case it's not, here's we discussed.

He said that there's no restoring polystyrene. Unlike rubber, which can be restored to its rubbery state (we used to do this to printer platens back in the dot matrix days) polystyrene will either decay, or not, but it can't be un-decayed. At 30 years of age the Cyber Lead side panels will be expressing all the butadiene rubber that's used as a copolymer to make the polystyrene less fragile, and that's why they're turning brown. Like an elastic band, the rubber breaks down. I told him that the theory in the console world was that it was anti-flame iodine rising to the surface, like in a Super Nintendo, and he thought that was an interesting but incorrect theory.

He said that the panels will be fairly porous after thirty years, at least on the surface, and should readily take a coat of paint without much preparation. Water based is good, solvent based will probably melt the polystyrene in a hurry, so test that before going all in. The paint will prevent UV light from hitting the panels and making the degradation worse, but the process can be slowed or stopped, not reversed.

And UV, he said, was the enemy of these things. Any amount of sunlight will speed up the polystyrene breakdown process. Paint will block the light fairly well, but still, keep them out of the sun as a rule.

For repair, any similar plastic, like ABS, will do as a patch, and non-solvent-based fillers like automobile filler will fill gaps nicely. For glue, your standard superglue (cyanoacrylate) is the stuff to use.

And finally, he said that his company can make replacement panels if that's absolutely necessary, but that you wouldn't see much change from $2k AUD for two, and depending on what they find when getting into it, it may cost more than that.

So yeah, I'll be repairing and painting mine before I try making new ones. ^__^
 
Out of curiosity, what had you determine they're polystyrene? The sides feel almost identical to 70s PET toys.

2k seems wildly cheap to make molds that large and run just two through a rotomolding machine.
 
They're marked internally with >PS< which is a pretty good clue, as such things go. =)

And yeah, he said they'd be expensive and I was ready for the worst, but when he said the total price, I thought it wasn't at all bad. I may look into this in more detail.
 
Good research @NFGx. My suspicion is that a lot of these cabs were busted early on in their life. That top rear area would have been banged up against many walls. Like a PS CD cover - they are fairly strong until a certain limit when they smash. In my experience painting mine I was also worried about using solvent based paints - but I used a plastic adhesive first (I think solvent based as well) but it evaporates so fast it didn’t cause me any issues. I guess I’ll find out if the process weakened the shell in due course, but it’s okay ATM. Where I settled in the end was not going for auto paint style perfection - as it was just too expensive to outsource. If I had my time again I’d probably not worry about trying to get the eggshell texture on the panels like the original moulded finish and just go gloss. I used gloss paint but sprayed from a higher position to create some texture. Keep up the reports. I’m following.
 
I guess I’ll find out if the process weakened the shell in due course, but it’s okay ATM.

My understanding of this suggests that the paint will immediately soften the panels, and they'll solidify as the solvent evaporates. If you didn't make it melty when you did it, you probably didn't do any damage.
 
I have had an idea about just getting 3d models made for the sides and just getting them CNC cut out of wood or some other materials lol painting it and calling it a day. This would be like in a worst case scenario of damage. It would be way cheaper than custom low volume molded plastic replacements.
 
I have had an idea about just getting 3d models made for the sides and just getting them CNC cut out of wood or some other materials lol painting it and calling it a day. This would be like in a worst case scenario of damage. It would be way cheaper than custom low volume molded plastic replacements.
I get the impression that the guys who said they could duplicate these panels would 3D scan it and probably carve it rather than vacuum-mould two halves and glue 'em together like the original. The cost, at least for them, was less in the actual manufacturing, and more in the labour of scanning and verifying all the measurements.

So yeah doing it in wood as a hobbyist is more time than money, you're absolutely correct. To get someone to do it professionally, wood or PS or whatever, is gonna be expensive 'cause of the time, not material.

I really want to get them to give me a proper quote, who's in for a group buy? ;)
 
my cyber lead only has like 4000 plays on it (according to the coin counter for w/e thats actually worth lol) and its super minty if you need a paint sample. My control panels purple seems to be unfaded
 
my cyber lead only has like 4000 plays on it (according to the coin counter for w/e thats actually worth lol) and its super minty if you need a paint sample. My control panels purple seems to be unfaded
Thanks! I figured I'd use one of the plastic caps that cover the bolts on the side panel or the inside of the control panel where the light never did its work. If those don't work out, we might revisit this. 👍
 
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