Re: [NTLK] Stiff keys on keyboard

I doubt that the drying out has to do with water. All plastics (even
the stiff ones) have softeners in them. The softening agents are
usually some highly toxic, volatile substance that gives new plastic
that lovely "new" smell. As those softening agents dry out, the
plastic either gets stiff (like soft, silicone styles) or just
crumbles away like powder. The best example is a car dashboard that
has been exposed to the sun for a number of years: the soft stuff
(fake leather) gets stiff & brittle, and the hard stuff (fake wood)
turns powdery & crumbles...

On 29. Mar, 2006, at 9:43, Sonny Hung wrote:

> Have you ever seem an example of the membrane material that's (New but
> old stock or just plain Old) dried up? I use to open up everything and
> I'd find that items with these membrane sheets in them sometime had
> started to dry-out or were really dried out and would crack.
>
> I can't say for sure about the ones in the Newton Keyboard, but from
> my recollection when I purchased and used one (NEW) back in 1998 they
> were a lot softer to the touch then they are now. I...

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