First I’ve heard of this, glad Valve does such a good job with warranty coverage.
cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/17241840
This is something of a reoccurring problem with translucent plastics.
AND they like to yellow at the speed of light. My brother got a nice, transparent cover for his phone “it’s going to look awful in a few months” and sure enough a few months later he had a different one precisely because of that.
I don’t think yellowing is inherently an issue with translucent plastics, perhaps only certain types. At this moment I can look around my room and there are at least a dozen translucent plastic items, some of which are at least 10 - 20 years old, and none have any discernible yellowing to them.
You know, upon further reflection you’re right. I can see some mini dv cassettes that look like they are just off the factory floors, countered by the cover of my old iPhone 5 that’s sewage colored so that’s probably what comes after yellow, my old G-Shock is yellowing and that’s impressive given it’s dark gray, but the box for the Swatch Beat is crystal clear.
I’ve given up concerning myself with what others think and went with a coral (pink) phone this go-around. While this probably won’t pertain to your bro, it nicely sidesteps the issue.
Yep, he’s an architect and the choice of nice and transparent cover was purely cosmetic. I don’t think he really cares what other people think, but going from nice to yellowed is another matter.
I have a similar attitude towards colors as you do: if there’s one that costs less, I’m going for it. Once found a gimbal that somehow was half the price in the pink variant: I now have a conversation starter that when folded, thanks to the gentle pink hue and the overall shape, looks like a dildo. The really, really amusing thing in all of this is that my computer is fully white. The case was slightly less expensive in white. The psu was on offer in the white variant. Towards the end of the gpu shortage one of the few available, the least expensive one, was white… it sits under the desk, with the glass panel towards the wall. XD
My suspicion is that it is potentially a result of thinner shells. You look at something like Game Boy Color or Nintendo 64, and those things have quite thick shells with plenty of empty space inside, mitigating any potential structural loss due to transparency additives (ABS is not naturally transparent). Newer devices have thinner shells to reduce weight and maximize space for components, potentially leading to problems like this when using translucent plastic.
It’s a problem with all plastics. Holes are stress concentrations. With the plastic flowing around it, two plastic “fronts” meet in the middle and need to meld into one piece. That spot is usually around 70 -80% strength in there. Add in the stress riser I mentioned earlier, and cracking happens. Same thing on sharp angles.
