of Fungus and Foam

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Ronny Svedman writes ...

 .... 

>>     As you may recall, a number of the classier 5.25" diskette brands
>> employed (still employ?) a lubricant on their jacket liners. While
>> the lube worked to reduce drag and noise, it also, evidently, served
>> as a growth medium for a particularly nasty plastic and/or
>> oxide-eating fungus!
>>
>>     It's probably a good idea to check each of your old diskettes.
>> Immediately backup any diskettes with splotchy discolorations.
> 
> -- snap---
> 
> i'd like to add the following line:
> 
> ", and then clean your reading diskdrive. The fungus is contagious." ;-)
> 
> -- snoot --
> 
> ----------------------
> 
> Actually, the mold could attack the little felt puff that pressesthe
> floppy surface against the r/w head, and from there spread to other
> disks.
> 
 ....

> Come to think of it: a biological computer virus is kind of a scary
> perspective!, maybe that line should be left out after all, so as to not
> worrying people ?


     The notion that the etching on some old diskette surfaces relates
to a fungus (or mold) growing in liner lubricant seems to make sense;
but, as far as I know, it is an inference rather than a known fact.

     One problem with suggesting that a user disinfect the head and
pressure pad of any drive which accesses a splotched diskette is that
the process would be quite a lot of bother for, perhaps, no benefit.
Even if the fungus exists, it does not seem to bother non-lubricated
diskettes and it seems likely that most susceptible diskettes have
already been splotched.


     Besides, there's something better (worse) to worry about.

     All sorts of computer (stereo, etc.) equipment contains plastic
foam. It is used to muffle sound in printers and disk drives, protect
portable instruments and photographic equipment in cases, line speaker
cabinets, ..., and even as the spring element in some switches. It is,
also, used as the tread material for the cylinders which turn and move
the printer ribbon in ImageWriter II color ribbon cassettes.

     All plastic foams are not alike. Some foam seems destined to 'last
forever'. Some is falling apart!

     I recently decided to do some color printing on our IW2. The
project did not get far because every color ribbon tried got through
just half a page-- the ribbon wasn't moving. Opening the cassettes
revealed a mess-- one of the cylinders had lost its tread, pieces of
which were mixed in with the ribbon.

     The white foam on both cylinders is, simply, disintegrating. As bad
as this is, it is not the worst that can happen. Some foam-- almost
always black or grey in color-- turns to a sticky goo.

     Next time you open a printer, drive, speaker, or some other
equipment with foam lining, press on the foam. If your finger leaves a
dent or the foam feels sticky or the foam crumbles, it's a good idea to
remove as much of it as you can.

     If you have any meters, cameras, etc. in foam-lined cases, you may
want to check the foam. You could save yourself a really messy cleaning
task later on.



Rubywand