Hi Robert
Late but better than never, so thanks.
I am now using velvet for sealing the doors - it works well, and cutting
up an old mousepad for the mirror area seal. Works great.
At 16:07 5/27/01 +0200, you wrote:
>I am sorry to be coming back to this so late but I just returned from a
>trip abroad and only found the postings on this topic yesterday.
>
>Fist of all, I will let out some venom for the makers of cameras who put
>this polyurethane foam in their products. This stuff is predestined to
>turn to paste, damaging the camera in the process. Considering the price
>of a quality camera and the fact that a good camera SHOULD last for many
>decades, the manufacturers ought to be forced to repair the damage without
>cost to the owner of the camera. This foam is like a time bomb in the
>machine.
>
>It makes no difference what I think, a lot of you have cameras with this
>paste in them and need a fix. As has been suggested, felt is something to
>think about, but there are a couple other materials offering a lot of hope.
> One is soft leather, like chamois. Generally this will be a little thin
>if used as a single layer and multiple layers will not be as soft as PU
>foam; however, consider forming a tube with the seam of the tube glued
>down, away from the side getting slapped by whatever is falling on the
>tube. You might even put a bit of something in the tube (see below!).
>Unfortunately leather also does not offer an infinite lifetime and in time
>it will get brittle and fail, but the mess will be easier to cleam up than
>what you have when the PU foam reaches the end of its life.
>
>There is a better longterm outlook for silicone foam (Sounds somewhat like
>"silly cone", and not to be confused with "silicon", which many persons do,
>because silicon is a hard element which is brittle and quite useless for
>this task.) Look for this foam at your DIY shop. I have bought it as a
>seal for doors and windows. The most convenient form is a long strip
>about 50 mm wide to be used at the bottom of the door. This is 2 to 3 mm
>thick and is fastened to the door to keep air from leaking under the door.
>Its flexibility lets it follow the variation of the floor as the door moves
>over the floor. There are other shapes offered. Some seal the door
>around the edge when it is closed. Others are intended for sealing
>windows. In fact, in a few cases, these other shapes may be better than the
>flat strip.
>
>My experience is that samples of this foam are in perfect condition after
>20 years. The foam has a smooth outer surface with pores inside. This can
>be useful in applications in which something slides over the foam. The
>foam would last longer when the pores are not exposed. You can shave the
>smooth surface away in cases where it does more harm than good. The real
>problem might be in finding this material. I suggest anyone who locates a
>source should tell us the brand and source of supply. (I bought mine
>decades ago and treat it like a treasure. Furthermore, I buy in a market
>to which most of you have little access, and I have little access to yours
>so I do not know what you can buy. Sorry!) Another problem is that I have
>only brown and white. Black would be nice if it can be found. Silicone
>will absorb some solutions and might let in dye, but will such treatment
>shorten the life? I have no idea, but brown is probably not all that bad
>for absorbing light, and better a tight brown seal than a leaky black one
>or one with a short future.
>
>Good luck.
>
>
>
>Dr. Robert Mueller
>Institut f�r Festk�rperforschung, FZ-Juelich
>D-52425 Juelich, Germany
>phone: + 49 2461 61 4550 FAX: + 49 2461 61 2610
>email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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