On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 09:29:42 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 02:21:50 -0500, micky
wrote:

However, about 4% of my cords, my spare radio and tv knobs,
and the handles of my tools get a think layer of some sort of mold on
them. It's like a grey dust. (Or some other light color, I forget.)

It's not mold. It appears to be mold, but if you look carefully, it
doesn't "grow" in a radial pattern, as you would expect real mold to
grow. I've put the dust under a microscope to be sure. It's plastic
dust. Hit is with some heat, and watch it melt. I get this plastic
"mold" on most of my cheap plastic handle tools. The plastic breaks
down along the surface and sorta crumbles. It's probably caused by
exposure to something in the air, which condenses onto the surface
when wet. Washing the stuff off with any kind of kitchen cleaner
works, for a while.
(...)

The white rot is plastic, not mold. So it is written, so it must be.

I scraped some of the white stuff from the plastic handle and put it
under a x100 microscope.
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/white-plastic-rot/
Not the best photos but I'll try again after yet another Friday night
customer crisis. The photos show absolutely no structure, self
simularity, or colonies characteristic of mold.
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=mold
I also heated some of the white stuff on a microscope slide. It
melted like plastic (burning my fingers in the process). The white
stuff also disolved nicely in acetone.

Drivel: Besides the Mercedes fuel pump, todays repairs were a
Bernzomatic trigger start propane torch (cold flow PTFE igniter wire),
an iPhone 4 with a non-functional standby push button (I gave up), yet
another HP LaserJet 4250 printer with sticky relays (replace felt
pad), and helped mount the landlords bicycle rack on his SUV.
Sometimes, I wonder what business I'm in.


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558