Thanks for the suggestions. I am a bit aware of aging plastics exuding their plasticizers, shrinking and stiffening up. Armor All does work, especially at warmer temperatures, but I have had a few instances where it caused plastics to become quite rigid and even brittle over time. That was on sheet vinyl? without fabric backing. As for mineral oil, with and without heat, I have never had any really good- or bad- results from using it on vinyl coated fabric. It did not stretch, and returned to it's original pliability once it cooled. I might try silicone oil , one side effect is it will likely make the surface very slippery. One idea I have not yet tried is to cover the scope with cardboard to enlarge it a bit and try using a blow dryer to soften and stretch the cover over it, with hopes when it cools it will retain the larger dimension to some degree. Not only do I have the covers for the big scopes, there are smaller ones for handheld "2XX" series scope that need some stretching as well.
?? Bruce Gentry, KA2IVY
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On 12/14/24 12:12, ed breya wrote:
You may want to first try some kind of solution of polyvinyl alcohol to make the material more supple. That should be low-risk and you can probably wash it off if it doesn't help.
Next up maybe white mineral oil which is clear and odorless. I suspect that hydrocarbon oils may be too much for it and weaken the material (the vinyl bond to the base fabric), so this should be tested first before regular use. There are also silicone oils that should help, and be relatively inert, so study those too.
Commercial products like Armorall may work but I've never used or trusted them so don't know. I've heard long ago that they may deteriorate car interior materials but that could just be urban legend.
Experiment with the item in worst condition and see if anything seems to work. Good luck.
Ed
