I got rid of my vintage 1995 Sanyo TV because the plastic case was so brittle it didn't seem capable of safely supporting the weight of the CRT, but the plastic of my 1976 TV seems fine. Both cases were made of fire retardant ABS, but why was it so much more brittle in the newer TV?
There was a large batch of TVs from that era with plastic that deteriorates with age. Most common were Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi. I recall a few Panasonics doing the same thing. Years ago, I remember two guys hauling in a 36 inch Sony into the shop with the TV literally coming apart in their hands. By the time they put it on the floor, it looked like a dropped egg.
Any plastic is a combination of materials. One of the materials is a plasticizer, which provides flexibility in the finished product. Plasticizers tend to be somewhat volatile, evaporating slowly with time. Depending on the exact compound, it may take months, years, or decades before the loss of flexibility becomes a problem. Of course, there are ongoing efforts to find plasticizers which are cheaer to make and last longer.
Most manufacturers run artificial aging tests to prevent problems like this, but even those rarely can do better than 10 to 1 (one years test = ten years of normal use). Few manufacturers are willing to hold a new product off the market for more than a year of testing.
PlainBill
I had a 27" Hitachi in an entertainment center in the bedroom until last month. It still works great, just one repair since I got it in 1995. Wanted to replace it w/hdtv 26" LCD, so scooted it around 90 degrees, unhooked all the cables, turned it back around, wrapped my arms around it, picked it up, and the back shattered into pieces! I wasn't hurt, but the TV was turned into junk. BEWARE!
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