Melting legos chemically.

[gooberliberation]

I've dug some assorted lego elements out of a long niglected toybin and found a few bricks melted and/or distorted on the surface as if model cement was spilled on them. I'm pretty sure i havent spilled any cohesives on them...

I've seen styrene melt in contact with old rubber bands, so im wondering...

Are there any common materials(especially ones found in toys) that melt ABS on contact?

[evil meister]

Maybe window cleaner.
Or they could be eroding as they rub against each other.
Or heat.

[LusiferSam]

What kind of other toys did you have in this toy bin? And for how long? I can't think of anything off hand that would damage a brick like model cement, other than model cement. In old toys where the plastic is breaking down stuff (I have no clue what it is) comes to the surface. Maybe the ABS is sucking that junk up and causing it to melt.

[Duke_Dave]

never tried it on LEGO but I know that model cement melts the two serfaces together. So it might melt lego I don't know.

Dave

[fcarcanague]

Model glue and SuperGlue will "melt" bond ABS. I have many pieces in the damaged but maybe fixable bin. In the same bin there some bricks that have had rubberbands on them for a looong time and there is obvious surface bonding between the rubber and the ABS. Most like caused from a break down of the rubber. There are several other chemicals that can destroy ABS, most of which have been banned for some reason or another.

Fred