[Discraft] Fixing a warped Banger or other GT disc

[Micronaut]

Why/how would sunlight harm a glow disc? It does seem counter-intuitive, and I haven't heard this before.

Well, now you've got me. I don't know. In fact, what I said earlier may be simple bullsh*t. And, after 20 mins of google searching, I still don't know. One thing I do know is that I have some older (1-2 yrs) glow discs that don't glow any more. I must have thought that the phosphorescent powders that they use in glow plastic just wear out somehow.

I did learn something about the quantum mechanics behind phosphorescence ... all about forbidden energy state transitions, spin multiplicity, triplet states, and quantum yield ... ie., why discs glow and why some glow longer than others. However, I still don't know why mine stopped glowing and whether it has anything to do with light or not.

Yeah, I haven't even tried to research it like you have, but I am curious. I have a couple of other glow discs that just never glowed well even when they were brand new. But they were X-outs, so I kinda assumed that it was a bad batch of glow plastic. I once tried to nuke one of these in the microwave to see if it would charge it up extra well like it does for those chemical glow sticks. Unfortunately all it did was ruin my stamp. :\ No biggie though. In fact it actually looks kinda cool.

 

[Tiny]

Okay, anybody know why? I mean, it needs light to charge it up. Why would sunlight specifically be bad for it? And are any other types of light sources bad for it as well? I generally use the overhead fluorescent lamp in my kitchen to charge it. Any downside to that? opcorn:

Think of the glo in the plastic like rechargeable batteries. Even after charges they lose some power. And eventually they will be useless.

 

[Micronaut]

Think of the glo in the plastic like rechargeable batteries. Even after charges they lose some power. And eventually they will be useless.

Okay. Good analogy. But I don't think anyone would advise against charging rechargeable batteries. Sure they will eventually go bad, whether you charge them or not. But charging them is not the cause of this problem. I mean, we could get into various charging and discharging schemes, discuss memory effect, and how best to minimize it. But the bottom line is you have to charge them if you want to use them. Of course using an inappropriate charging source could damage a cell and cause premature failure, which could be analogous to the sun damaging glow discs. But even if that's true, which I think we've yet to establish, the question remains: Why? How does this happen? And I certainly don't know the answer to that.

 

[Micronaut]

Getting back to the original topic: After sitting under a stack of some 25 discs for 48 hours, one of the putters is close enough to original shape that I can't tell it's off unless I put it on a flat surface and check it for wobble. And it flies very true. The other one is being a bit more stubborn, and I can definitely perceive a deformation just by looking at it and handling it. The flight isn't bad, but I still want to improve it. I am thinking of stacking the discs, or another heavy object, back on it, and then heating its edges with a hair dryer. Has any one done anything similar? Does anyone have any thoughts about this approach, either pro or con? Thanks.opcorn:

 

[DeusRex]

Think of the glo in the plastic like rechargeable batteries. Even after charges they lose some power. And eventually they will be useless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphor#Phosphor_degradation

 

[Agricolae]

Getting back to the original topic: ...The other one is being a bit more stubborn, and I can definitely perceive a deformation just by looking at it and handling it. The flight isn't bad, but I still want to improve it. ...

How is the flight of the warped one different and what would "improvement" look like? Does it not fly like a Banger?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphor#Phosphor_degradation

Thanks!

 

[Micronaut]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphor#Phosphor_degradation

Great, now we need antioxidants for our discs too. Thanks for the link. :thmbup: That explains how and why it happens. And if I'm reading it right, and not missing anything, there is nothing specific to sunlight that would cause the glow plastic to degrade, but rather light in general will bring on this effect. Although sunlight might be more intense than other sources, so there's that. And I suppose that since sunlight spans a broader spectrum of frequencies, it may be more likely to produce this effect than some artificial light sources. This might make for some interesting follow up reading; to determine which artificial lighting source is most well suited for charging glow discs with the least amount of phosphorescence degradation. But I doubt I'll be able to justify the time for such research. I'd rather be playing disc golf.

How is the flight of the warped one different and what would "improvement" look like? Does it not fly like a Banger?

The warped banger has a greater tendency toward flutter. Improvement would be less tendency to flutter.

 

[DeusRex]

Maybe this would be a better link to describe the long term effects of sunlight on the glow discs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_burn-in

 

[denglish]

have you tried to maybe just put hot water in the center of the disc and not over the GT? not sure if this would be enough water to help but it may be worth a shot.

 

[Micronaut]

Maybe this would be a better link to describe the long term effects of sunlight on the glow discs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_burn-in

Maybe I'm missing some key detail, but I thought the other link was more relevant to glow discs.

 

[Micronaut]

have you tried to maybe just put hot water in the center of the disc and not over the GT? not sure if this would be enough water to help but it may be worth a shot.

I have not tried that. I imagine that if it were a case of warped a flight plate only, then perhaps this could help; at least a little. But in my case the rim is also deformed, so I don't think that this would help. Al least not with with the rim deformation aspect. Maybe if I get the rim back into shape, and find that the flight plate is still wonky, then perhaps your suggestion might help. Thanks.