What's with the factory melted TG16 consoles?

[Arkhan]

Heh, this reminds me of a time when my friend decided to block out the light from his tabletop lamp by putting his PC Engine over the hole at the top. When he removed it later, all the plastic on the underside was melting like goo. Luckily the Engine still worked after that - when he sold it on, the shop wondered what the hell he had been doing to it.

wow.  I would have de-friended that one.

[blueraven]

I have seen several (at least 3 or 4) TG16 units on youtube and on Ebay that look like they have burned with a hot plate on the outer plastic. The first one I saw I just assumed some tg16 owner burned it by accident. Then I saw another one from someone different with burns in different places but the same style of burn. It must have happened at the factory but why would they still box them and sell them new like that?

If you don't know what I'm talking about then look at the 3rd picture of the BOTTOM of this turbo booster on ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Turbo-Grafx-16-Turbo-Booster-AV-Adapter-/200545184176?pt=Video_Games&hash=item2eb16ca9b0
I have never seen it on a turbo booster but usually on the top of a TG16 but the burns look exactly the same.
What's the story? Some hot tool at the factory being handled carelessly?? : Is there a story to this that anyone here knows about??

I bought an IFU from this seller three months ago, and there were burn marks from a soldering iron (that are now covered by the TG16). Definitely not a cigarette, it looks like a flat tip was dragged across about a 1-inch area. It was so inexpensive and sold as "broken" so I didn't care. $28 shipped. I plugged it in after building a power supply and it worked. The reversed ground probably threw him off. I watched it and it sat in his store for 2 months before I finally "splurged".

I had communication with him (eBay sellerid: pompeyparsons), and he was very polite and well spoken. The auction originally listed two IFU's but it was a listing mistake. After buying both he quickly refunded me the extra item and shipping costs when he realized that there was only one item in his inventory. It arrived priority mail a few days later and I was only charged $10 for $12 in shipping.

As far as follow-through as seller he's good in my book, and he combines shipping ($1 per item extra) so you can get the occasional deal. He had a syscard 1.0 for $10 and a decent US copy of Dragon Slayer awhile back ($25 or 30 complete with map)

As a member of the F@ck eBay club I won't comment on any of his other auctions.

[Jibbajaba]

I have seen several TG16's like that as well.  Hard to believe that they are all due to people being careless with soldering irons.

Chris

[Joe Redifer]

What I'd like to know is what is it about the TurboGrafx that would make so many careless people want to heat up a soldering iron around one.  I haven't seen a ton of modded ones.  I see more modded Genesises and NESes than Turbos.  Maybe a large shipment fell onto somebody's grill.

[SNKNostalgia]

My guess would be something like the RF ouputs in the TG-16 become loose. It has do with the plug being on the side of the system and the connector is more like to press against something it is next to. That is what happened to my original TG-16. It rarely looses connection, so it works great to this day. I may do the repair myself without the carelessness of burning plastic. I might as well sell it after this. I just use my modded out Duo for everything. I even have a new controller that replaced the old one that crapped out.

Just think about it this way though, chances are these people are burning their arms and hands if they're that careless.

[blueraven]

Just think about it this way though, chances are these people are burning their arms and hands if they're that careless.

Yeah, no doubt!

[GameFreak]

....And here is another one! Look at the pic of the bottom of the system. 
http://cgi.ebay.com/Turbo-Grafx-16-Video-Game-System-/170597368517?pt=Video_Games&hash=item27b86542c5

[blueraven]

That one is just a few scratches, the unit I received had a section that was literally warped/deformed from where someone was just plain careless.

[GameFreak]

And yet another one here. This one is actually pretty bad. Even one of the controllers not melted...wtf?  http://cgi.ebay.com/Turbo-Grafx-16-Turbo-Booster-Plus-2-Controllers-9-Ga-/280716020356?pt=Video_Games&hash=item415bfa8a84

There has to be some crazy story behind all this. This cant be from average repairs.

[DragonmasterDan]

And yet another one here. This one is actually pretty bad. Even one of the controllers not melted...wtf?  http://cgi.ebay.com/Turbo-Grafx-16-Turbo-Booster-Plus-2-Controllers-9-Ga-/280716020356?pt=Video_Games&hash=item415bfa8a84

There has to be some crazy story behind all this. This cant be from average repairs.

I suspect it has a lot to do with how the system was stored, perhaps the  plastic on the system holds up extremely poorly in high temperatures and gets scratched easily once the plastic has been damaged. Has anyone tested leaving the plastic to one outside in the heat or on top of a dryer?

[GameFreak]

And yet another one here. This one is actually pretty bad. Even one of the controllers not melted...wtf?  http://cgi.ebay.com/Turbo-Grafx-16-Turbo-Booster-Plus-2-Controllers-9-Ga-/280716020356?pt=Video_Games&hash=item415bfa8a84

There has to be some crazy story behind all this. This cant be from average repairs.

After looking at so many different pics of different tg16's, it is clearly from a solder gun being dragged around on it. But the real mystery is why are there dozens (or more) of tg16 consoles looking like this? 

[DragonmasterDan]

After looking at so many different pics of different tg16's, it is clearly from a solder gun being dragged around on it. But the real mystery is why are there dozens (or more) of tg16 consoles looking like this? 

That and the fact that it's on a controller lead me to believing it may be a defect in the plastic used.

[thesteve]

i have 3 TG16's.
the plastic is soft, and compresses easily (especially with heat)
i expect 1 of those was from a hot cup and must are from the systems  stored loose in a box/bag

[PunkicCyborg]

both of my tg-16s have melted lines over the bottom and i have an rf adapter that is covered in the same marks

[Keranu]

I recall someone on this board, or possibly elsewhere, describing once how a lamp melted the HuCard half of a Turbo Duo system, and continued to regularly play games on it afterward. I think it was Black_Tiger, but I'm not sure.