Aging of Lexan rims?

[StefanHaller]

When I recently got my new Lexan rim from Doug, I saw that it is noticeably smoother than the old one that I had been playing for a bit more than two and a half years now. It's not a huge difference, and I wouldn't call the old one porous or anything, but you can tell the difference, at least side by side.

Is it normal for Lexan rims to age like this? Do they have to be replaced after so-and-so many years?

Or should I have taken better care of it, somehow? I always wash the mouthpiece with water after playing, but that's pretty much all I do to it. Anything else I should do?

[Doug Elliott]

I'm getting a better surface finish than I used to. Send the old one back and I'll refinish it. Just pay for shipping.

[ZacharyThornton]

I'm getting a better surface finish than I used to. Send the old one back and I'll refinish it. Just pay for shipping.

You are just the best sir.

[StefanHaller]

I'm getting a better surface finish than I used to. Send the old one back and I'll refinish it. Just pay for shipping.

Awesome, ok. Thanks for the offer, but I don't need the old rim any more, I'm more than happy with the new one. Just wanted to make sure that the new one doesn't get worse over time because I'm not treating it right. Sounds like I don't have to worry about that.

Or do you have any tips for maintenance beyond cleaning it with water?

[Doug Elliott]

I don't think it needs any special care.

If you drop the mouthpiece, the rim may get an internal crack, but they just stay like that and it doesn't get any worse. I've never seen one actually break.

[BGuttman]

i'm not sure about Lexan, but some polymers don't like a lot of thermal shocks. So leaving it in you car in the winter is probably not a good idea, nor is repeatedly boiling it to sterilize.

Doug's rims do tend to accumulate a lot of biomass if you don't clean them regularly.

[Doug Elliott]

Lexan is very tolerant of extreme temperatures, I wouldn't worry about that at all.

[ghmerrill]

I quite harshly managed to bounce a Kelly mouthpiece off a solid slate floor some years ago and it seemed to be totally unaffected by the experience.

[greenbean]

I have a DE lexan rim that is cracked in two places. But is still holding together and plays well. The rim surface is a bit rough, but I am concerned about what might be growing in the cracks. So, I never use it...

[Posaunus]

i'm not sure about Lexan, but some polymers don't like a lot of thermal shocks. So leaving it in you car in the winter is probably not a good idea, nor is repeatedly boiling it to sterilize.

Lexan (polycarbonate) should be fine from below freezing to boiling.
Just don't expose it to acetone or fluorinated solvents. (Very dramatic failure mode.)

[ghmerrill]

That comment reminds me of the time that (for some reason I can't recall) my wife decided to clean her contact lens with denatured alcohol. "Hey, where did my lens go?"