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Author Topic: Dyson ball plastic  (Read 2968 times)

Offline Dyson4u

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Dyson ball plastic
« on: June 09, 2022, 07:12:25 am »
What plastic do the Dyson ball use? I've heard it's much stronger than the older models.

Offline Dingus64

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Re: Dyson ball plastic
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2022, 01:29:15 pm »
Every vacuum uses a pretty diverse mix of polymers. The new Balls all seem to have ABS/PC alloy used for general frame parts, and PBT used for the high impact cosmetic elements like the Big Ball wheels. For non-cosmetic high impact, you'll see some selective use of PA6 and PA66, which can either be rock hard glass reinforced stuff as in bearing blocks, or almost rubberlike as seen in hose ends.

The brittle plastic used on older Dysons was unmodified ABS. It comes off the press tough and flexible, but ages rapidly from UV and ozone exposure which is why they shatter so much. PC is inherently brittle, but doesn't age as badly, which is why you see a more random distribution of failures in transparent parts like bins.

Offline macman

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Re: Dyson ball plastic
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2022, 03:07:42 pm »
I suspect that any increase in rigidity of the current plastics has been cancelled out by the use of thinner, lower weight materials.
Up until about the DC25 era, Dysons were heavy but durable. From the DC40 onwards, they designed weight out, and as a result, both the chassis and the bolt/clip-on components seem very much flimsier now.
This change seemed to also be at about the same time that production moved to Malaysia, when I guess much of the tooling was replaced?

Offline Dingus64

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Re: Dyson ball plastic
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2022, 01:49:04 am »
It's also possible they left resin sourcing to the factories, so they might have gone from using a trusted European supplier to discount Chinese resins, but given Dyson's obsession with control over tooling, I think it's more likely that the badness of the DC40 and DC50 may have been growing pains while they moved to remote production.

Of course, given the number of shattered V11s and V15s I see on eBay, with cracks in the same places as old DC14s, I'm not hopeful.

Polymer parts can be stronger, lighter and tougher than steel in the same application, but it's rare that they actually are. If Dyson wanted to make vacuums to take a beating, we'd see frames made out of glass nylon or epoxy, and shielding made out of polypropylene. We don't see that, because tough polymers tend to be ugly, expensive, and hard to process, and they don't drive obsolescence sales. ABS and PC are fast, cheap, hold a mirror finish or glasslike clarity (respectively) and last a minimum of 5 years before showing oxidation damage. Sometimes, engineering is about bringing your performance limits down to match your warranty, rather than the other way around.

Offline matrixresonator

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Re: Dyson ball plastic
« Reply #4 on: June 14, 2022, 07:57:14 am »
Yeah the old ones really did shatter, we used to play a game with scrap DC01's where we took it in turns dropping one, and you scored a point for each bit that broke off.

Offline Dyson4u

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Re: Dyson ball plastic
« Reply #5 on: June 15, 2022, 04:57:13 am »
It's also possible they left resin sourcing to the factories, so they might have gone from using a trusted European supplier to discount Chinese resins, but given Dyson's obsession with control over tooling, I think it's more likely that the badness of the DC40 and DC50 may have been growing pains while they moved to remote production.

Of course, given the number of shattered V11s and V15s I see on eBay, with cracks in the same places as old DC14s, I'm not hopeful.

Polymer parts can be stronger, lighter and tougher than steel in the same application, but it's rare that they actually are. If Dyson wanted to make vacuums to take a beating, we'd see frames made out of glass nylon or epoxy, and shielding made out of polypropylene. We don't see that, because tough polymers tend to be ugly, expensive, and hard to process, and they don't drive obsolescence sales. ABS and PC are fast, cheap, hold a mirror finish or glasslike clarity (respectively) and last a minimum of 5 years before showing oxidation damage. Sometimes, engineering is about bringing your performance limits down to match your warranty, rather than the other way around.



I find the later version DC07 and DC14 and the Dyson balls to rarely break.

Offline MVacs

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Re: Dyson ball plastic
« Reply #6 on: June 17, 2022, 12:52:02 pm »
Dingus, welcome to the site. You seem a very knowledgeable fellow.   :tiphat:

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