Trying to figure out what this kid’s toy from the dentist is. I tried to look for it online and the only thing that looked similar was a fidget toy/spring like this:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/48-Tiny-Pearl-Plastic-Spring-Toy-Sensory-Fidget-Toy-Party-Favors-Goody-Bags-Rewards-Prizes-Bulk-4-Dozen/358773085

Except this is just a solid piece of plastic. I thought maybe it just needed to be pulled apart, but it broke in half when I tried.

Maybe it’s a spring that somehow fused together? No idea what else it could possibly be.

  • Dave@lemmy.nz
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    2 days ago

    Since it broke when you tried to pull it apart, that seems like it’s supposed to be one of those fidget slinky things you linked. But perhaps fused and brittle from age or poor manufacturing. If it was intended to be a solid piece, it would have been more solid, right?

    • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      Sometimes you see this when a cheap Chinese manufacturer buys some tooling and runs the wrong materials to save money.

      I bought some zip ties like this, rather than tough and flexible nylon, they were hard and brittle like Polycarbonate; as soon as you bent them around something they snapped in half.

  • ryannathans@aussie.zone
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    2 days ago

    Plastic degradation, probably cleaned with a solvent like alcohol. It has now essentially fused and become brittle. Only good for eventual microplastics or incineration now.

      • ryannathans@aussie.zone
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        1 day ago

        Should consider yourself lucky. Brittle, sticky, fusing, cracking failures are very normal with solvent attack on various plastics

  • protist@mander.xyz
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    2 days ago

    My kid’s dentist also has toys, and they’re bottom of the fucking barrel knick knacks that break after one use. I’m not saying I expect high quality toys from a pediatric dentist, I just can’t help but notice how rich that motherfucker is and how much plastic waste he’s generating.

  • OmegaMan@lemmings.world
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    2 days ago

    This is how plastic Slinky toys used to come out of the box. You had to break them apart. Sounds like you got a bad one?

  • celeste@kbin.earth
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    2 days ago

    It’d be weird for them to gift hair rollers or a tube extension to a kid at a dentist’s office, so I think I’m with the other commenter about it being a fused spring, I guess??