How to safely take apart a cps2 B/game shell?

[pixelvsprintdot]

Hi all, So here is my question, I have a few CPS2 games, and it's real hit or miss when I open them whether or not the plastic hooks connecting the black bottom shell to the colored top of the shell break when I open them. Is there a technique you all have found to keep these hooks from snapping off? Or is it just the nature of this old plastic?

sorry, I know I need to clean this one out, there's a lot of work to be done on some of these

 

[MegaMan]

I posted a thread exactly like this when I got my first cps2 board and had the same issue. Once I take out all the screws I start at the top and unclip the main clip. Then I carefully and slowly move the top shell side to side. Eventually after some patients one of the three clips (one on each side and one on the bottom) will decide to unclip. After one unclip it’s pretty easy after that. If you want to keep the black clips on you can carefully bend them back slightly and weaken the plastic making them easier to get the top shell on and off. Or sometimes they just break off, they do make them a pain to open but try bending them back slightly. You could also take some fine grit sand paper and sand the edge of the black clip which should make it easier to get the top shell on and off.

 

[tDRG]

Definitely tricky. @MegaMan 's solution sounds like a good one, I think taking your time is key. I usually start at the top then slide my fingernails between the gap on either side and work my way down.

 

[hatmoose]

You've nailed it, its the nature of old plastic - especially ABS tends to get more brittle as it ages. Some of the guys in the car forums are boiling their plastic to help rejuvenate it.

To open CPS2 B shells without snapping those plastic posts I normally gently warm first, either in a warm house or with a hair drier, nothing crazy like a heat gun! Then front edge against by belly, ease the back clips out first by pushing the black base in while wiggling the coloured top half of the shell up with my fingernails, once the back two are off its normally possible to jiggle the rest of the clips free carefully without any risk of damage.

 

[pixelvsprintdot]

thank you all for the info, SO I wonder if Capcom had a tool to make sure these parts never broke?

these hooks have a gap in the shell where they sit, I wonder if it is for a tool used to open these?

 

[suprawhite]

I guessed I'm not the only one. It sure is a hit and misses. The exact same shell can be remove perfectly without breaking any plastic tab can be broken the next time, not even the next day. I got to the point where just as long as nothing major like the shell itself, I can put them back intact with the four screws.

 

[Bigblue709]

Hatmoose nailed it -- you need to push in on the black plastic right where the clips are, but it can be difficult to know exactly where they are.

Capcom's main tool for making sure they never broke was the security bolt holding the two halves together