Retrobright Keys Without The Hassle? - Commodore 64/Atari 800XL {Quick Bytes™}
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- 🙏 BECOME A PATREON: / perifractic
🍟 ON TODAY'S MENU: A follow up to the Atari 800XL video. Retrobriting yellow lettering on old retro computer keyboards usually involves removing all the keys with a keycap puller, and in some cases desoldering the shift lock key. In most cases these older keys are "two shot" assemblies; a white plastic part (containing the letter) inside a brown outer shell. I wanted to test whether it was possible to get a similar effect by cheating a little. Or will the dogs cause a bleach of the peace? Let's find out! Let me know what you think in the comments!
⚠️ Obligatory disclaimer: Don't try this at home. Try it at work instead. Seriously, I am not responsible if this doesn't work for you. Frankly I'm irresponsible altogether.
Update: After I finished the video, very slight marks appeared on a couple of the keys. I think I overdid the time slightly. It was in direct California sun for 2 hours. But I think overall it's the best "solution". What I'd suggest is the MOMENT you see the yellow starting to fade slightly, wash it off and see if you're happy living with that result. If not you can always do more, but you can't undo. Also, try to paint the cream only onto the letters not the surrounding as much as possible. My marks were where the edges of the cream sat on the brown. In summary, less time, less cream :)
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Good to know. I've been asked about this a lot, people wanting to know if retrobright would fade the dark part of the C64 keys. But I've never tried so I didn't know.
You're welcome mate. Just keep a close eye on the brown parts. I suspect they could start to turn at any moment. 🤞 Happy retrobriting!
I don't know if it would in all honesty. I think it might have a small effect, but the majority of the reaction occurs with the dye that's infused in the ABS when they're being shot and molded. I know white ABS for 3d printers behave the same way, while I've bleached plenty of other color ABS with only results if they contained a partial amount of that dye.
8-Bit Guy!
isn't that the point of retrobrite, i.e. using a certain (not too high) concentration of hydrogenium peroxide, so it does not bleach, just restore (reverting the yellowing process)?
of course you might get a similar effect with bleaching (using high concentration of h-peroxide), maybe even faster, but then it may also affect the dark part of those keys, or make it ever whiter than it is supposed to be...
at least that's how i understood it back then when it was discussed on AtariAge forums. (i think it's already 10 years since then or more... wow, time flies)
here's a link to the thread: atariage.com/forums/topic/138244-how-to-remove-yellowing-from-an-old-atari-case/ (turns out it was less than 10 years, but not by much)
@avfusion, It absolutely can change the brown of the keys. I used submersion on a set of VIC-20 keys and it also unfortunately lightened the brown with a grayish hint and very uneven. It looked pretty bad. So I think this method with just the tops is the way to go.
I want this guy to read me a bedtime story, and I'm a 46 yr old man..
Once upon a time there was a retrogeek who made TH-cam videos, and he wen😴
That was an easy gig! Goodnight.
Yeah - your voice is AWESOME!!
You beat me to it!
My wife finally saw me watching your videos and thought forever that I was watching an actual cooking show. So when she saw two dogs, a pool, and some old broken apart keyboard, she was really confused.
Haha apologies for the confusion! 🍽️
Haha apologies for the confusion! 🍽️
Found your channel recently and going thru your backlog. So many awesome ideas so many great tutorials. Keep it up, wanna start doing more retro stuff again because of ya. Cheers!
That's music to my ears. Thank you so much! 👍🕹️
Perifractic's Retro Recipes I thank you for all your work!!
Never lose the jokes! And let's definitely have more of the doggos!!!
How could I ever stop making the puns! Even if it makes doggo yawn 🤦♂️ Thank you Katie! 👍🕹️
Absolutely!! Us dads have standards to maintain, you know! My younger daughter is getting married next year (possibly, might be the year after) and I have been instructed that my 'father of the bride' speech must NOT have any dad-isms or bad 'dad jokes'.
Well, that'll be a short speech then.
Haha that would just make me want to do a twenty minute speech with nothing but Dad jokes! 😂 Congratulations and good luck either way 👍🕹️👰
I absolutely love this kind of stuff and your voice is very soothing. Perfect video to wind down to after a long day.
Thank you so much, that means a lot! 👍🕹️😴
Your dogs are adorable!
Can I take that as an animal fact?
😉🕹️🐶
Indeed! ❤️
Loving the series Peri, keep up the good work mate!
Thank you so much!! I hope to!
Addicted! As a child from the 80's I grew up with 8 bit. My first ever system was an Atari 65xe my Dad brought from Dixon's in 1988 lol. Loved the 800xl refurb you did. Your music is awesome too!
Welcome to the channel! Ahh Dixon's... I often find myself looking for 80s photos of the interior computer departments of shops like Boots. Very fond memories of programming their BBC Micros to loop fun colors and music. Though in Dixon's I did loop:
Dixon's is sh*t
Dixon's is sh*t
Dixon's is sh*t...
It took them a little to work out how to stop it. (Power cycle.)
Thanks for your kind words! 👍🕹️🎵
Glad to see you again! :) Your dogs are beautiful! Good luck!
Glad to see you too! And thank you, they're not bad 😉👍🕹️🐶
2018 "don't eat the bleach!"
2020 "don't eat the bleach!!!"
2021 "no bleach in stock, sorry"
you deserve much, much more subscribers. MUCH more :-) great video!
Thank you so much! That means a lot to me.
Feel free to share 😊👍🕹️
Your dogs are adorable. And please don’t ever stop with the ‘bad’ jokes. :)
Thanks! Deal! 👍🕹️🐶
I come here specifically for the dad jokes and I was not disappointed
😂👍🕹️
Wow, nice experiment, Capn. As one who fried his keys on a Vic-20 keyboard with liquid soak retrobrite I can appreciate this experiment. No more grey! Good call on the alcohol. I don't think it will harm the tops of the keys by itself (except the C64c) but it will completely wipe out the symbols on the front of the keyboard. Unfortunately I learned that the hard way...
Thanks X-Ray I mean X-Race! We've all done it... 🤦♂️ Maybe we can market "Just For Retrogeeks" cream... 🤔
👍🕹️😂
OMG!
I love your videos, very informative and definitely shows your love of restoring old hardware to being as good as new.
Thank you so much. That means a lot to me. Welcome to the channel! 👍🕹️
Please dont ever stop with the puns, i love them.
Seriously thank you for these videos. I never took the time to think about how badly yellowed my C64 keyboard is until now, and now I know how to fix that!
You're very welcome! 👍🕹️
That's exactly what i needed to know! Gonna retrobrit my FS Amilo Pi 1505 keys, previous owner was a smoker, laptop was almost all yellow instead of silver and white... Thanks very much for the video!
You're welcome very much 👍🕹️
Nice dogs you got there Mr. Perifractic. I like seeing retrobrite being put into action, whether its the cream peroxide+cling wrap method or the container full of water and clear peroxide method.
The dogs say "fankwoo" 👍🐶🕹️
At first I thought you'd drown the whole keyboard in peroxyde like other people sometimes do, but that is actually reasonable and quick method.
I still would disassemble the keyboard at some point, just to manually check if all the springs are okay and if some traces on the PCB need attention. (I know keyboards were much more durable back then, but I don't usually fight that kind of OCD)
Your 4 legged kids, listen just as well as my 2 legged kids. Good idea. Quick and easy fix for the brown keys.
"Don't eat the bleach!" I laughed so hard
DON'T EAT THE BLEACH!!! (Everything is a treat.) 😂🕹️🐕
the best retro channel out there. at least for me.
Thank you so much! That means a lot to me. 👍🕹️
i've watched every single episode so far. more dogs please. they're adorable!
Keyboard's looking nice but also please NEVER stop with the dad jokes
As if I would ;)
this video has everything, jokes, retrotech and puppies
I aim to please 👍🕹️🐶
Our cats loved the outcome of the retrobriting attempt but couldn´t resist to laconically comment on your dogs trying to suck up the bleach... I then asked fat Willi (one of the lot...) if himself falling of the sofa last week whilst half asleep was a prime example of intelligent, graceful felids... he gave me a miffed side glance and left the room with his head held high...
What a beautiful parable on life with cats. If Fat Willi returns to the room, please apologize for the lack of feline content. 🐶
Yes more dad jokes and dogs!
Im here because the 8 bit guy. You got a new suscriber!
Welcome to the channel! 👍🕹️
I'd love to see a spare A500 get all the plastics, keys and the PCB in the dishwasher get soaked followed by a retrobrite and have all of it in working order afterwards.
C64 MINI inside of a C64 case...
I just... I have so many questions already.
I cannot wait to see that video.
Thanks and stay tuned! 👍🕹️
Doggies make EVERY video better!
WHAT CUTIES THE PUPPYS!! - SO LOVELY!! - Dex still asleep, he dont know what he missed! ha,ha!, show him later! Levi&Dex
Be sure to tell him don't eat the bleach!
What a cute dogs you have, hope to see them in other episodes :)
Thank you! They pop up a bit in the past ones too!
Excellent video, great content. Keep them coming, personally I enjoy the longer ones, well... longer, but this appetizer format is great too.
How long does it take to produce one of these? Scripting/filming/voice over/editing...
Thank you! About a day of filming, a day of editing, and a day of voiceover, with lots of dog petting breaks in between 😉🕹️ I hope to be able to continue. 😊
Perifractic's Retro Recipes I certainly hope so as well!
The amount of jokes in this video, wow.
😉👍🕹️
Keep them jokes coming Chris :)
Frankly I can't seem to help it anyway... 🤦♂️👍🕹️
Eeeeverything's a treat.
Don't eat the bleach!
Unfortunately I do not have this version, which I have here is an Atari 800 without the XL flag and unfortunately I still work on it, to get this thing working again.
Thanks again for this great video!
you made me better afternoon. :)
(Sorry for my bad english. )
You're welcome! 👍🕹️
OMG you are amazing dude :D
Thank you so much! That means a lot to me. 👍🕹️
Absolutely love the content on this channel. Only 6k subs? Lets see how long it takes to break 100k (Spoiler alert: not long)
Thank you so much! I only started earlier this year but I hope you're right. That would be wonderful 👍🕹️🙏
I'm a dad and enjoy dad jokes. Plz restore the dad jokes.
Love the cooking channel
👍🕹️🍽️
After watching you put a motherboard through your dishwasher and now a keyboard I have to wonder if a Vic20/C64 bread-bin case will survive and clean up just as well? Have you ever tired? I have two very sad and dirty looking bread-bin cases that need much TLC lol..
Just use low heat, double detergent, and you should be good. No guarantees though.
Perifractic's Retro Recipes I will give it go 😬😂
Speaking of dulcett tones, are you any relative of the fella who speaks for the Headspace app?
You have the same, soothing internation. Very pleasant to listen to.
Thank you. I'm not, but I'd like his job! I do voice the Audio Description on Avengers Infinity War if you switch that on, but it's less relaxing! ✊
Best channel ever 🖒
Woah. Thank you! 👍🕹️
Cool doggies :) they want some retro snack :)
Everything is a treat! 👍🕹️
Perifractic's Retro Recipes :)
Very nice and minimalist approach! So does that mean that those keys are in reality white plastic with brown spray on them? I would not guess peroxide to be working on white print.
Edit: They're white plastic with brown plastic around them. 2 pieces. Peroxide reverses the UV yellowing, ironically with UV! 👍🕹️
On breadbin keys, only the petscii chars are painted on, the tops are plastic. If you look at the bottom of the key, you see that it is actually a white key with a dark brown "shell". They are so called "double shot" keycaps, as a reference to two phases with different plastics while being manufactured with injection molding.
This is interesting. Are you sure? I know people who have used alcohol on the top lettering, and it has worn away revealing just brown plastic 🤔
Pretty sure, I've restored tens of breadbins, and on all of them the caps were double shot. I've cleaned them with isopropanol and sometimes with label remover (that I also use to remove permanent marker and drops of paint etc from the keys and cases), and the tops just won"t rub off with anything. Got to be careful with the painted-on petscii, though.
However, AFAIK, with the exception of first variation from 1986 which are basically breadbin keys of different colour, C64C keys are painted on. Or maybe laser etched, not sure.
All this being said, C= liked to mix their stuff up, so it's not to be said that they wouldn't have had local differences... 😁
Adorable dogs, btw!
Thanks for your kind words, and keeping the machines alive! 👍🕹️
great dogs and video.
Thank you! 👍🕹️🐶
Gotta love a wishdosher
Thany manks!
Would it be worth throwing the keyboard back into the dishwasher after the retrobrighting?
Y'know, Mrs Perifractic said the exact same thing!... *After* I'd screwed it into the case. But definitely if anyone does this again, yes. :)
Your Mrs P must be a very understanding sort. I've occasionally suggested to my Mrs that some parts from my motorbike would benefit from a spell in the old dishwasher, but she usually responds with a counter suggestion of a blunt implement being applied to sensitive parts of a chap's anatomy.
I think she means me.
Just do it anyway. If the cornflakes taste of oil, say they're supplement enriched 👍
I am curious how will it last.
For me is about 1-3 years depends if the plastic is getting hot.
I vote the black dog for president.
Haha he could do a better job
that is actually why I am working on a new method :) stay tuned :)
*Don't eat the bleach!* hahaha 😂😂
Don't eat the bleach! No! 😂🕹️🐶⚰️
Only true intellectuals use Fiji water to clean computers
🧠💦
One day I was lazy to pull the key caps and tried this on my Amiga 500. Well, long story short, the keyboard membrane got destroyed.
😱
No worries, it was before this video. I don't blame you or anything. It was my own bad idea. You applied very little cream in the video, just over letters on the top and that's fine. But Amiga keycaps had to be coated all around and that resulted in some of the cream to drip inside and disintegrate parts of the membrane along with the traces on these parts.
Actually this is how I retrobrite all my yellow keyboards. With a fine brush I apply a THIN not dripping coat every 20 min while out in the hot sun for 4-6 hours and it works great! No damage and no dismantling. It's a good technique as you have to retrobrite it often as the yellowing always seems to come back!
Is it okay to pop.an Amiga 1200 or 600 keyboard in the dishwasher also?
It's hard to say for sure. If it were me, I'd try it, but make sure I get all the water out and maybe spray some contact cleaner in there afterwards to disperse everything and remove any oxidants from the dried water. A compressed air spray is another good idea to spray the water out. 👍🕹
I'm gonna need to get me one of those wish doshers.
2:15 yeah, wishdasher!
Gotta go, I left my car in the par cark...
Perifractic's Retro Recipes anyways, ain't a C64 and not Pony SlayStation at least. Keep it on and more doggies!
Ahh a fellow spoonerism connoisseur! Thany manks!
Excellent.
Thank you so much Rolf! 👍🕹️
DOGS MORE DOGS
Maybe I'll just rename the whole channel! Dog Recipes. Wait no... 😂🐶🍽️
Is this the same as retro bright stuff the 8-bit guy uses?
I think he favors the liquid peroxide in hot water method now... 🤔
❤❤❤
Love it
Why don't we see these dogs in recent videos?
What kind of dogs are those?
A chiweenie, a puggle, a German Shepherd...
Keep the puns and the "dogs pee in the pool" gags! ?
Will do!
Doggos!!!
Moar dogs plz
I mean, the rest of the videos are great, but moar dogs.
Wait a minute, you are a dog!
Wish Dosher?!??? :D :D :D :D Love it!!! :) :) :) :)
Thany manks.
Actually, I quite enjoy the punishment.
Apologies! 😉🕹️
Yay!
Please activate de subtitles generation, thanks!
Hmm do I have to do that manually? If you click on the cogwheel icon can you submit them? 🙏🕹️
I don't know, some videos have them, i think the newer ones need time. I am not english native, but can understand you @80%, not bad ! :D. Man, i've just see the Atari restoration.IT'S THE MOST CRAZY I'VE SEEN. Pretty good, i showed to some people at my work, they just yell the spanish version of WTF, haha. Good work!
Thank you! The subtitles have to be provided by the public. My German isn't as good as your English. If you click subtitles there's an option to submit your own. Feel free to be my German subtitle guy 😊🕹️
It must be a treat. You're in the kitchen!
Good point! 👍🕹️🐶
I have that same robot and it’s dead... cost a lot too.
I'm surprised. They have a 3 year warranty you know? My motor died and I took it to the local Leslie's; it was repaired in 3 days for free. Check it out if you haven't. Good luck!
Perifractic's Retro Recipes I’ll try to figure out where i bought it. I think it’s two years old.
Leslie's just did the repair as an authorized dealer. Contact Zodiac (Polaris) directly and they'll help you out 👍
...or you he can wait 20+ and we will refurbish it ! :D j/k :D
Hahaha stranger things have happened!... 😂👍🕹️🏊
dog(s) go away. refub incoming.... :-)
Sorry.. too many dogs.. not enough C64s..
Must... Try... Harder... 😉🕹️
Did you say "wish-dasher?"
I thon't dink so
you live alone or have girlfriend?sorry for my english bad,i write from Sicily,europe
I have a Mrs Perifractic! Welcome from California! 😊👍🕹️
Perifractic's Retro Recipes grazie amico, thanks my friend 🙂, il tuo canale e molto bello,your channel its very nice, bella piscina,beautiful pool,sorry for my bad english again 🙃
It's better than my Sicilianu!
I'm in kind of the same boat. I also have a Mrs. AV from England with me here in the States. It was from her I learned of the ZX Spectrum and all things wonderfully British computing.
Perifractic's Retro Recipes 😁
I've never done retrobright on any projects and considering how long it took I might continue to give it a miss