@@crsrdash-840b5 depends upon the specific material they are made of and which chemical reaction discoloured them (UV vs oils). Oils from hands or picked up from axle lubricant etc. is unlikely to clear and if it is not ABS better test to see if it causes cracks, fragiloty, weakening of the structure
This is a Godsend. Every Super Nintendo I've ever seen were either piss colored or they look great, but are ridiculously expensive. Considering my Front-loading NES looks great it drives me crazy having an ugly yellowed system right next to it.
Aaronlcyrus yup.... it blends with everything else back in our days... typewriter...... gameboy..... apple computer.... smoker's teeth.... even the old corolla dashboard.
But after the retrobrite, dont forget to put a transparent uv light resistant coating! (Like those used in headlight restorations) Or it will yellow again, but faster than before.
This works as detailed in the video, well I used sunlight instead of a UV light. One thing I found though, any bubbles in the cellophane covering will leave very faint traces of the yellowing. I added a second coat of the Salon 40 and left it out in the sun uncovered for 10 minutes. It leveled out the treated pieces perfectly! Thanks for the great video! 👍🏻
I would say thank you so much for your tips 😆👍 I'm totally forgot that there is UV rays from the sunlight. Trying to fix my lovely Hp D4950 keyboard. Thank you!
You can probably buy it in random paint store or hobbymarket because H2O2 is used for whitening commonly in industry, for example for wood and many other purposes. But be carefull, high % h2o2 is eating hands. :-D
The problem with the sun is getting even light since it is usually at an angle and moves throughout the day. Also it is possible the chemical was not spread evenly. That's why the UV light works best, in my opinion.
Thank you VERY MUCH for this excellent video. We used your method on a light blue Drinkwell cat drinking fountain that had yellowed to the point that it looked as if the water was contaminated. We brushed the yellow portion of the fountain with a coating of the Sally "40 volume creme developer" and put it out in the sunshine on our deck. We did this for three days in a row, ending tonight (Sunday Aug 13, 2017). During the sun exposure, I kept refreshing the developer because it did dry up. After three days, the fountain looks like new. Its pretty blue color is restored and the water looks clean and fresh. Obviously, we had to wash it thoroughly many times to remove the developer before using it. Thank you so much for sharing this effective remedy. SWEET SUCCESS.
wow, thank you for this! I was planing to do that hydrogen peroxide method to my old SNES to remove some of the yellow parts, but it's great to know that 40 volume developer alone can do the trick as well, it sooo much easier to find and use the developer only instead of mixing more products, not to mention it's much cheaper :)
Might be able to greatly decrease the UV exposure time by leaving them uncovered. Due to the short wavelength of UV, it is very bad at penetrating solid objects (even clear things like glass or plastic). In this case lightening can probably be contributed solely to the H2O2, and I doubt the UV had any affect at all. This is the reason UV is used as a surface disinfectant. Even clear plastic will cast a "shadow" on a petri dish with a lawn of bacteria. The bacteria in the "shadow" will remain unharmed due to the properties of UV. I use this concept in my lab every day.
I tried with and without UV light.. It does seem to work without UV, but it takes a LOT longer.. like days instead of hours. When I put some objects out in the bright sun, I had them fully restored in 30 minutes.
This definitely works I bought a rare parkard bell here in the u.k and it was more yellow than a block of cheese I found the same stuff on Amazon and it worked. Thanks for the tip very useful
Honestly, I just spent about 2.5 hrs trying to research and figure out how to do this. You summed up in a little over 5 min. Thank you so much. your a god send. keep up the vids love watching them
That doesn't usually work as well as you think. The paint will either peel off, or discolor upon contact of human skin oil. Another issue with things like keyboards is that it will cover up the numbers and letters.
In the process of doing this to a Macintosh SE and a bunch of tub jets using the same process but outdoors instead of uv or black light. Saw significant results about an hour into it. About 4 hours into it now and everything looks amazing. Thank you!!!
Worked so good I was stunned! 45 year old hockey skates with the plastic supporting the blade and connecting it to the boot as yellow as a chain smokers teeth. Solon Care creme developer 40 and 5 hours in the Sun and they look brand new!
Hey ibookguy, Do you think getting this Hydrogen Peroxide cream will be ok for the following systems? SEGA Dreamcast, SEGA Saturn, Super Nintendo and Amiga A1200? I have yellowing on each of these and I can get some of the Hydrogen Peroxide Cream that you mention in the video at 12%. Thanks,
jack burzynski I am guessing you have never seen a Model 1 Japanese SEGA Saturn which is Grey. Mine has started to turn a bit green which I think is the exact same as white plastics turning yellow. Check out my channel and my gaming setup video for details.
Dave's Game Room All Amiga and Atari and Grey / White computer plastics. SNES, do you mean Japanese Saturns? I haven't seen any DC's retrobrited but, maybe. That plastic seems much less prone to it. I also know Japanese Famicoms and PC Engines are all popular on it, and even the PCE II's. I even once saw a white Mark III retrobrited, lol. C64 as well.
Ahh ! The magic of the 80s vintage. We had Apple IIe and IIc at school in 83 and I recall the command prompt following the floppy disc install into the external drive. Wow.. How about " Syntax Error"... LOL !!! How far we have come. I really appreciate what you have done here and that IIe lid and keys look amazing ! Exactly how I remember them.
Those aren't the type of UV light you need, they are black lights. If you used proper UV lights for 12 hours, you'd end up with a badly bleached white plastic. Even under sunlight, it only takes an hour or two. Probably a good thing you used the wrong lights then!
Even more ironically than UV Light being able to turn plastic white again, is that sometimes the yellowing isn't caused by the UV Light, but by a chemical reaction with anti-yellowing agent mixed into plastics at factory! Chemicals are mixed into plastics to slow yellowing, but occasionally the wrong amounts are added and the chemicals themselves cause the plastic to go yellow. (You often see this on SNES, where the bottom has turned yellow but the top is fine, etc)
True. I have had an Atari Mega STE inside a cupboard for at least 15 years, completely shut off from any light and it turned crazy yellow. The only thing I can think of is that it was on my wel isolated attic where temperatures are normally very stable but in summer times when it gets hot it is the warmest part of my house. I think it doesn't get any hotter than about 30 degrees though...so still not crazy......anyway....it's being retrobrighted as we speak :) also, my SNES has the top part much more yellowed than the bottom so indeed chemical compositions did vary
Thank You! I had some people in the Amiga Forums argue saying you needed to add stuff to the salon cream (friends of mine work in salons, the ladies saw my post about high concentrations of peroxide and got to me same day, lol). They now consider themselves computer scrubbers (dont ask). I figured you just needed it to be thick, like this cream. I'm glad to see it just works. awesome.
@@davidaustin6962 I can see it now. Endless numbers of geeks asking these women to go out and getting rejected every. single. time. As a result, Radio Shack's prime demographic stops going to the stores, and Radio Shack goes bankrupt! It's like a through the-looking-glass version of "Revenge of the Nerds"
Thank you soo much I thought I was going to be forced to make a pool out of peroxide to fix my yellow plastic things and now thanks to you I have a game changing solution! 💪 Thanks man!
If you're going so far as to disassemble your computer to de-yellow it then perhaps a spray coat of a matte or eggshell clear UV resistant varnish would be a good idea too.
Thanks for bringing this out. I have a computer case that is not old and I like very much. To my thinking it's design will always look modern. But my lights, I guess turn it yellow very fast so thanks again. Now to restore my plastic covered glass whirlpool tub, lol:-)
If you only need a small quantity of the peroxide (like me), just go to the drug store and buy a hair dye kit. The chemicals are separated and need to be mixed to make the dye. One of those chemicals is the peroxide. It's the one in the applicator bottle. Even has a squeeze tip that you can use for getting into precise areas. Whatever you do (can't believe I have to say this) DO NOT follow the directions and add the dye to the peroxide! DO use the gloves though, almost forgot to mention that they come in the kit. They can be rinsed off & reused if you need to make more than one application. 😎
I know this is an older video but it would be great to see what your process is for the brown breadbin 64’s. I know you just posted the worst VIC you’ve ever seen video. But, that (of course) was a pretty extreme case. It would be cool to see what you do when you first receive a “typical” C64 brown breadbin. The first steps you take, how to clean the outside, how to clean the inside and then how to diagnose issues. Could be a pretty good multi-part series 👍🏻
Actually the part was a standard 2006 White MacBook, it just happened to have black keys on it. Sometimes I swap the keys around to make them look nicer.
Hi thank you so much ! my Sega Dreamcast looks like it did back in 99' I tried your technique but I used conditioner and regular hydrogen peroxide I mixed about half n half to the hair conditioner and kept mixing until it was almost runny but still sticky and 'goopy' smooth consistency like paint stripper. Apply with a paint brush. I lightly wrapped the parts in saran wrap and left them in the sun for several hours. Don't worry if the cling wrap sticks to the surface, you should have a good thick coating it won't effect it.. It removed 2 decades of uv yellowing! The controllers the case, everything looks fantastic ! My Sega was pretty yellowed, so i did 2 applications.
I have not heard about this method. I collect old test equipment and much of it has this plastic problem. Definitely going to give this a try thanks for sharing this.
Hi, on the MacBook palmrests you can clean them with a slightly moistened Magic Eraser. This works wonders. On some of the very oldest ones it doesn't work because the dirt has been baked in over time, but on most intermediate models it works great.
I used this stuff on an Apple Extended Keyboard II, and after several hours in the sun it had appeared to whiten significantly. I removed the plastic wrap and was impressed by how much it had improved. However, there are blotches of darker plastic where the plastic wrap touched the plastic whilst under the sun. I am planning on trying it again, but leaving it under a UV light for the recommended 36 hours and seeing if impatience was the reason behind the blotches.
I'm going to try this out over the weekend. I was always annoyed that it happened because of the plastics. I have tons of old consoles and computers that have discoloured over the years. If this works for me, and there is no reason it shouldn't, thank you so much!
Keep in mind that the yellowing doesn't always happen to plastic. Yellowing occurs when the unit is around heat - either sunlight, or even near something that was hot like a heater or a wall that was heated up by the sun. If you keep the unit in a cool area with no sunlight or other heat source near it, then the re-yellowing will not occur, or at least would be minimized.
EXITMUSIC2011 ACTUALLY, it should recur less. The effect is to remove oxidization which has happened to the molecules in the plastic which are a Fire Retardant. They are now less effective anyway. I don't believe the plastic is now much more flamable, but, that's what chemistry was indicated in the Amiga forums.
I love this stuff! I recently used some on one of my Dreamcast rumble packs because the top part was yellow and the other end stayed grey. Now the yellow is completely gone after sitting in sun for two hours!
Do you usually tell people exactly how you're going to use what you buy from a store? Does anyone really care? Some might ask out of curiosity, just tell the truth, that you're using it to treat plastic. You might get a funny look, but who gives a shit? What if you used lemon juice to clean stains, or baking soda to brush your teeth, are you going to tell them that too? Now that's strange.
Thank you very much for the video!! I've taken some ideas from you and the original recipe, and tested them today on my Apple IIc. Whtat I did is mixing the hydrogen peroxide cream with 1/4 teaspoon of oxy action dissolver in a bit of hot water. I applied the mixture over the parts and covered them with a film as you do. I put them into the sunlight and after 2-3 hours they were almost perfect! There some little areas to re-treat, but the case is now almost like new!
Discern4 uv light has a special type of rays that normal light bulbs cant produce it is not bright but if you put it on your skin for a while it can cause cancer
I realize that. I was just wondering whether he tested with and without UV so you can see how much difference UV makes (if at all), compared to just the concentrated hydrogen peroxide.
+Firealarm102 What kind of special type of rays ultraviolet is? As far as I was concerned it's not much different to the surrounding parts of EM spectrum in what they are
It takes large amounts of UV light over a long period of time, and it doesn't consistently cause cancer (it depends on the individual), though it can and does cause sunburn. Also, a UV bulb isn't going to put out enough to cause any harm. It takes a MUCH higher source like the sun to produce enough to actually cause harm.
I'm going to restore an old Apple Extended Keyboard 2. I know how to take them apart, so it should be a good project. As to the re-yellowing of the parts; the Retr0Bright wiki says that if you spray them with a UV resistant clear coat afterwards, that it shouldn't occur again. You can also use ArmorAll. Now if we can only figure out how to restore scuffed up, shiny wrist rests on Powerbooks...
I just wanted to say thanks. I have an old 8bit GRI keyboard that I want to use wuth a s-100 computer I'm building and it HAD yellowed keys. I went and got some of the 40% peroxide and popped them in a ziplock and covered them all real well. And I guess I have better UV here in Austin becuase they well restored in 2-3 hrs!!! Looks brand new! Thanks!!
during the last week I tried it on my original Nintendo, Super Nintendo and an old IBM computer case with amazing results. My Mother in law saw how I did it... now she asked me to help her restore her old Commodore ... feeling optimistic about it 😆
After you do this, your stuff can still yellow again. either from oxidation or from UV exposure. The best way to prevent this is to give it a clear coat of paint with UV protection. That protects it from oxidizing and from any further UV damage. Usually the kind of paint that works best is car paint.
Or ceramic coat it like what's used on car interiors, we use pearl nano interior coating as a maintenance for the main ceramic for plastic, but it can also be used by itself and it's reasonable price wise and has no shine.
Use caution when using this on the keyboard keys! I tried this with sunlight on my Apple IIc, and while it worked great on the case, the keyboard letters went from a dark grey to a faded tan. I don't know if the sunlight was too much uv for the letters, but maybe check them every hour or so if you're going to use sunlight.
Good thing I found this, I was looking into following the retr0bright recipe to whiten my Gameboy but found out it would be too bothersome and not cost effective. This product, on the other hand, can be found for cheap easily where I live. I will try this tomorrow :)
Nerven1986 Well, you could buy a couple of bottles extra, without extra shipping costs. Maybe there are more people around you with also yellowed retro machines, who can buy the peroxide from you, for an extra marge. Sending a package from The Netherlands to Greece up to 2 kilograms without track & trace costs 12 euro, according to our national postoffice: www.postnl.nl/versturen/pakket-versturen/tarieven/?country=GRC
Trenzinho da Alegria This was actually a mod he used to do back in the day. Remember the black Macbook's he used to take the black keys and put them on the white keyboard.
Lachlan Brown Either way this procedure only works with an specific type of plastic which incorporates bromine. The famous Nintendo plastic (used from Famicom to Gamecube). Nowadays I'm not sure if they still use the same type of plastic. I know that the 3DS does not.
I'll confirm what +Lachlan Brown said. My Macbook that I leased from my school was a white plastic one that tended to crack along the edges when it got warm.
Apple 2e ,Many hours of program writing on one of those. I learned so much about computers on one of those. I worked as a custodian at the time. On my breaks,I tought myself computer language and programming. All the manuals were there free to use. I also had acess to the internet,so I could get any info I needed. I wish I had all that old stuff yet. It got thrown out the following year after I moved on and they tore down that building.
wow this is great. I will have to try this. After seeing this it makes me think that the brown/yellowish tint is a form of oxidation much like paint does in the sun because it would have to just be a layer on the top of the plastic and not deeply embedded for a cream to remove it. Whatever it is, this is a great tip. Definitely a thumbs up.
The problem is that the UV discolouration is because of polymer cross-linking, which also causes the plastic to go brittle. Does the H2O2 merely bleach the plastic or actually reverse the cross linking (i.e. does the plastic revert to its original elasticity as well as its original colour)?
...aaaaaaand now, only minutes later, I just got even stronger 50v cream from Miky's Beauty & Wigs across the street. It's a smaller bottle and it does say "For Professional Use Only," but they sold it to me no questions asked.
I did this with my sons pearl syncussion-x electronic drums which turned yellow over the years and now there back to there original ivory white. Although I used a box lined with aluminum foil and used ultraviolet led straps. Took about 2 days total for each drum pad. Did not effect the logo on the drum pads. This process works great.
My local chemist always looks at me funny when i ask if they sell these kinds of things, =P they already think I'm a drug lord because I buy Pseudo-fed lol. Isopropyl, cotton buds and Hydrogen peroxide the retro-gamers must have kit.
Finally, someone figured out a lazy way to do this :D. I've been wanting to do this, but I didn't want to go through the trouble of buying and mixing everything.
Hi i used this method on my novation launchkeys 49 and they return pearl white, but in a month period they return to yellow again. Any suggestions?. I used 40vol salon cream and layed them in the sun with nylon film for a day. I repeated the procedure several times but having same results
Thanks for video. I have used regular peroxide for cleaning Star Wars toys for a while. Soak them in a jar and put them in the sun for about a weak and it works. This looks so much faster. I will have to try this to clean up next batch of toys I find.
One thing that I've had success with myself is mixing the hair developing kit with water. This actually prevents the otherwise streaking issue that you had with the Osbourne.
Nice video! I have one question: did you put it over the Apple IIe logo on the top cover? Do you think it could fade logos or the colorful apple emblem? Thanks!
It depend where our from if you in country such as UK where you get couple minutes of warm weather then shirt to cloudy low temperatures you not going to crack much results from that
+The 8-Bit Guy Another question: I sold a used blood pressure monitor online. Before shipping it, I used isopropyl alcohol to clean the clear plastic that covers the LED readout. Turns out that instead of making the clear plastic appear newer, it actually gave it a hazy white finish that I couldn't remove. Going forward, what is the best way to clean transparent plastic that covers a digital readout on a device?
That RadioShack/Sally Beauty shot was so perfect.
I wonder if this will work on model railroad plastics like buildings and rolling stock shells?
@@crsrdash-840b5 depends upon the specific material they are made of and which chemical reaction discoloured them (UV vs oils). Oils from hands or picked up from axle lubricant etc. is unlikely to clear and if it is not ABS better test to see if it causes cracks, fragiloty, weakening of the structure
SNES owners everywhere thank you sir
This is a Godsend. Every Super Nintendo I've ever seen were either piss colored or they look great, but are ridiculously expensive. Considering my Front-loading NES looks great it drives me crazy having an ugly yellowed system right next to it.
there's even ready to use products (i only know stuff from germany) that you just pour over the snes etc. and put it into sunlight for 8h
Well I got some of this stuff, will update if it works or not.
Yeah same here but I'm working on an old Original DMG-01 Game boy that a friend of mine gave to me. Only the screen half of the game boy is yellowed.
Samuel Baugh
so does it works dawg ?
my 25 year old sewing machines are going to get new life from this! thank you.
I'm an idiot... i thought in the 80's people just really liked the color weird yellow-beige 😂
HAHAH i know right i did aswell
same
"I'm an idiot" Well that intro is surprisingly fresh. I like it!
Actually a lot of stuff was purposefully colored like that, most weren't
Aaronlcyrus yup.... it blends with everything else back in our days... typewriter...... gameboy..... apple computer.... smoker's teeth.... even the old corolla dashboard.
But after the retrobrite, dont forget to put a transparent uv light resistant coating! (Like those used in headlight restorations)
Or it will yellow again, but faster than before.
This works as detailed in the video, well I used sunlight instead of a UV light. One thing I found though, any bubbles in the cellophane covering will leave very faint traces of the yellowing. I added a second coat of the Salon 40 and left it out in the sun uncovered for 10 minutes. It leveled out the treated pieces perfectly! Thanks for the great video! 👍🏻
I would say thank you so much for your tips 😆👍 I'm totally forgot that there is UV rays from the sunlight. Trying to fix my lovely Hp D4950 keyboard. Thank you!
I can just imagine A middle aged guy going into a Beauty Store and saying, "I need your strongest Hydrogen Peroxide".
I'd laugh if the Retrobrite guy made his recipe because he didn't want to admit he bought a beauty product lol
Middle aged *bald* guy... "sir, where are you going to... nevermind, here you go".
Hi concentration h2O2 also used in bomb making ... best get it at brick and mortar if you don't want to get tracked by the FBI
he could be a hairstylist
You can probably buy it in random paint store or hobbymarket because H2O2 is used for whitening commonly in industry, for example for wood and many other purposes. But be carefull, high % h2o2 is eating hands. :-D
The problem with the sun is getting even light since it is usually at an angle and moves throughout the day. Also it is possible the chemical was not spread evenly. That's why the UV light works best, in my opinion.
is there a specific uv bulb type you used or would any UV Bulb likely have the same effects? thanks!
adding energy to the system in the form of heat also works
Thank you VERY MUCH for this excellent video. We used your method on a light blue Drinkwell cat drinking fountain that had yellowed to the point that it looked as if the water was contaminated. We brushed the yellow portion of the fountain with a coating of the Sally "40 volume creme developer" and put it out in the sunshine on our deck. We did this for three days in a row, ending tonight (Sunday Aug 13, 2017). During the sun exposure, I kept refreshing the developer because it did dry up. After three days, the fountain looks like new. Its pretty blue color is restored and the water looks clean and fresh. Obviously, we had to wash it thoroughly many times to remove the developer before using it. Thank you so much for sharing this effective remedy. SWEET SUCCESS.
wow, thank you for this! I was planing to do that hydrogen peroxide method to my old SNES to remove some of the yellow parts, but it's great to know that 40 volume developer alone can do the trick as well, it sooo much easier to find and use the developer only instead of mixing more products, not to mention it's much cheaper :)
Might be able to greatly decrease the UV exposure time by leaving them uncovered. Due to the short wavelength of UV, it is very bad at penetrating solid objects (even clear things like glass or plastic). In this case lightening can probably be contributed solely to the H2O2, and I doubt the UV had any affect at all. This is the reason UV is used as a surface disinfectant. Even clear plastic will cast a "shadow" on a petri dish with a lawn of bacteria. The bacteria in the "shadow" will remain unharmed due to the properties of UV. I use this concept in my lab every day.
UV penetrates clear objects, H202 alone without UV will not work, check the many test with and without UV and you will notice that UV is required!
I tried with and without UV light.. It does seem to work without UV, but it takes a LOT longer.. like days instead of hours. When I put some objects out in the bright sun, I had them fully restored in 30 minutes.
Thank you mr 8bit guy💖
Thank you! Was wondering if the uv part was necessary
what wattage did you use for the uv light? I wonder if that makes a difference in time?
I'm just using a standard fluorescent blacklight bought at Home Depot.
This definitely works I bought a rare parkard bell here in the u.k and it was more yellow than a block of cheese I found the same stuff on Amazon and it worked. Thanks for the tip very useful
What type Watts is it I was thinking of goose neck for some old abs figures?
Honestly, I just spent about 2.5 hrs trying to research and figure out how to do this. You summed up in a little over 5 min. Thank you so much. your a god send. keep up the vids love watching them
That doesn't usually work as well as you think. The paint will either peel off, or discolor upon contact of human skin oil. Another issue with things like keyboards is that it will cover up the numbers and letters.
In the process of doing this to a Macintosh SE and a bunch of tub jets using the same process but outdoors instead of uv or black light. Saw significant results about an hour into it. About 4 hours into it now and everything looks amazing.
Thank you!!!
It's nostalgic seeing a picture of a Radio Shack...because now they've been out of business and closed down for years.
You are my hero man! I don't know why I didn't find your channel sooner damn! It's everything I want to know. I love old computers.
About the lamp. There is UV-A, UV-B and UV-C lamps. which one is the right? Or does it matter? =D
You were ahead of your time lol now everyone is doing this! I’m watching now and this helped! Never delete this video
The solution that always works for me - BUY IT IN BLACK!!!
Tell that to all the retro Nintendo console owners...
Believe it or not... black plastics can yellow, too! It's just not as noticeable.
purple gamecubes that have yellowed would like a word with you :P
Worked so good I was stunned! 45 year old hockey skates with the plastic supporting the blade and connecting it to the boot as yellow as a chain smokers teeth. Solon Care creme developer 40 and 5 hours in the Sun and they look brand new!
this isn't 40%. It's 40 volume which is 12% hydrogen peroxide
+Biguss Dickus Makes sense Because 40% would be hella dangerous to let regular people handle. It would melt your hair and possibly your scalp.
+Azza Nine (Azzanine) yeh
You'd go blind temporarily by just being exposed to it in the air!
maybe you go blind from a 95-99% solution like this one th-cam.com/video/VU7vXMezW_I/w-d-xo.html
but not from handling 40% peroxide
I actually found some of this stuff here in Germany which contains 18% hydrogen peroxide
almost 5yrs later and still useful / interesting.. thumbs up mate..
Hey ibookguy, Do you think getting this Hydrogen Peroxide cream will be ok for the following systems? SEGA Dreamcast, SEGA Saturn, Super Nintendo and Amiga A1200? I have yellowing on each of these and I can get some of the Hydrogen Peroxide Cream that you mention in the video at 12%. Thanks,
I'm sure it will work.
How can a Sega Saturn yellow? It's case is black.
jack burzynski I am guessing you have never seen a Model 1 Japanese SEGA Saturn which is Grey. Mine has started to turn a bit green which I think is the exact same as white plastics turning yellow. Check out my channel and my gaming setup video for details.
Dave's Game Room Ah, it's a japanese Saturn. That's interesting that it's turning green.
Dave's Game Room All Amiga and Atari and Grey / White computer plastics. SNES, do you mean Japanese Saturns? I haven't seen any DC's retrobrited but, maybe. That plastic seems much less prone to it. I also know Japanese Famicoms and PC Engines are all popular on it, and even the PCE II's. I even once saw a white Mark III retrobrited, lol. C64 as well.
Ahh ! The magic of the 80s vintage.
We had Apple IIe and IIc at school in 83 and I recall the command prompt following the floppy disc install into the external drive. Wow.. How about " Syntax Error"... LOL !!! How far we have come.
I really appreciate what you have done here and that IIe lid and keys look amazing ! Exactly how I remember them.
Those aren't the type of UV light you need, they are black lights.
If you used proper UV lights for 12 hours, you'd end up with a badly bleached white plastic.
Even under sunlight, it only takes an hour or two.
Probably a good thing you used the wrong lights then!
@Claudius basic safety glasses block UV light quite well
This is the best solution I've seen so far! This guy is a genius!
Even more ironically than UV Light being able to turn plastic white again, is that sometimes the yellowing isn't caused by the UV Light, but by a chemical reaction with anti-yellowing agent mixed into plastics at factory! Chemicals are mixed into plastics to slow yellowing, but occasionally the wrong amounts are added and the chemicals themselves cause the plastic to go yellow. (You often see this on SNES, where the bottom has turned yellow but the top is fine, etc)
SuchWowStudios yeah mine is fine apart from the bar in centre which has the power light (eu/jp style snes)
The chemical mixed into many console shells is not to slow yellowing, but a flame retardant.
True. I have had an Atari Mega STE inside a cupboard for at least 15 years, completely shut off from any light and it turned crazy yellow. The only thing I can think of is that it was on my wel isolated attic where temperatures are normally very stable but in summer times when it gets hot it is the warmest part of my house. I think it doesn't get any hotter than about 30 degrees though...so still not crazy......anyway....it's being retrobrighted as we speak :) also, my SNES has the top part much more yellowed than the bottom so indeed chemical compositions did vary
It still works. Those agents in plastic are UV blockers. Cheap plastics don't use them. It's the same with chemical coatings.
@@atariandre5014 update on the retr0britng?
Thank You! I had some people in the Amiga Forums argue saying you needed to add stuff to the salon cream (friends of mine work in salons, the ladies saw my post about high concentrations of peroxide and got to me same day, lol). They now consider themselves computer scrubbers (dont ask). I figured you just needed it to be thick, like this cream. I'm glad to see it just works. awesome.
This is funny. The Radio Shack nearest me has a Sally's directly next door as well.
what is radio shack?
@@robc5768 Radio Shack is a dead chain of electronic stores
Hrmm, same here (before RS closed). I sense a disturbance in the force.
So Sally killed Radio Shack. Figures. Those beauty school dropouts are not to be trifled with.
@@davidaustin6962 I can see it now. Endless numbers of geeks asking these women to go out and getting rejected every. single. time. As a result, Radio Shack's prime demographic stops going to the stores, and Radio Shack goes bankrupt! It's like a through the-looking-glass version of "Revenge of the Nerds"
Thank you soo much I thought I was going to be forced to make a pool out of peroxide to fix my yellow plastic things and now thanks to you I have a game changing solution! 💪 Thanks man!
this is something that the Lego statue builders don't know. they usually just sand them down and then replace them after the third sanding.
Tosty Boy dear god this is so sad
where do you live where Lego statues are common? is it one of the Legolands?
Your channel is very professional and fun to watch!
If you're going so far as to disassemble your computer to de-yellow it then perhaps a spray coat of a matte or eggshell clear UV resistant varnish would be a good idea too.
Thanks for bringing this out. I have a computer case that is not old and I like very much. To my thinking it's design will always look modern. But my lights, I guess turn it yellow very fast so thanks again. Now to restore my plastic covered glass whirlpool tub, lol:-)
If you only need a small quantity of the peroxide (like me), just go to the drug store and buy a hair dye kit. The chemicals are separated and need to be mixed to make the dye. One of those chemicals is the peroxide. It's the one in the applicator bottle. Even has a squeeze tip that you can use for getting into precise areas. Whatever you do (can't believe I have to say this) DO NOT follow the directions and add the dye to the peroxide! DO use the gloves though, almost forgot to mention that they come in the kit. They can be rinsed off & reused if you need to make more than one application. 😎
how long do you leave the peroxide on?
I have done exactly same as you and need to report that my Gameboy is grey again. Thanks a lot for showing us your testing.
I know this is an older video but it would be great to see what your process is for the brown breadbin 64’s. I know you just posted the worst VIC you’ve ever seen video. But, that (of course) was a pretty extreme case. It would be cool to see what you do when you first receive a “typical” C64 brown breadbin. The first steps you take, how to clean the outside, how to clean the inside and then how to diagnose issues. Could be a pretty good multi-part series 👍🏻
Completely cleaned my Macintosh SE and restored to its original color. This stuff actually works. Thanks a lot for this video.
...must try this on my teeth
lol
Sounds good! Lol
But are you're teeth plastic?
+abdellahalsaidi / RDK 3000 thank god they aren't lol
Some bones are plastic lol jk.
Actually the part was a standard 2006 White MacBook, it just happened to have black keys on it. Sometimes I swap the keys around to make them look nicer.
This is freaking amazing! Great advise.
Wow 3 likes with almost 1 million subs
Hi thank you so much ! my Sega Dreamcast looks like it did back in 99' I tried your technique but I used conditioner and regular hydrogen peroxide I mixed about half n half to the hair conditioner and kept mixing until it was almost runny but still sticky and 'goopy' smooth consistency like paint stripper. Apply with a paint brush. I lightly wrapped the parts in saran wrap and left them in the sun for several hours. Don't worry if the cling wrap sticks to the surface, you should have a good thick coating it won't effect it.. It removed 2 decades of uv yellowing! The controllers the case, everything looks fantastic ! My Sega was pretty yellowed, so i did 2 applications.
People at Sally beauty see probably like "why does he need hair supplies?"
I got an old Dell desktop I'm planning to do a sleeper build in. The yellowing looks bad, so I'm glad I learned this from you!
More guys are going into Sally's beauty supply for chemicals and things. I was one of those.
You make it sound like you're seeing your drug dealer.
What's that bottle called?
I have not heard about this method. I collect old test equipment and much of it has this plastic problem. Definitely going to give this a try thanks for sharing this.
Hi, on the MacBook palmrests you can clean them with a slightly moistened Magic Eraser. This works wonders. On some of the very oldest ones it doesn't work because the dirt has been baked in over time, but on most intermediate models it works great.
I used this stuff on an Apple Extended Keyboard II, and after several hours in the sun it had appeared to whiten significantly. I removed the plastic wrap and was impressed by how much it had improved. However, there are blotches of darker plastic where the plastic wrap touched the plastic whilst under the sun. I am planning on trying it again, but leaving it under a UV light for the recommended 36 hours and seeing if impatience was the reason behind the blotches.
“People with certain lotions in their hands”
That made me laugh
Wow... just realized that after your comment
I'm going to try this out over the weekend. I was always annoyed that it happened because of the plastics. I have tons of old consoles and computers that have discoloured over the years. If this works for me, and there is no reason it shouldn't, thank you so much!
Looks good but i've heard it will go brown again very quickly. Does anybody know if this is true?
Well, it has been a year since I made this video and the items I worked on still look good after a year.
Keep in mind that the yellowing doesn't always happen to plastic. Yellowing occurs when the unit is around heat - either sunlight, or even near something that was hot like a heater or a wall that was heated up by the sun. If you keep the unit in a cool area with no sunlight or other heat source near it, then the re-yellowing will not occur, or at least would be minimized.
EXITMUSIC2011 ACTUALLY, it should recur less. The effect is to remove oxidization which has happened to the molecules in the plastic which are a Fire Retardant. They are now less effective anyway. I don't believe the plastic is now much more flamable, but, that's what chemistry was indicated in the Amiga forums.
+yuppiehi That explains why my Commodore VIC-20 went quite brown after a house fire, when I was a kid. It was in the same room as the fire.
+EXITMUSIC2011 The time it will become yellow again you will probably be under a tombstone.
So great to see an Apple IIe still being loved. Thanks
I love this stuff! I recently used some on one of my Dreamcast rumble packs because the top part was yellow and the other end stayed grey. Now the yellow is completely gone after sitting in sun for two hours!
I was going to say that putting it out in the sun for some time would be stronger/ faster!
I like an "older" look of some machines but this trick is really cool, Heizenberg! :)
I bet that was an interesting conversation in the beauty salon!!!!
Do you usually tell people exactly how you're going to use what you buy from a store? Does anyone really care? Some might ask out of curiosity, just tell the truth, that you're using it to treat plastic. You might get a funny look, but who gives a shit? What if you used lemon juice to clean stains, or baking soda to brush your teeth, are you going to tell them that too? Now that's strange.
8bit: its for my ehhhh Cat
Thank you very much for the video!! I've taken some ideas from you and the original recipe, and tested them today on my Apple IIc. Whtat I did is mixing the hydrogen peroxide cream with 1/4 teaspoon of oxy action dissolver in a bit of hot water. I applied the mixture over the parts and covered them with a film as you do. I put them into the sunlight and after 2-3 hours they were almost perfect! There some little areas to re-treat, but the case is now almost like new!
did you try it without the uv light at all? Just wondering what your own results were without uv/sunlight.
Discern4 uv light has a special type of rays that normal light bulbs cant produce it is not bright but if you put it on your skin for a while it can cause cancer
I realize that. I was just wondering whether he tested with and without UV so you can see how much difference UV makes (if at all), compared to just the concentrated hydrogen peroxide.
That was my first thought. Let's see a sample without UV light.
+Firealarm102 What kind of special type of rays ultraviolet is? As far as I was concerned it's not much different to the surrounding parts of EM spectrum in what they are
It takes large amounts of UV light over a long period of time, and it doesn't consistently cause cancer (it depends on the individual), though it can and does cause sunburn. Also, a UV bulb isn't going to put out enough to cause any harm. It takes a MUCH higher source like the sun to produce enough to actually cause harm.
We just did this for the jets in our bathtub, which were really discolored. Made a huge difference.
I'm going to restore an old Apple Extended Keyboard 2. I know how to take them apart, so it should be a good project. As to the re-yellowing of the parts; the Retr0Bright wiki says that if you spray them with a UV resistant clear coat afterwards, that it shouldn't occur again. You can also use ArmorAll. Now if we can only figure out how to restore scuffed up, shiny wrist rests on Powerbooks...
7 years later, i would polish them
Hello The 8-Bit Guy... you got a new fan here! This channel is super necessary. Thanks!
Could this work for the yellowed top of a Mac mini 2007?
Yes.
I just wanted to say thanks. I have an old 8bit GRI keyboard that I want to use wuth a s-100 computer I'm building and it HAD yellowed keys. I went and got some of the 40% peroxide and popped them in a ziplock and covered them all real well. And I guess I have better UV here in Austin becuase they well restored in 2-3 hrs!!! Looks brand new! Thanks!!
Holy crap! That's the Sally's in Arlington where I live!
Dallas Tx lol
for a second I was going to ask Arlington VA, Arlington MA or ... there are countless Arlingtons in the US, although this gotta be Texas.
during the last week I tried it on my original Nintendo, Super Nintendo and an old IBM computer case with amazing results.
My Mother in law saw how I did it... now she asked me to help her restore her old Commodore ... feeling optimistic about it 😆
After you do this, your stuff can still yellow again. either from oxidation or from UV exposure. The best way to prevent this is to give it a clear coat of paint with UV protection. That protects it from oxidizing and from any further UV damage. Usually the kind of paint that works best is car paint.
303 Aerospace Protectant is my go-to UV protectant. It is very good and does not require painting, just spray on and wipe.
Or ceramic coat it like what's used on car interiors,
we use pearl nano interior coating as a maintenance for the main ceramic for plastic, but it can also be used by itself and it's reasonable price wise and has no shine.
Use caution when using this on the keyboard keys! I tried this with sunlight on my Apple IIc, and while it worked great on the case, the keyboard letters went from a dark grey to a faded tan. I don't know if the sunlight was too much uv for the letters, but maybe check them every hour or so if you're going to use sunlight.
I tottaly see this guy going to a beaty story and asking for 5 bottles of that stuff. imagine the face of the cashier
PRICELESS SALES!
Good thing I found this, I was looking into following the retr0bright recipe to whiten my Gameboy but found out it would be too bothersome and not cost effective. This product, on the other hand, can be found for cheap easily where I live. I will try this tomorrow :)
Wondering where i can buy this in Europe....
Here in The Netherlands you can buy it at www.haarshop.nl/product/kappers-oxy--creme-1000-ml
The 12% variant is sufficient.
Snowwie88 Thanks for the link, unfortunatly shipping cost to Greece is € 21.95 + product.
Nerven1986
Well, you could buy a couple of bottles extra, without extra shipping costs. Maybe there are more people around you with also yellowed retro machines, who can buy the peroxide from you, for an extra marge.
Sending a package from The Netherlands to Greece up to 2 kilograms without track & trace costs 12 euro, according to our national postoffice: www.postnl.nl/versturen/pakket-versturen/tarieven/?country=GRC
Snowwie88
Dank voor de link.
Nerven1986 Try looking on ebay or amazon
great guide, retrobright is now down so i cant find the way to do it online easily! this was great, thanks!
they look wonderful , but does it last ?
Depending on the chemicals the plastic was made of. He actually adressed it in the Apple IIc Restoration video at 6:30
I love the keyboard color scheme with the gray and white! Plus Nice Vids.
I have a 1985 NES and it looks Bad. Let’s hope this helps =j
Big fat LIKE for this!! I want to buy a dreamcast again but have been put off by the yellowed look on a lot of them.
Mac Book is made of aluminium, not plastic. You have to use a substance to clean metals such as Silvo or Polibril.
That keyboard was actually from one of the old white plastic MacBooks.
Lachlan Brown It seems pretty metallic to me.
Trenzinho da Alegria This was actually a mod he used to do back in the day. Remember the black Macbook's he used to take the black keys and put them on the white keyboard.
Lachlan Brown Either way this procedure only works with an specific type of plastic which incorporates bromine. The famous Nintendo plastic (used from Famicom to Gamecube). Nowadays I'm not sure if they still use the same type of plastic. I know that the 3DS does not.
I'll confirm what +Lachlan Brown said. My Macbook that I leased from my school was a white plastic one that tended to crack along the edges when it got warm.
Apple 2e ,Many hours of program writing on one of those. I learned so much about computers on one of those. I worked as a custodian at the time. On my breaks,I tought myself computer language and programming. All the manuals were there free to use. I also had acess to the internet,so I could get any info I needed. I wish I had all that old stuff yet. It got thrown out the following year after I moved on and they tore down that building.
When I want it creamy, I also go to Sallys!
wow this is great. I will have to try this. After seeing this it makes me think that the brown/yellowish tint is a form of oxidation much like paint does in the sun because it would have to just be a layer on the top of the plastic and not deeply embedded for a cream to remove it. Whatever it is, this is a great tip. Definitely a thumbs up.
this worked on my IBM PS/2
The problem is that the UV discolouration is because of polymer cross-linking, which also causes the plastic to go brittle. Does the H2O2 merely bleach the plastic or actually reverse the cross linking (i.e. does the plastic revert to its original elasticity as well as its original colour)?
I just walked out of Sally's. They refused to sell it to me without a professional license. America! ;)
FWIW, this was Newnan, GA, just in case it's some kind of state or more local regulation.
...aaaaaaand now, only minutes later, I just got even stronger 50v cream from Miky's Beauty & Wigs across the street. It's a smaller bottle and it does say "For Professional Use Only," but they sold it to me no questions asked.
+Emmett Turner Brand is "Super star"
I got the 40% at Sally's yesterday. They couldn't sell me the 50% version.
+jef4130 Interesting. I'm going to guess that their employees just don't know where the line is drawn even though I got 50v across the street. :)
I did this with my sons pearl syncussion-x electronic drums which turned yellow over the years and now there back to there original ivory white. Although I used a box lined with aluminum foil and used ultraviolet led straps. Took about 2 days total for each drum pad. Did not effect the logo on the drum pads. This process works great.
My local chemist always looks at me funny when i ask if they sell these kinds of things, =P they already think I'm a drug lord because I buy Pseudo-fed lol.
Isopropyl, cotton buds and Hydrogen peroxide the retro-gamers must have kit.
Finally, someone figured out a lazy way to do this :D. I've been wanting to do this, but I didn't want to go through the trouble of buying and mixing everything.
Who would even thumb this video down.
Because he didn't show the end result, I guess.
Also he didn't take his shirt off the entire video.
Hey The iBookGuy, you should have so many more subs and views! It looks like you put a lot of time in your videos! Also you're super creative!
Soak in hydrogen peroxide and place in sunlight all day. Works great for Lego bricks
I do Star Wars toys.
I have a friend who does this on Stormtrooper figures. Kind of fun. I just used this to restore a working pair of swim googles to look good.
Hi i used this method on my novation launchkeys 49 and they return pearl white, but in a month period they return to yellow again.
Any suggestions?. I used 40vol salon cream and layed them in the sun with nylon film for a day. I repeated the procedure several times but having same results
H2O2 not 02
Thanks for video. I have used regular peroxide for cleaning Star Wars toys for a while. Soak them in a jar and put them in the sun for about a weak and it works. This looks so much faster. I will have to try this to clean up next batch of toys I find.
Nice, jou can even clean the EPROM's is one go... ;-)
One thing that I've had success with myself is mixing the hair developing kit with water. This actually prevents the otherwise streaking issue that you had with the Osbourne.
Looks like a good way to restore stuff to mint condition before selling to collectors
True, but some people would think it has already been brightened.
Nice video! I have one question: did you put it over the Apple IIe logo on the top cover? Do you think it could fade logos or the colorful apple emblem? Thanks!
instead of using artificial uv light use natural which is sun
Look like someone didn't watch the video...
It depend where our from if you in country such as UK where you get couple minutes of warm weather then shirt to cloudy low temperatures you not going to crack much results from that
I got a Dell Quietkey from my school's scrap electronics bin. It works perfectly. I'm cleaning it up now.
The main ingredient of oxy clean is hydrogen peroxide.
+The 8-Bit Guy
Another question: I sold a used blood pressure monitor online. Before shipping it, I used isopropyl alcohol to clean the clear plastic that covers the LED readout. Turns out that instead of making the clear plastic appear newer, it actually gave it a hazy white finish that I couldn't remove. Going forward, what is the best way to clean transparent plastic that covers a digital readout on a device?