Yep. Just normal dish soap mixed with water works great. If it's bad a toothbrush and rubbing alcohol works great. I've actually brought a few electronics back to life by going over the PCB with a toothbrush and iso alcohol.
@@nojuanatall3281 The alcohol has the added benefit of dissolving old rosin flux from the soldering process, which can cause problems when it starts to break down, and of course it looks a lot better with that off of there! It also makes it easier to see cracked solder joints.
Yep 100%. Starting with a non-abrasive household surface cleaner (as they also have de-greasing chemicals) then finishing with lots of soapy water and rinsing well to remove any residue! Then going over the cleaning with a dry magic eraser sponge will remove any porous scuffs or dirt. That's the reason the edges of the transparent GBA case stayed yellow: Dirt and grease. I would never use alcohol on plastics unless I am sure it is absolutely safe! PCB's yes, PCE plastic cases: No!
One thing that might be worth checking is whether or not the clear container is transparent to UV light. Even though the container is clear (transparent to visible light), that may not necessarily mean that it is transparent to UV light. Polycarbonate, for example, can look clear or transparent to a degree, but it can appear very opaque from the perspective of UV light since it can act as a filter for most of that part of the spectrum.
I think a glass container would be better, but often those are smaller/shallow than we actually need. I had an idea for a good container for this, but would have to be manufactured: i.ibb.co/SxhkZMx/retro.png -The lid is longer enough to cover around half of the container. -Insert the peroxyde up until you find it good enough, since the lid is big enough to act as a bowl. -Put the yellowed plastic inside it (I still prefer it submerged) -Put the container on top -Insert a rubber-like seal that you can insert after closing the container And if you have any UV light bulb around, make use of it or leave it at the sun.
My understanding from Simon's tweets about this is that UV isn't needed for this at all. UV is simply being used as a heat source to accelerate the process. You can literally do this indoors with no UV, it'll just take way longer. As an alternative to the sun, buy a small heater from Amazon or an aquarium store and use that to heat the peroxide.
@@You-gk1el maybe glass under direct sunlight may cause some damage if the light gets amplified, it sure is interesting, but it may be better to try that when it's cloud or during summer heat.
Just tried this method today on an old Macintosh and it worked extremely well. The color is so even and not overdone at all. Think looks almost brand new.
OddTinkering and other channels have a method where they use a plastic box, hydrogen peroxide, UV light strips, and some heating clamps to retrobright things in. It seems to give the best, most consistent results without leaving streaks. They just weigh everything down with large steel screws, set it and forget it till the next day. It seems like it might take some more setup time having to assemble everything but if you really do care about getting rid of all the yellow and looking as nice as possible, it seems like the best method and it's not even close.
With liquid peroxide you need longer session though, unless you use a quite powerful source of UV light. But you seems to get more even result, even if depends on the original state of the shell. I personally prefer the cream because when wrapped, it keeps temperature and vapors that makes the whole process faster. I normally do 12h sessions and 24h sessions for more extreme cases. With the liquid sometimes you need days.
@@Sacren365 They need be stainless because the peroxide will remove most platings and the screws will flash rust. UV doesn't reverse the yellowing (it's just a heat source) so it doesn't matter if you throw the screws on top.
Just want to share what has worked for me since this isnt a well documented topic. I got a large tub similar to the one in your video and lined it with aluminum foil. Used food grade hydrogen peroxide on the inside, it can be in contact or not (it won't damage the shell). Then cut a hole in the lid to fit a larger uv lamp. Leave it for a few days and it looks incredible. You can get a few USB UV strips as well but it is very very slow. Comes out even and much newer looking. I did it on a snes Jr and Japanese Saturn to great success.
Although UV helps in the process restore the color. I wonder if the UV will cause the plastic to be brittle eventually or if that is ok because it's not exposed for too long. I picked up some plastic that was outside for some time and it was all brittle and fell apart. But maybe it takes a long time for plastic to get to that point.
From my experience, the best was was dunking them in Hydrogen peroxide mixed with water and don't worry leaving in the sun or UV. But need to keep an eye after a day or so so it doesnt pass to the point that becomes too white. This way the results are more consistent and without marks. Why t his method? If you rely on SUN or PLASTIC to try to put hair cream (40% vol) it can make streak marks or uneven whitening. (when I did on my Super Nes with hair cream and plastic to try to keep it moist in the sun, it created several plastic marks, its pretty hard to keep mixing to try to get an even exposure to sun and cream). With some controllers shells I had better results by just sinking them and not using lights. But I left them too long so they became more white than I wanted, but no uneven whitening.
Exactly. For my past two projects, a Boss tuner cover from the 1980's and a Fender P Bass pick guard, I put them in water with a few healthy splashes of peroxide. I didn't measure the water nor the peroxide, and left them both in open containers for 2-3 days until I was satisfied with the results.
Yeah I’m pretty sure the method he shows is the old method as I’ve seen it a lot, I do the same thing as you but I put it in a box with uv lights and reflective foil and it works amazingly
Another thing to keep an eye out for when doing any kind of retr0brite method: metallic parts. They can quickly oxidize (rust) or corrode. So things like springs (like from an eject mechanism), screws, metallic labels (like Commodore 64 badges), thread inserts, and other metallic objects. Classic Mac's used metallic paint sprayed inside the shells for RF shielding instead of more traditional metallic shielding. These cannot be submerged in liquid peroxide as a result, and I would guess vapor would also interact with this coating. You will still need to use the more traditional method of applying cream to the plastics (avoiding the interior), wrapping in saran wrap, placing in the sun or under a UV light, and massage the saran wrap every so often to try an minimize/prevent streaking.
@@androxilogin Painter's or masking tape can work if using the "brush on cream" method. Optionally, you can take a hair dryer and heat up the adhesive, then carefully slide dental floss underneath to peel the badge off, minimizing the risk of bending it.
Thank you, I was already excitedly planning to apply this new gas method to my Mac Classic and you likely saved me from making a huge mistake. I had no idea that those peculiar shell interiors were sprayed with metallic paint. Makes sense now and I'm happy I decided against submerging it last month. I just don't have the guts to try the saran wrap-massaging technique, I'm too scared of irreversibly striking it. If it was a deep, browny yellow I probably would attempt it, but tbh it's not that bad.
I saw 8 bit guy experimenting with this and I wasn't too convinced by the results he had. Saving some money on the amount of peroxide and most notably not having to submerge the shells is definitely a major plus. Now I have the urge to jump up and do it right now. Always interesting to see your takeaways, you get some extraordinary shots that really do these consoles justice!
Tried our this technique today on my PAL SNES console. This technique is genius it worked flawlessly on mine. No hint or any yellowing after 9-10 hours today using 12% peroxide. Beauty part as the day was hot here too. Perfect day for it. Thanks for this method. 👌🏻👍🏻
This was very interesting! Something I will try next time, BUT with some other things you didn’t mention: if you need to vapor the units, is better to leave them on a grill rather than a flat plastic box, so the vapor goes under as well. The second, and very important: clean the consoles with dishwasher before starting the process. I see the NEC controller was dirty on the back, and if you remove it, the yellow will stay behind.
I've been using a similar method for a couple years now. I put liquid in a tupperware container (or an empty lunch meat container), submerge the plastic face down, and leave the container sitting by a sunny window. I've had incredible results. Granted it's all been small devices so far and nothing as big as a console, but for those I'd just use extra liquid and something to weigh down the shell.
I went the odd tinkering route and built my own UV box and submerge my items in 12% Hydrogen Peroxide and heat it up.The process is easy(after building everything lol) and I get the best results from it. The only thing about this is like you mentioned requires a lot more safety since your working with 128oz+ amounts of 12% peroxide and heating it up. It gives me incredible results and doesn't take as long maybe 8 hours. Side Note: I appreciate that this method does make it a tad bit safer and on a smaller scale and while the above method is great, It gets expensive quick..
This method saves money because you don't need as much peroxide, and it's also a little safer on things like stickers and badges. I do agree that full submersion gives the best results, but sometimes it simply isn't practical because of the size of some of these items.
@@lookitskazzy I've always put it in with stickers and badges and never had any issues with that, the adhesive isn't even falling or peeling when take them out.
@@PixlByPixl Not for me. My NES lost it's red "Nintendo Entertainment System" logo from the top lid. I bought a new one from china, but it's not like the original, the colors doesn't match and the logo is bigger than the original. I wish I knew this vaporized method before. Submerging it's the worst method.
Hey Tito big fan, love all of your videos brother, I recently tried this method over the weekend with my snes and wow!!!!! The results were fantastic, thank you for showing this method. I did 2 passes, so 2 days, one day was for about 4hrs, second day was about 10hrs. I highly recommend this method, as long as you have the right products, some time and patience and a hot day does help you get some fanatstic results. Thanks again brother!!!!
For any retrobrighting the items need to absolutely squeaky clean. And that includes any cleaners/chemicals used for cleaning. I’m currently building a kit to do this indoor, using a propagation tanks and thermostatically controlled heat pad, plus a full spectrum UV light. If you’re doing this indoors, not just (proper) gloves and goggles, but also some kind of respirator.
100% Mr Lurch. That's clearly the reason his transparent GBA was still yellowed in the spots where greasy hands were present. You could see the oily grease before and after.
Did this with a bottle of 35% I had laying around. In a much smaller container. It worked great and it's especially great for things that are hard to take apart but still contain electronics, since you don't have to submerge them in liquid. I did this with a second hand Lego Mindstorms NXT I bought a few years ago and was very yellowed. Now looks like new. It even made the orange parts look more vibrant
It seems to be universal that many people doing this process haven't bothered too look into the various elements involved in the process, especially the actual chemical reactions that are occur and how to stop some of these from happening while taking advantage of the process of "reversing" the "yellowing" of the plastic. A few people on TH-cam have created their own specialised containers to improve their efficiencies in the "RetroBrite" process and to help speed up the rate at which the chemical reactions occur. Here's what you should take note of: 1.) Artificial UV Lighting is more reliable than natural daylight. 2.) A purpose built container made from the right type of material with the correct modifications applied to improve thermal efficiency and light refraction & reflection within the container. 3.) The correct type of Hydrogen Peroxide with NO ADDITIVES !!! 4.) Sufficient protection of the hands, face, &, skin. Adequate ventilation is also critical! 5.) Genuine UV LED's and not faux-UV LED's which are VERY COMMON and often mis-sold as being genuine UV LED's. 6.) Heat IS REQUIRED! But you MUST BE CAREFUL! If you mess this up you could have more than just minor chemical skin burns to deal with, so a properly maintained heating element with highly precise temperature control & regulation is a MUST. Adding heat can massively improve the effectiveness of the process as well as obviously aid in speeding it up which means you may only require a single 24-Hour cycle in your DIY RetroBrite chamber for the process to be sufficiently effective. 7.) Give the chemical reaction ample time to occur, a minimum of 24-Hours should be your baseline, although you may sometimes need to give the target material another coating/submersion of the Hydrogen Peroxide and leave it in the container for another 24-Hours. Remember that researching into this process will be your best friend to getting the best outcome possible, and, if the idea of using harmful & hazardous chemicals scares you then my advice is to either seek the assistance of a genuinely qualified chemical expert, OR, don't do any RetroBriting and instead just buy a replacement shell and sell your current shell on eBay or similar with a note attached to mention that it needs to be processed via RetroBriting. Chemicals are dangerous, handle them with respect and use them responsibly! You can only have one opportunity too see with your eyes, you can numerous opportunities to replace the plastic shell on a games console! Safety First!
@@celestialstar6450 @ScissorKickPro I did but I don't think I did everything correct. It brightened up a bit but I don't think it was hot enough. Also the plastic tub wasnt the best I think for the UV rays. Lastly I didn't have the best "sun" spot. Under ideal conditions I bet it does work but didn't work well when I did. But I will try again once summer comes around again
I have a dedicated H2O2 bath in my workroom that's covered in LED UV strips and then covered in aluminum foil. H2O2 cream or straight H2O2 mixed with water and I just submerge the plastic, weighted down with either stainless steel bolts or glass cups. Takes a bit longer, a day or so depending on the plastic, but I've never had a problem with streaking because of it or noticed the plastic being weaker. All I do is flip the lights on, submerge, cover, and forget it for a couple days.
Hi there, i tried this method on my grail vintage keyboard and it worked amazing!!! The result was far better than i could ever dream of. Thank you so much for bringing this method to light
I would love a follow up video where you run it thru this method 2 to 3 times to see if the process works even more and brightens and brings back the original color more than just one time.
@@MachoNachoProductions I did find you on Twitter separately, but your link in the description leads to what seems to be an old account? Just might wanna update that! Thanks for the video!
Wow, you did great, i used to do just like that, but i would bag each piece and leave for at least 12h, and if its still very yellow it can have another 12 hour of sun bath. i just find your channel and im loving it! you rock, keep doing your thing mate !
Apologies if already mentioned in the video, as I skimmed a few sections. I would recommend thoroughly cleaning the shells prior to retro-brighting. I soak in water and dish soap for an hour or so, then scrub manually. I've tried the sous-vide method a couple years ago, which was a pain, but did work well. It actually bleached my wavebird because I left it in too long! I've just settled on submerging it in peroxide and surrounding with UV LEDs. Will have to try this method in the summer, though; cut back on the amount of peroxide used.
Very happy you did this one, so much better this way. What I would like to know is does it need to be outside or is there a way to do it indoors? Edit after reading comments below............ So from I see, this can be done indoors and just requires a heat source.... building off your method in the video, I am thinking a heat blanket under the lid base (with maybe a lightly deeper lid), use a shallow container for less head space and better gas containment and concentration at item level. holy snot...... I already have a device on order that would do this...... heat and vaporize a liquid to gas and vacuum sealed? Yup, just checked, it also has a Nebulizer and is designed for polishing 3D PLA & ABS Prints with gas. TOPPOSH...... as long as it is not a scam campaign
Reducing the headspace in the container is for sure a good idea, at the very least it'll be a more efficient use of peroxide. I'd also consider glass containers if you can swing it since they're less occlusive. In a perfect world I imagine you'd do this in a big ol' vacuum bell jar so you could evacuate some air and really get the peroxide vapor concentration high in the vessel.
Clever! I'll be trying this on my NES Advantage stick. I've been lucky enough that none of my retro consoles have been affected by yellowing so the joystick is the only thing I have that would be worth doing this process on. Excited to try it! I'll send the results on twitter whenever I get to it.
Hey, congrats for 100,000 subscribers. Not sure when it happened and if I am late to notice, but I just saw it. You certainly earned it. Your viewers can set a watch by your video releases (which certainly cannot be said about my channel), the quality is always spot on and we can rely on interesting content. Keep it up for the next zero in that number and the golden button! :)
THIS METHOD CAN BE USED WITH REGULAR 3% HYDROGEN PEROXIDE! You just need the best conditions possible, an enclosed warm space, a glass air-tight container, and direct sunlight for 6 hours (I think). It worked wonders for my white gba shell and my yellowed clear gameboy pocket shell.
For handhelds if you aren't a crazy originalist it's the way to go. I can pick up new shells with a glass screen lens, new buttons, new pads, and they throw in screwdrivers and new labels for under $10. Crazy.
My method to alleviate the uneven and streaking using the HP creams, is to give them a rub down with the plastic wrap still on the parts, every few hours. This ensures the cream isn't concentrated to any one spot for too long. I've done it this way a number of times and have never had uneven whitening. The downside as you mentioned is the decals sometimes get bleached and it takes significantly longer to reach the desired results. Usually about a week depending on the severity of the yellowing. That said I'm excited to try this new method out.
Possibly add a curved plastic sheet to the bottom (used on top) to prevent condensation from collecting on top and potentially dropping droplets on the shells. That could result with polka dots on the shell if they’re left to sit for hours.
I like the vapor method. In my opinion it restores my vintage Macintosh computer cases back to the original color. Other methods in which the H2O2 comes in direct contact with the plastic results in over-bleaching to a platinum look. That fine if that's your desire, but over-bleaching doesn't last. After a couple of year the bromine in the plastic works its way back to the surface of the plastic returning it to a beige/yellow color. A platinum colored 68K vintage Mac is a sure sign that the case has been retrObrighted.
This reminds me of something that kids used to do back in Middle School in the mid 90's. We had those big baggy Jinco Jeans and the styles were unique at the time. But, a lot of kids started using Peroxide to dye their hair to like a copper orange. It was a big deal for a while. Great episode.
Little update, so i've learned that despite leaving it out for 24 hours it only works to a certain point. Submerging still remains the best result at a higher cost due to needing 1-2 gallons of peroxide per run. However this method is the best for pieces that have laser printing on it such as snes power buttons.
didnt know that the vapor had such a nice impact, I did this a year ago for my dmg, small container but i soaked it in hydrogen peroxide [the medical one that is used as disinfectant tho, not a dedicated one], and yeah, a lot of condensation that i tought it wasnt important honestly. i had some really good results, but since i tought that submerging the shell was what did the trick, i didnt tried on my old snes and nes, because it would require much more liquid, but i'll do that for sure, this video really open up a whole new world on retrobrighting for me.
Great addition to restorations. I may have to try it in the future. Here's what I do for mine. Clear shoebox and the sun for 4-7 days on both sides (if needed). Incredibly long wait time, but the results have all been consistent. No chemicals added so they are good to go.
@@MarkFrankJPNYes. Just a box, system shell, sunlight and a week or 2. It's just basically a waiting game to notice the difference. As long as your area has constant exposure to the sun it should work. The box is to prevent any outside weather - rain, dirt and debris. The method itself is based on bone bleaching from the sun.
If you clean the shells thoroughly, like in an ultrasonic cleaner I think you'll get better results. The oils from handling probably held back some of the bleaching. I use simple green for about 30 minutes in an ultrasonic cleaner and it takes all the dirt and oil off first.
This is one of the reason I preferred the cream with cling film rather than liquid peroxide: the cling film traps the vapor from the chemical reaction. Definitely heat has an important role in the process, and that's why at direct sunlight it always works better. Probably with vapor you get better distribution but dunno if would work as well without direct sunlight.
This method looks very promising! I am going to try this this on one of my yellow/brown Dreamcast console. Even tho "creame solution" in sun metod works good, this looks less messy and easy to do.
Interesting new method for applying hydrogen peroxide. Never actually retro-brightened before but noticed my dreamcasts yellowing like crazy in just a few months when tucked away in boxes with foam packaging material, cables and stuff. Weird thing is, they do de-yellow when put out and placed on a shelf in a bright living room (no direct sunlight to console though). It takes a few months but the result is quite noticable. One of them looked like cheese when I bought it four years ago and it looks just as good as new today. Once i used chlorine on some non-console plastics though, with great success, but i do avoid bringing my consoles in contact with chemicals, using only wet towels for cleaning for the most part.
This is strikes me as pretty similar to deposition and etching techniques in nanofab facilities. I bet the closer you get your setup to that kind of equipment the better your results will be. If you've got a couple hundred bucks to spend you might get a vacuum chamber to allow the hydrogen peroxide to diffuse more readily. Also if we're talking purely hypothetical, you could use a high power UV laser instead of the sun. And you cloud fill the container with argon when it's not in use so reactive gasses are less likely to interfere with the chemistry.
The 8-bit guy who you showed the footage of streaking figured out this "new" method years ago. He has a comprehensive video where he goes over a bunch of potential methods. However he never did it in a crafty way like this with a large container, so thanks.
I have a backyard finally as of two weeks ago (hurray! lol), so when things settle down around here I was just going to try the old "submerge everything in hydrogen peroxide and leave it in the sun forever" type of this, but good to know if that doesn't work very well there's this option! Great video Tito!
So you could probably get a more reliable setup by, like some commenters have stated, cleaning the shells first in dish soap. But you could also buy a small heat pad and some UV lights to be able to control the results better.
In my experience, streaking only occurs when the plastic is dirty before the process. Cleaning it good with a degreaser (simple green) while scrubbing with a plastic brush, then rinsing with water and drying it is a good prep. I have never gotten streaks with that method, and the brightening is more effective by far. Also, that plastic is blocking about 60% of the UV, so I would use glass like an aquarium for this method. (seal it with cling wrap)
This new retr0bright method really caught my eye on this as I also wanted to learn how to do retr0bright for some of my consoles and vintage computers that had yellowed plastic. For instance, I have an early 2000s Compaq tower computer that had yellowing on the front plastic case panel, as well as a discolored blue reset button from my Japanese Sega Mega Drive (Genesis). I’ve never tried retr0brighting a yellowed plastic shell before, so this method might be my first try at doing something like this (with the necessary safety precautions of course). Really interesting video! I would love to try this retr0bright method in the future and see how well it turns out!
@@onyxx300_ The person who innovated the idea spelled it with a zero. I think there was a web domain registered for sharing ideas and methods, and the traditional spelling was taken.
This is how I whiten G1 Transformers and the results are dazzling! The best part is there's no need to remove stickers and rubsigns, and you don't have to repaint.
Here is my experience with RetroBrighting: AVOID CREAMS. Just clean your stuff for good, then submerge it with peroxide in a very hot and very sunny summer day and you’ll be fine. Remember to move the container (no cover) during the day according to the shadow, if necessary.
Does this process affect the colored parts? I'm trying to restore a Lugia figure from Pokemon, which is light gray and has some blue parts also, should I do this?
I like this method because it uses much less peroxide. You don't need gallons to completely submerge the item(s). I wonder if the H2O2 is actually evaporating and condensing on the parts, or if that's just water vapor. H2O2 breaks down into H2O and O, leaving a free oxygen atom that usually quickly combines with another free oxygen atom to form the more stable O2. Most theories believe is those free oxygen atoms that do most of the work, so this method does make sense to trap the oxygen in the container and allow it time to break down the chromophores. Even if the container is opaque to UV, the inside will heat up from just from solar heating and the heat will break down the peroxide.
Simon Lock did an awesome job restoring and modding my Sega Saturn a few years back at a reasonable price. Took a hell of a long time, but I think it was reasonable. Life happens.
This is really interesting. I usually fully submerge plastics in a tub of 12-15% hydrogen peroxide, but I leave the container open, plus I have to weigh down the shells with Blu-tak which often comes loose allowing them to float on the surface which impacts the effectiveness of the treatment. I've had mixed results, but never any streaking or discolouration. However, this method seems far more economical, and resolves the floating issue. I'll be trying this on a smaller scale with a GameCube front panel. It could be a game changer.
Cool idea, and looks fairly effective as well. Several years ago, I lined a large cardboard box with foil, with an LED UV grow lamp mounted in it. Works very well with the HO2 hair products, and can be done in my garage, so I'm not beholden to the weather.
Awesome video! One quick comment about your PPE, I would highly recommend splash goggles instead of just safety glasses. Hydrogen Peroxide in those concentrations can do some nasty stuff to you (as you realized with the small burn) and is something that you really want to avoid getting in your eyes. You'd have to mess up pretty bad to make a splash that big, but it's not worth rolling the dice on.
For the troubles in this process, you can do as I teach in my video (older than yours): th-cam.com/video/hdck8loR8OE/w-d-xo.html I just put the H2O2 on a glass and, in that, some piece of copper for react, releasing oxygen. This oxygen reacts with bromine of ABS plastics.
Bro thank you so much for this! I just got two Japanese V-Saturns systems (Sega Saturn from JVC) trying to get rid of the yellow stains off the system.
I have a 1988 Macintosh SE that is quite discolored. Between it and its accessories, I might consider trying this method. The only issue is that taking the plastic off keyboards and disk drives is a lot more challenging than with the shells of consoles and controllers.
I bought H2O2 meant for pool water threatment. It is a 50 50 mix of pure peroxide and water, way stronger and waaay cheaper than anything else I found.
Forget about the creams chemicals and plastic boxes, put your plastic outside in the sun Thats is! Takes a bit longer, but gives a great result ❤️ Think its called sun-brighting and there is some good videos on it, cant belive noone is talking more about it
@@MachoNachoProductions This combined with UV Leds would be the ultimate way to retro-bright on my opinion, no need to rely on good weather (And a safe place to put the devices outdoors if you don't have a backyard) and less liquid used. But I wonder how could you achieve the condensation indoors, maybe a water heater would be enough?
Good method, but I still prefer a MDF wooden box, with 2 15w lamps, so I don't need to depend on the daytime sun... (on my channel I made a recent video showing this) and I can simply let the UV light bath act at night, until dawn, all the time, even if it's sunny outside or the moon... inside the box, I have the whitening production all the time, even if it's dark outside LOL... congratulations on your video!
Surely hydrogen peroxide 'vapor' is just oxygen? Hydrogen peroxide breaks down into water and oxygen in the presence of UV light. I expect the UV light has something to do with the oxygen reacting with the chemicals in the plastic too. I wonder if we could just set up a box with oxygen gas and UV light? That would be great, because we wouldn't even need to disassemble the object to be treated.
Questions: 1. Can you over-brighten these devices? What is the max limit to leave these in? Will it damage the parts rebrightening many times? 2. Does hotter temperatures make faster brightening? 3. Is this animal safe? 4. Does this change texture / feel of certain buttons or mattes. 5. Would pressurizing the bin increase results? 6. Does this work for any other materials? Are there consoles/ devices that SHOULD NOT be brightened? I think that's all I got rn.
You can also leave them just out exposed to direct bright sunlight for a couple of days without anything else.. Works on most console cases. Second best methode: Just dunk them in a bin with diluted h2o2 and hit it with uv light (sun or artificial). No need for such a fuzz with airtight containers and vapors.
> You can also leave them just out exposed to direct bright sunlight for a couple of days without anything else. Considering that repeated exposure to sunlight is a major contributing factor to plastic yellowing and becoming brittle that doesn't sound like a great idea.
Thanks for sharing this method! I'm def going to have to try it! If you don't mind a suggestion, you may have gotten better results if you cleaned the parts with either dish soap and water or in an ultrasonic cleaner first. I bet the PC Engine console shell and controller would have great results but cleaning them first.
I would suggest, given the concentration of the hydrogen peroxide, to get protective eyewear that has a sealable gasket as well. This will prevent the fumes from making contact with your eyes instead of preventing splashes to the eyes. I would also recommend you do this in a well ventilated area. If outside, as you were, I would also recommend being upwind from the container so the fumes won’t be blown toward you when the containers are open.
Finally home from work, time to kick back and watch some Machonacho! Edit - You should check out the setup that OddTinkering uses, he has a cool little box that he shows you how to make. His come out flawless.
You should have cleaned the shells, especially the PCE ones, beforehand. They probably could've turned out better without all the dirt and crust.
Yep. Just normal dish soap mixed with water works great. If it's bad a toothbrush and rubbing alcohol works great.
I've actually brought a few electronics back to life by going over the PCB with a toothbrush and iso alcohol.
@@nojuanatall3281 The alcohol has the added benefit of dissolving old rosin flux from the soldering process, which can cause problems when it starts to break down, and of course it looks a lot better with that off of there! It also makes it easier to see cracked solder joints.
I was thinking the same thing. that pc engine shell could've used a soapy bath first.
I killed a commodore 1084 bezel with alcohol :(
Use it carefully!
Yep 100%. Starting with a non-abrasive household surface cleaner (as they also have de-greasing chemicals) then finishing with lots of soapy water and rinsing well to remove any residue! Then going over the cleaning with a dry magic eraser sponge will remove any porous scuffs or dirt. That's the reason the edges of the transparent GBA case stayed yellow: Dirt and grease. I would never use alcohol on plastics unless I am sure it is absolutely safe! PCB's yes, PCE plastic cases: No!
One thing that might be worth checking is whether or not the clear container is transparent to UV light. Even though the container is clear (transparent to visible light), that may not necessarily mean that it is transparent to UV light. Polycarbonate, for example, can look clear or transparent to a degree, but it can appear very opaque from the perspective of UV light since it can act as a filter for most of that part of the spectrum.
I think a glass container would be better, but often those are smaller/shallow than we actually need.
I had an idea for a good container for this, but would have to be manufactured:
i.ibb.co/SxhkZMx/retro.png
-The lid is longer enough to cover around half of the container.
-Insert the peroxyde up until you find it good enough, since the lid is big enough to act as a bowl.
-Put the yellowed plastic inside it (I still prefer it submerged)
-Put the container on top
-Insert a rubber-like seal that you can insert after closing the container
And if you have any UV light bulb around, make use of it or leave it at the sun.
Super interesting! I wonder how much actual uv light goes through the container? That would be a good study
My understanding from Simon's tweets about this is that UV isn't needed for this at all. UV is simply being used as a heat source to accelerate the process. You can literally do this indoors with no UV, it'll just take way longer.
As an alternative to the sun, buy a small heater from Amazon or an aquarium store and use that to heat the peroxide.
@@MachoNachoProductions I think using glass like an aquarium would maybe be a better choice. Not sure what glass properties would deflect Uv light
@@You-gk1el maybe glass under direct sunlight may cause some damage if the light gets amplified, it sure is interesting, but it may be better to try that when it's cloud or during summer heat.
Just tried this method today on an old Macintosh and it worked extremely well. The color is so even and not overdone at all. Think looks almost brand new.
One thing to recommend, always clean the shell well to make sure it is clean as possible, and I think a completely transparent shell would benefit.
Totally agree!
what the frick
OddTinkering and other channels have a method where they use a plastic box, hydrogen peroxide, UV light strips, and some heating clamps to retrobright things in. It seems to give the best, most consistent results without leaving streaks. They just weigh everything down with large steel screws, set it and forget it till the next day. It seems like it might take some more setup time having to assemble everything but if you really do care about getting rid of all the yellow and looking as nice as possible, it seems like the best method and it's not even close.
I can’t remember, do you know if Odd uses plain steel screws or stainless steel? I remember hearing one of them leaves marks on the plastic.
With liquid peroxide you need longer session though, unless you use a quite powerful source of UV light. But you seems to get more even result, even if depends on the original state of the shell.
I personally prefer the cream because when wrapped, it keeps temperature and vapors that makes the whole process faster.
I normally do 12h sessions and 24h sessions for more extreme cases.
With the liquid sometimes you need days.
The nice thing with this method is there’s no need to weight things down.
@@Sacren365 They need be stainless because the peroxide will remove most platings and the screws will flash rust. UV doesn't reverse the yellowing (it's just a heat source) so it doesn't matter if you throw the screws on top.
Came to mention OddTinkering as well, the one channel I’ve ever seen this done so good.
Wow, it definitely looks more manageable than previous methods, this I might try on my GBA shell and SNES controller
It’s great! Totally agree on how manageable the process is
Just want to share what has worked for me since this isnt a well documented topic. I got a large tub similar to the one in your video and lined it with aluminum foil. Used food grade hydrogen peroxide on the inside, it can be in contact or not (it won't damage the shell). Then cut a hole in the lid to fit a larger uv lamp. Leave it for a few days and it looks incredible. You can get a few USB UV strips as well but it is very very slow. Comes out even and much newer looking. I did it on a snes Jr and Japanese Saturn to great success.
Although UV helps in the process restore the color. I wonder if the UV will cause the plastic to be brittle eventually or if that is ok because it's not exposed for too long. I picked up some plastic that was outside for some time and it was all brittle and fell apart. But maybe it takes a long time for plastic to get to that point.
From my experience, the best was was dunking them in Hydrogen peroxide mixed with water and don't worry leaving in the sun or UV. But need to keep an eye after a day or so so it doesnt pass to the point that becomes too white. This way the results are more consistent and without marks.
Why t his method? If you rely on SUN or PLASTIC to try to put hair cream (40% vol) it can make streak marks or uneven whitening.
(when I did on my Super Nes with hair cream and plastic to try to keep it moist in the sun, it created several plastic marks, its pretty hard to keep mixing to try to get an even exposure to sun and cream). With some controllers shells I had better results by just sinking them and not using lights. But I left them too long so they became more white than I wanted, but no uneven whitening.
This is exactly what I did, except I used just hydrogen peroxide with no water, it worked brilliantly.
Exactly. For my past two projects, a Boss tuner cover from the 1980's and a Fender P Bass pick guard, I put them in water with a few healthy splashes of peroxide. I didn't measure the water nor the peroxide, and left them both in open containers for 2-3 days until I was satisfied with the results.
Yeah I’m pretty sure the method he shows is the old method as I’ve seen it a lot, I do the same thing as you but I put it in a box with uv lights and reflective foil and it works amazingly
Did you use regular grocery store peroxide or high concentration stuff?
@@infinity2z3r07 i got it from hairdressing accessory shop. I got mine in diluted form in 1l bottles.
Another thing to keep an eye out for when doing any kind of retr0brite method: metallic parts. They can quickly oxidize (rust) or corrode. So things like springs (like from an eject mechanism), screws, metallic labels (like Commodore 64 badges), thread inserts, and other metallic objects. Classic Mac's used metallic paint sprayed inside the shells for RF shielding instead of more traditional metallic shielding. These cannot be submerged in liquid peroxide as a result, and I would guess vapor would also interact with this coating. You will still need to use the more traditional method of applying cream to the plastics (avoiding the interior), wrapping in saran wrap, placing in the sun or under a UV light, and massage the saran wrap every so often to try an minimize/prevent streaking.
Good advice! Thanks!
Curious what you recommend doing with Commodore 64 badges. Painter's tape? Kapton?
@@androxilogin Painter's or masking tape can work if using the "brush on cream" method. Optionally, you can take a hair dryer and heat up the adhesive, then carefully slide dental floss underneath to peel the badge off, minimizing the risk of bending it.
@@koztech nice. Thanks. I wanted to avoid removing the adhesive. I bent a badge at one time over 20 years ago and still haven't forgiven myself.
Thank you, I was already excitedly planning to apply this new gas method to my Mac Classic and you likely saved me from making a huge mistake. I had no idea that those peculiar shell interiors were sprayed with metallic paint. Makes sense now and I'm happy I decided against submerging it last month. I just don't have the guts to try the saran wrap-massaging technique, I'm too scared of irreversibly striking it. If it was a deep, browny yellow I probably would attempt it, but tbh it's not that bad.
I saw 8 bit guy experimenting with this and I wasn't too convinced by the results he had. Saving some money on the amount of peroxide and most notably not having to submerge the shells is definitely a major plus. Now I have the urge to jump up and do it right now. Always interesting to see your takeaways, you get some extraordinary shots that really do these consoles justice!
Tried our this technique today on my PAL SNES console. This technique is genius it worked flawlessly on mine. No hint or any yellowing after 9-10 hours today using 12% peroxide. Beauty part as the day was hot here too. Perfect day for it.
Thanks for this method. 👌🏻👍🏻
This was very interesting! Something I will try next time, BUT with some other things you didn’t mention: if you need to vapor the units, is better to leave them on a grill rather than a flat plastic box, so the vapor goes under as well. The second, and very important: clean the consoles with dishwasher before starting the process. I see the NEC controller was dirty on the back, and if you remove it, the yellow will stay behind.
I like the 8 bit Guy, you used his footage and even mentioned him in the description. Now I like you too.
I've been using a similar method for a couple years now. I put liquid in a tupperware container (or an empty lunch meat container), submerge the plastic face down, and leave the container sitting by a sunny window. I've had incredible results. Granted it's all been small devices so far and nothing as big as a console, but for those I'd just use extra liquid and something to weigh down the shell.
I went the odd tinkering route and built my own UV box and submerge my items in 12% Hydrogen Peroxide and heat it up.The process is easy(after building everything lol) and I get the best results from it.
The only thing about this is like you mentioned requires a lot more safety since your working with 128oz+ amounts of 12% peroxide and heating it up. It gives me incredible results and doesn't take as long maybe 8 hours.
Side Note: I appreciate that this method does make it a tad bit safer and on a smaller scale and while the above method is great, It gets expensive quick..
Have you tried only using UV light (no hydrogen peroxide) in the box but for a much longer period of time to get similarly satisfying results?
This method saves money because you don't need as much peroxide, and it's also a little safer on things like stickers and badges. I do agree that full submersion gives the best results, but sometimes it simply isn't practical because of the size of some of these items.
@@lookitskazzy I've always put it in with stickers and badges and never had any issues with that, the adhesive isn't even falling or peeling when take them out.
@@PixlByPixl Not for me. My NES lost it's red "Nintendo Entertainment System" logo from the top lid. I bought a new one from china, but it's not like the original, the colors doesn't match and the logo is bigger than the original. I wish I knew this vaporized method before. Submerging it's the worst method.
Hey Tito big fan, love all of your videos brother, I recently tried this method over the weekend with my snes and wow!!!!! The results were fantastic, thank you for showing this method. I did 2 passes, so 2 days, one day was for about 4hrs, second day was about 10hrs. I highly recommend this method, as long as you have the right products, some time and patience and a hot day does help you get some fanatstic results. Thanks again brother!!!!
For any retrobrighting the items need to absolutely squeaky clean. And that includes any cleaners/chemicals used for cleaning.
I’m currently building a kit to do this indoor, using a propagation tanks and thermostatically controlled heat pad, plus a full spectrum UV light.
If you’re doing this indoors, not just (proper) gloves and goggles, but also some kind of respirator.
100% Mr Lurch. That's clearly the reason his transparent GBA was still yellowed in the spots where greasy hands were present. You could see the oily grease before and after.
That's great. I was hesitant to retrobrite my Dreamcast but now I will give it a try, all I need is to find a similar Peroxide in my country.
Yep, same situation for me. My poor Dreamcast has also yellowed.
This video comes in a perfect time. I received my first SNES four days ago and it is a little yellowed. Thanks for this new method!
No problem! Hope you get amazing results!
dose the stickers come off the back?
Did this with a bottle of 35% I had laying around. In a much smaller container. It worked great and it's especially great for things that are hard to take apart but still contain electronics, since you don't have to submerge them in liquid.
I did this with a second hand Lego Mindstorms NXT I bought a few years ago and was very yellowed. Now looks like new. It even made the orange parts look more vibrant
It seems to be universal that many people doing this process haven't bothered too look into the various elements involved in the process, especially the actual chemical reactions that are occur and how to stop some of these from happening while taking advantage of the process of "reversing" the "yellowing" of the plastic.
A few people on TH-cam have created their own specialised containers to improve their efficiencies in the "RetroBrite" process and to help speed up the rate at which the chemical reactions occur.
Here's what you should take note of:
1.) Artificial UV Lighting is more reliable than natural daylight.
2.) A purpose built container made from the right type of material with the correct modifications applied to improve thermal efficiency and light refraction & reflection within the container.
3.) The correct type of Hydrogen Peroxide with NO ADDITIVES !!!
4.) Sufficient protection of the hands, face, &, skin.
Adequate ventilation is also critical!
5.) Genuine UV LED's and not faux-UV LED's which are VERY COMMON and often mis-sold as being genuine UV LED's.
6.) Heat IS REQUIRED! But you MUST BE CAREFUL!
If you mess this up you could have more than just minor chemical skin burns to deal with, so a properly maintained heating element with highly precise temperature control & regulation is a MUST.
Adding heat can massively improve the effectiveness of the process as well as obviously aid in speeding it up which means you may only require a single 24-Hour cycle in your DIY RetroBrite chamber for the process to be sufficiently effective.
7.) Give the chemical reaction ample time to occur, a minimum of 24-Hours should be your baseline, although you may sometimes need to give the target material another coating/submersion of the Hydrogen Peroxide and leave it in the container for another 24-Hours.
Remember that researching into this process will be your best friend to getting the best outcome possible, and, if the idea of using harmful & hazardous chemicals scares you then my advice is to either seek the assistance of a genuinely qualified chemical expert, OR, don't do any RetroBriting and instead just buy a replacement shell and sell your current shell on eBay or similar with a note attached to mention that it needs to be processed via RetroBriting.
Chemicals are dangerous, handle them with respect and use them responsibly!
You can only have one opportunity too see with your eyes, you can numerous opportunities to replace the plastic shell on a games console!
Safety First!
I legit was about to retrobrite this next week the old way but decided to TH-cam it one last time. Definitely going to try this way
did you end up trying it? curious about the results!
How did it turn out?
@@celestialstar6450 @ScissorKickPro I did but I don't think I did everything correct. It brightened up a bit but I don't think it was hot enough. Also the plastic tub wasnt the best I think for the UV rays. Lastly I didn't have the best "sun" spot. Under ideal conditions I bet it does work but didn't work well when I did. But I will try again once summer comes around again
Did this to a beige desktop pc from 20 years back and it works great if you let it sit for long enough. Thanks for sharing!
I have a dedicated H2O2 bath in my workroom that's covered in LED UV strips and then covered in aluminum foil. H2O2 cream or straight H2O2 mixed with water and I just submerge the plastic, weighted down with either stainless steel bolts or glass cups. Takes a bit longer, a day or so depending on the plastic, but I've never had a problem with streaking because of it or noticed the plastic being weaker. All I do is flip the lights on, submerge, cover, and forget it for a couple days.
Hi there, i tried this method on my grail vintage keyboard and it worked amazing!!! The result was far better than i could ever dream of. Thank you so much for bringing this method to light
Awesome!!
I would love a follow up video where you run it thru this method 2 to 3 times to see if the process works even more and brightens and brings back the original color more than just one time.
I’m planning to do that 👍. Perhaps not a dedicated video but post some pictures to Twitter
@@MachoNachoProductions I did find you on Twitter separately, but your link in the description leads to what seems to be an old account? Just might wanna update that! Thanks for the video!
@@redmage08 thank you for the heads up! Which link is bad? Is it the one to my Twitter?
@@MachoNachoProductions yeah the Twitter one
Updated! Thank you!
Wow, you did great, i used to do just like that, but i would bag each piece and leave for at least 12h, and if its still very yellow it can have another 12 hour of sun bath. i just find your channel and im loving it! you rock, keep doing your thing mate !
Wow ! that is the cleanest drive I have ever seen! I did wonder if vapour may have been a better option, this answers my question. Good job :)
Apologies if already mentioned in the video, as I skimmed a few sections. I would recommend thoroughly cleaning the shells prior to retro-brighting. I soak in water and dish soap for an hour or so, then scrub manually.
I've tried the sous-vide method a couple years ago, which was a pain, but did work well. It actually bleached my wavebird because I left it in too long! I've just settled on submerging it in peroxide and surrounding with UV LEDs. Will have to try this method in the summer, though; cut back on the amount of peroxide used.
Game changer! So glad you shared Simon’s method with us. Thanks Tito, can’t wait to give it a spin on a few DMG’s I have.
It's not new. You can do this indoor with since hear and UV light. Other channels have shown this before.
You’re most welcome buddy! I hope you get amazing results! Please share your results when you’re done 😁
Oh no 8 bit guy is going to lose his mind
Why?
Haha, I think he’ll like this method!
He’s brought a lot of attention to the retrobriting
@@MachoNachoProductions you should inform him for that method. He will be very happy for that
I thought this was an 8bitguy video just based on the title
Very happy you did this one, so much better this way. What I would like to know is does it need to be outside or is there a way to do it indoors?
Edit after reading comments below............ So from I see, this can be done indoors and just requires a heat source.... building off your method in the video, I am thinking a heat blanket under the lid base (with maybe a lightly deeper lid), use a shallow container for less head space and better gas containment and concentration at item level.
holy snot...... I already have a device on order that would do this...... heat and vaporize a liquid to gas and vacuum sealed? Yup, just checked, it also has a Nebulizer and is designed for polishing 3D PLA & ABS Prints with gas.
TOPPOSH...... as long as it is not a scam campaign
Reducing the headspace in the container is for sure a good idea, at the very least it'll be a more efficient use of peroxide. I'd also consider glass containers if you can swing it since they're less occlusive. In a perfect world I imagine you'd do this in a big ol' vacuum bell jar so you could evacuate some air and really get the peroxide vapor concentration high in the vessel.
Yes, the small the container you can use the more efficient it will be.
Clever! I'll be trying this on my NES Advantage stick. I've been lucky enough that none of my retro consoles have been affected by yellowing so the joystick is the only thing I have that would be worth doing this process on. Excited to try it! I'll send the results on twitter whenever I get to it.
Hey, congrats for 100,000 subscribers. Not sure when it happened and if I am late to notice, but I just saw it. You certainly earned it. Your viewers can set a watch by your video releases (which certainly cannot be said about my channel), the quality is always spot on and we can rely on interesting content. Keep it up for the next zero in that number and the golden button! :)
I’ve actually ruined a few retro console shells using the old methods (streaking or over bleaching), so I like this method better.
THIS METHOD CAN BE USED WITH REGULAR 3% HYDROGEN PEROXIDE! You just need the best conditions possible, an enclosed warm space, a glass air-tight container, and direct sunlight for 6 hours (I think). It worked wonders for my white gba shell and my yellowed clear gameboy pocket shell.
What do you mean an enclosed warm space could you elaborate?
3% is much easier to find, you're goated for this
Looks interesting. I've never tried brighting an old shell before. I usually get a new shell for whatever I'm fixing
For handhelds if you aren't a crazy originalist it's the way to go. I can pick up new shells with a glass screen lens, new buttons, new pads, and they throw in screwdrivers and new labels for under $10. Crazy.
This is great. Looks manageable and the results were reasonable for only 6 hours exposure. Easy cleanup and even color is plus.
Absolutely! I think it may be the simplest method.
My method to alleviate the uneven and streaking using the HP creams, is to give them a rub down with the plastic wrap still on the parts, every few hours. This ensures the cream isn't concentrated to any one spot for too long. I've done it this way a number of times and have never had uneven whitening. The downside as you mentioned is the decals sometimes get bleached and it takes significantly longer to reach the desired results. Usually about a week depending on the severity of the yellowing.
That said I'm excited to try this new method out.
Possibly add a curved plastic sheet to the bottom (used on top) to prevent condensation from collecting on top and potentially dropping droplets on the shells. That could result with polka dots on the shell if they’re left to sit for hours.
I like the vapor method. In my opinion it restores my vintage Macintosh computer cases back to the original color. Other methods in which the H2O2 comes in direct contact with the plastic results in over-bleaching to a platinum look. That fine if that's your desire, but over-bleaching doesn't last. After a couple of year the bromine in the plastic works its way back to the surface of the plastic returning it to a beige/yellow color. A platinum colored 68K vintage Mac is a sure sign that the case has been retrObrighted.
This reminds me of something that kids used to do back in Middle School in the mid 90's. We had those big baggy Jinco Jeans and the styles were unique at the time. But, a lot of kids started using Peroxide to dye their hair to like a copper orange. It was a big deal for a while. Great episode.
Little update, so i've learned that despite leaving it out for 24 hours it only works to a certain point. Submerging still remains the best result at a higher cost due to needing 1-2 gallons of peroxide per run. However this method is the best for pieces that have laser printing on it such as snes power buttons.
i use to put paper towel onto the plastic and soak/sprayed with Oxyclean. Results weren't bad. But will definitely try this method.
didnt know that the vapor had such a nice impact, I did this a year ago for my dmg, small container but i soaked it in hydrogen peroxide [the medical one that is used as disinfectant tho, not a dedicated one], and yeah, a lot of condensation that i tought it wasnt important honestly.
i had some really good results, but since i tought that submerging the shell was what did the trick, i didnt tried on my old snes and nes, because it would require much more liquid, but i'll do that for sure, this video really open up a whole new world on retrobrighting for me.
Great addition to restorations. I may have to try it in the future. Here's what I do for mine.
Clear shoebox and the sun for 4-7 days on both sides (if needed). Incredibly long wait time, but the results have all been consistent. No chemicals added so they are good to go.
So just a clear closed box?
@@MarkFrankJPNYes. Just a box, system shell, sunlight and a week or 2. It's just basically a waiting game to notice the difference. As long as your area has constant exposure to the sun it should work.
The box is to prevent any outside weather - rain, dirt and debris. The method itself is based on bone bleaching from the sun.
I've got a dogbone famicom controller in dire need of some restoration so looking forward to this.
This should work well for it!
If you clean the shells thoroughly, like in an ultrasonic cleaner I think you'll get better results. The oils from handling probably held back some of the bleaching. I use simple green for about 30 minutes in an ultrasonic cleaner and it takes all the dirt and oil off first.
Great video as always Tito!
This method seems to be basically the same as an acetone bath for 3d print smoothing, so the theory is sound!
Sound like yo’ mama, bruh
This is one of the reason I preferred the cream with cling film rather than liquid peroxide: the cling film traps the vapor from the chemical reaction. Definitely heat has an important role in the process, and that's why at direct sunlight it always works better.
Probably with vapor you get better distribution but dunno if would work as well without direct sunlight.
enjoy the streaks!
@@JohnZombi88 you'll still have streaks. Spray or evap....those are your only options
This method looks very promising! I am going to try this this on one of my yellow/brown Dreamcast console.
Even tho "creame solution" in sun metod works good, this looks less messy and easy to do.
I made my own box based on this concept with UV led lights and seedling heat pads that works super well for my needs.
Interesting new method for applying hydrogen peroxide. Never actually retro-brightened before but noticed my dreamcasts yellowing like crazy in just a few months when tucked away in boxes with foam packaging material, cables and stuff. Weird thing is, they do de-yellow when put out and placed on a shelf in a bright living room (no direct sunlight to console though). It takes a few months but the result is quite noticable. One of them looked like cheese when I bought it four years ago and it looks just as good as new today. Once i used chlorine on some non-console plastics though, with great success, but i do avoid bringing my consoles in contact with chemicals, using only wet towels for cleaning for the most part.
WOW 100K! Thats awesome Tito. Remember all us little people when youre at 1 Million ;)
Thanks to your Mum for the great camera work!
Haha will do 😁
This is strikes me as pretty similar to deposition and etching techniques in nanofab facilities. I bet the closer you get your setup to that kind of equipment the better your results will be. If you've got a couple hundred bucks to spend you might get a vacuum chamber to allow the hydrogen peroxide to diffuse more readily. Also if we're talking purely hypothetical, you could use a high power UV laser instead of the sun. And you cloud fill the container with argon when it's not in use so reactive gasses are less likely to interfere with the chemistry.
The 8-bit guy who you showed the footage of streaking figured out this "new" method years ago. He has a comprehensive video where he goes over a bunch of potential methods.
However he never did it in a crafty way like this with a large container, so thanks.
Yes, i was hoping for something really new, but after two minutes i thought, jeez this was just in several rmc channel videos.
Please link me the video where this method is shown. I thought I looked carefully but I may have missed it. Thank you 🙏
@@MachoNachoProductions titled "adventures in retrobright" from 5 years ago. Your video is still quite helpful thanks.
You just made up my mind. I’m using this method on my Sega Mark 3 and Famicom.
Howd the famicom come out?
Congrats on making it to 100k!! WELL DESERVED
I have a backyard finally as of two weeks ago (hurray! lol), so when things settle down around here I was just going to try the old "submerge everything in hydrogen peroxide and leave it in the sun forever" type of this, but good to know if that doesn't work very well there's this option! Great video Tito!
Nice! The one good thing about this method is that it uses a lot less hydrogen peroxide. I should have mentioned that in the pros and cons 😅
Love this method and will try it over the other methods if I need to restore the colors of old consoles. Well done!
I was nervous to do this to my Panasonic cube controller!! But it worked and it looks like new
Nice!
Is “outside - in nature” the first time Tito’s gone out of his way to make a visual joke?
I am here for it 🙌
😁
So you could probably get a more reliable setup by, like some commenters have stated, cleaning the shells first in dish soap. But you could also buy a small heat pad and some UV lights to be able to control the results better.
Oh wow, I've seen this method used with Acetone for smoothing out 3D prints, nice to see it can be used to clean up my old consoles!!
Acetone WILL damage plastic. Plastics dissolve quite well in acetone.
In my experience, streaking only occurs when the plastic is dirty before the process. Cleaning it good with a degreaser (simple green) while scrubbing with a plastic brush, then rinsing with water and drying it is a good prep. I have never gotten streaks with that method, and the brightening is more effective by far. Also, that plastic is blocking about 60% of the UV, so I would use glass like an aquarium for this method. (seal it with cling wrap)
Plastic brush? Which do you recommend?
This new retr0bright method really caught my eye on this as I also wanted to learn how to do retr0bright for some of my consoles and vintage computers that had yellowed plastic. For instance, I have an early 2000s Compaq tower computer that had yellowing on the front plastic case panel, as well as a discolored blue reset button from my Japanese Sega Mega Drive (Genesis). I’ve never tried retr0brighting a yellowed plastic shell before, so this method might be my first try at doing something like this (with the necessary safety precautions of course).
Really interesting video! I would love to try this retr0bright method in the future and see how well it turns out!
May I ask why you're replacing the "O" in retrobrite with a zero?
Nice Johnnie! I hope this method provides you with great results!
@@onyxx300_ The person who innovated the idea spelled it with a zero. I think there was a web domain registered for sharing ideas and methods, and the traditional spelling was taken.
This is how I whiten G1 Transformers and the results are dazzling! The best part is there's no need to remove stickers and rubsigns, and you don't have to repaint.
Here is my experience with RetroBrighting: AVOID CREAMS. Just clean your stuff for good, then submerge it with peroxide in a very hot and very sunny summer day and you’ll be fine. Remember to move the container (no cover) during the day according to the shadow, if necessary.
Does this process affect the colored parts? I'm trying to restore a Lugia figure from Pokemon, which is light gray and has some blue parts also, should I do this?
@@dantealexander9863 I wouldn’t know for sure; but it didn’t discolored the PCE logo.
Do you use regular peroxide or the instable one he uses?
@@robertramirez3038 Just a generic 5lt bottle found on eBay. It was listed as “for pool cleaning”
I like this method because it uses much less peroxide. You don't need gallons to completely submerge the item(s).
I wonder if the H2O2 is actually evaporating and condensing on the parts, or if that's just water vapor. H2O2 breaks down into H2O and O, leaving a free oxygen atom that usually quickly combines with another free oxygen atom to form the more stable O2.
Most theories believe is those free oxygen atoms that do most of the work, so this method does make sense to trap the oxygen in the container and allow it time to break down the chromophores.
Even if the container is opaque to UV, the inside will heat up from just from solar heating and the heat will break down the peroxide.
I consider this a game changer!! Thanks for showing us :)
You’re most welcome 😁
Simon Lock did an awesome job restoring and modding my Sega Saturn a few years back at a reasonable price. Took a hell of a long time, but I think it was reasonable. Life happens.
This is really interesting. I usually fully submerge plastics in a tub of 12-15% hydrogen peroxide, but I leave the container open, plus I have to weigh down the shells with Blu-tak which often comes loose allowing them to float on the surface which impacts the effectiveness of the treatment. I've had mixed results, but never any streaking or discolouration. However, this method seems far more economical, and resolves the floating issue. I'll be trying this on a smaller scale with a GameCube front panel. It could be a game changer.
Cool idea, and looks fairly effective as well. Several years ago, I lined a large cardboard box with foil, with an LED UV grow lamp mounted in it. Works very well with the HO2 hair products, and can be done in my garage, so I'm not beholden to the weather.
This is amazing! I'll definitely do this for my yellowed ice blue and white Nintendo 64 controllers once I get all the things I need
I like the variation in the videos. It's funny the 8 bit guy was the first to come to mind.
Gotta change it up every now and then 👍
Awesome video! One quick comment about your PPE, I would highly recommend splash goggles instead of just safety glasses. Hydrogen Peroxide in those concentrations can do some nasty stuff to you (as you realized with the small burn) and is something that you really want to avoid getting in your eyes. You'd have to mess up pretty bad to make a splash that big, but it's not worth rolling the dice on.
I’ve used lemon juice and sunlight before with some success. I’ll have to give this a shot
Sounds like an interesting method
For the troubles in this process, you can do as I teach in my video (older than yours):
th-cam.com/video/hdck8loR8OE/w-d-xo.html
I just put the H2O2 on a glass and, in that, some piece of copper for react, releasing oxygen. This oxygen reacts with bromine of ABS plastics.
Bro thank you so much for this! I just got two Japanese V-Saturns systems (Sega Saturn from JVC) trying to get rid of the yellow stains off the system.
Nice! Hope this works for you!
Awesome stuff! I’ve been painting my consoles with an airbrush. Might try this next time instead
I did this method on a Final Fantasy XIII console the white and pink it did a great job
I have a 1988 Macintosh SE that is quite discolored. Between it and its accessories, I might consider trying this method. The only issue is that taking the plastic off keyboards and disk drives is a lot more challenging than with the shells of consoles and controllers.
Finally, it's up!
Hope you enjoy it 👍
I bought H2O2 meant for pool water threatment. It is a 50 50 mix of pure peroxide and water, way stronger and waaay cheaper than anything else I found.
very intresting video, great job tito
Thank you 🙏☺️
Forget about the creams chemicals and plastic boxes, put your plastic outside in the sun
Thats is! Takes a bit longer, but gives a great result ❤️
Think its called sun-brighting and there is some good videos on it, cant belive noone is talking more about it
I'm going to have to try this method out, looks like it'll save on peroxide.
I think I'll still go with the submersion method with uv led but this might be nice for a sunny day
You could also use the uv light with this. Another nice thing about this method is that it uses less hydrogen peroxide.
@@MachoNachoProductions This combined with UV Leds would be the ultimate way to retro-bright on my opinion, no need to rely on good weather (And a safe place to put the devices outdoors if you don't have a backyard) and less liquid used. But I wonder how could you achieve the condensation indoors, maybe a water heater would be enough?
I will be trying this method with our old SNES in the near future.
I have my original 1985 NES that really needs some work. This looks like just the ticket I"ve been waiting for.
Good method, but I still prefer a MDF wooden box, with 2 15w lamps, so I don't need to depend on the daytime sun... (on my channel I made a recent video showing this) and I can simply let the UV light bath act at night, until dawn, all the time, even if it's sunny outside or the moon... inside the box, I have the whitening production all the time, even if it's dark outside LOL... congratulations on your video!
Surely hydrogen peroxide 'vapor' is just oxygen? Hydrogen peroxide breaks down into water and oxygen in the presence of UV light.
I expect the UV light has something to do with the oxygen reacting with the chemicals in the plastic too.
I wonder if we could just set up a box with oxygen gas and UV light? That would be great, because we wouldn't even need to disassemble the object to be treated.
Questions:
1. Can you over-brighten these devices? What is the max limit to leave these in? Will it damage the parts rebrightening many times?
2. Does hotter temperatures make faster brightening?
3. Is this animal safe?
4. Does this change texture / feel of certain buttons or mattes.
5. Would pressurizing the bin increase results?
6. Does this work for any other materials? Are there consoles/ devices that SHOULD NOT be brightened?
I think that's all I got rn.
1. No limits
2. Yes
3. Probably not
4. No
5. Not sure
6. Mainly plastic. As long as it's plastic it should be fine.
You can also leave them just out exposed to direct bright sunlight for a couple of days without anything else.. Works on most console cases. Second best methode: Just dunk them in a bin with diluted h2o2 and hit it with uv light (sun or artificial). No need for such a fuzz with airtight containers and vapors.
> You can also leave them just out exposed to direct bright sunlight for a couple of days without anything else.
Considering that repeated exposure to sunlight is a major contributing factor to plastic yellowing and becoming brittle that doesn't sound like a great idea.
Thanks for sharing this method! I'm def going to have to try it!
If you don't mind a suggestion, you may have gotten better results if you cleaned the parts with either dish soap and water or in an ultrasonic cleaner first. I bet the PC Engine console shell and controller would have great results but cleaning them first.
Cool! I am planning to retrobrite a partial-transparent GameCube controller but I was a bit nervous about the process. This looks really easy.
Did the controller have a colour? Or was it white originally? I want to try this with my indigo gamecube shell and front cover
I would suggest, given the concentration of the hydrogen peroxide, to get protective eyewear that has a sealable gasket as well. This will prevent the fumes from making contact with your eyes instead of preventing splashes to the eyes. I would also recommend you do this in a well ventilated area. If outside, as you were, I would also recommend being upwind from the container so the fumes won’t be blown toward you when the containers are open.
Finally home from work, time to kick back and watch some Machonacho!
Edit - You should check out the setup that OddTinkering uses, he has a cool little box that he shows you how to make. His come out flawless.