Now that’s a compliment! Why not DM a streamer and say, ‘This channel might change your life,’ or post it in a group chat and claim your fridge recommended it, nobody can question that logic. Better yet, drop it directly in your Tinder chat with ‘oops, wrong link’ and never explain. Foolproof!
@Psychx_ THIS! It was actually intentional here. The UV light and the metal both help speed up the process. Though, in hindsight, the GameBoy shell might argue it was too effective... Poor thing got overexposed and went full ghost mode. 😅
The plastic yellowing effect is not produced by the light itself, its just chemicals oxydation in them while being exposed to oxygen in the air. Heat is a good catalyst to speed up the process, the more the plastic is exposed to heat the quicker it goes yellow. This is also why you can find yellowed plastics even those were never exposed to light, or they goes yellow again after being treated, just because they are exposed to oxygen in the air. This is also why plastic doesnt go yellow (or a LOT less) behind a sticker. The biggest problem with the use of chemicals for yellowing treatment is that you can go "beyond" the original color very quickly, or even damage the plastics (they often goes more brittle). I only use UV light (UV A type, avoid UV B and C since they are bad for you) in a partially closed box, UV light is a really convenient bleaching agent, even tho it can be quite slow it is a lot easier to fine control the process and almost impossible to damage your parts (unless you left them weeks in there or too close to the UV panel ). The catalyst effect of the heat produced by your UV light is an ally here, it helps speed up the bleaching process. I've been able to restore a badly yellowed NES just with two 50w UV panels, almost 1 week of exposition by rotating the shell every 12h or so to expose different areas. The result is not a "like new" grey but still quite clean and uniform. Without any chemical at all, just a good clean before with some mainstream dish soap. It also seems that chemicals treated plastics have a tendency to go yellow again quicker than with just UV, at least after reading some forums posts. Keep in mind that the UV bleaching effect depends of the distance between the part and the UV panel (also the plastic type and color), the closer you are the quicker it gets but if the plastic goes too hot it can warp or other bad stuff you dont want to. So usually not closer to about 10cm with my 100w panel. Exposition time depends of the plastic type and the UV panel power, the more the plastic goes towards pure white (initialy at least) and is shiny finish the less it seems to be affected by UV, or at least it needs a LOT more time (maybe because it reflects a lot of it). On the other hand matte grey or so are perfect for this treatment (like SNES, PS1,...). I even tried on some GBC cartridges shells, those ones are transluscent and it seems they barely react to UV at all, even after a load of hours under the UV panel it was hard to see any improvement, maybe because UV rays seems to mostly pass thru it instead of being absorbed. My 2 cents after bleaching all my retro stuff with UV only and doing a LOT of testing just because why not.
Wow, you’ve done your homework! Yeah, it’s the bromine reacting with oxygen, and heat just makes it worse. Totally get why UV-only works for you; less risk of turning your plastic into a brittle nightmare. The GBC cartridges ignoring UV is wild, though. Maybe they’re just built different?
@@apacalpa Dunno, but I just guess it's because its transparent. So UV doesnt get really get absorbed since they mostly going thru, same as a too white / shiny plastic (like some lego parts) reflects most of it and so the process is far less effective. My apple green GBC is almost unaffected by UVs too, maybe a tiny bit of improvement after a lot of hours of trying but its hard to tell to be honest. For those special cases the best way should be to take photos before and after in a controlled lightning area with the exact same settings on the camera (shutter / aperture / ISO / WB), but if i can barely see it with my eyes it doesnt really worth the pain to try for it.
I built one of these three years ago using the same list, but for Lego pieces. The results looks good when left for less time. Unfortunately they all reyellowed while being stored in a closed cardboard box for 18 months. I threw them into the scrap pile and dismantled the box. Can't with good conscience sell Lego knowing that the customer's going to have a yellowed set a bit later down the line.
When I was a kid my mom and dad bought secondhand Lego all the time for me and I used to use dawn dish soap to clean them then let them sit a few hours in heavy diluted bleach to bring back the color.
@@JohnZombi88 Yep, the UV isn't actually needed, they'll deyellow with just a bit of heat and peroxide! I put quite a bit of time into finding out a good process, unfortunately it was all wasted and I shouldn't have bothered 😂
I've wanted to retrobrite a few of my vintage electronics, but I've heard that some plastic types will re-yellow even worse than before really quickly. So I kind of decided against it but maybe someday.
@@beff5058 Yeah, I don't know the timescale unfortunately, but 18 months was enough. Can't say for sure if they were worse as some bricks were very yellowed when I started, but the reyellowing was definitely bad. If available, replica cases is the better way to go.
That’s a tough situation, but totally understandable. The reyellowing is due to the bromine in the plastic. UV light speeds up the yellowing, but heat and even oxygen exposure can also play a role. Unfortunately, it’s an ongoing battle with these older materials, but kudos for being honest about it with your customers!
This is awesome 🤘
this chanel is sooo under rated
Now that’s a compliment!
Why not DM a streamer and say, ‘This channel might change your life,’ or post it in a group chat and claim your fridge recommended it, nobody can question that logic.
Better yet, drop it directly in your Tinder chat with ‘oops, wrong link’ and never explain. Foolproof!
@@apacalpa keep on going and i´m sure you will blow up in subs
FWIW you should avoid contact between hydrogen peroxide and metal objects, like the pad lock!
The metal catalyses the breakdown of H2O2, as does the UV-light, so it really doesn't matter in this specific case.
@Psychx_ THIS! It was actually intentional here. The UV light and the metal both help speed up the process. Though, in hindsight, the GameBoy shell might argue it was too effective... Poor thing got overexposed and went full ghost mode. 😅
The plastic yellowing effect is not produced by the light itself, its just chemicals oxydation in them while being exposed to oxygen in the air. Heat is a good catalyst to speed up the process, the more the plastic is exposed to heat the quicker it goes yellow.
This is also why you can find yellowed plastics even those were never exposed to light, or they goes yellow again after being treated, just because they are exposed to oxygen in the air.
This is also why plastic doesnt go yellow (or a LOT less) behind a sticker.
The biggest problem with the use of chemicals for yellowing treatment is that you can go "beyond" the original color very quickly, or even damage the plastics (they often goes more brittle).
I only use UV light (UV A type, avoid UV B and C since they are bad for you) in a partially closed box, UV light is a really convenient bleaching agent, even tho it can be quite slow it is a lot easier to fine control the process and almost impossible to damage your parts (unless you left them weeks in there or too close to the UV panel ). The catalyst effect of the heat produced by your UV light is an ally here, it helps speed up the bleaching process.
I've been able to restore a badly yellowed NES just with two 50w UV panels, almost 1 week of exposition by rotating the shell every 12h or so to expose different areas. The result is not a "like new" grey but still quite clean and uniform. Without any chemical at all, just a good clean before with some mainstream dish soap. It also seems that chemicals treated plastics have a tendency to go yellow again quicker than with just UV, at least after reading some forums posts.
Keep in mind that the UV bleaching effect depends of the distance between the part and the UV panel (also the plastic type and color), the closer you are the quicker it gets but if the plastic goes too hot it can warp or other bad stuff you dont want to. So usually not closer to about 10cm with my 100w panel.
Exposition time depends of the plastic type and the UV panel power, the more the plastic goes towards pure white (initialy at least) and is shiny finish the less it seems to be affected by UV, or at least it needs a LOT more time (maybe because it reflects a lot of it). On the other hand matte grey or so are perfect for this treatment (like SNES, PS1,...).
I even tried on some GBC cartridges shells, those ones are transluscent and it seems they barely react to UV at all, even after a load of hours under the UV panel it was hard to see any improvement, maybe because UV rays seems to mostly pass thru it instead of being absorbed.
My 2 cents after bleaching all my retro stuff with UV only and doing a LOT of testing just because why not.
Wow, you’ve done your homework! Yeah, it’s the bromine reacting with oxygen, and heat just makes it worse. Totally get why UV-only works for you; less risk of turning your plastic into a brittle nightmare. The GBC cartridges ignoring UV is wild, though. Maybe they’re just built different?
@@apacalpa Dunno, but I just guess it's because its transparent. So UV doesnt get really get absorbed since they mostly going thru, same as a too white / shiny plastic (like some lego parts) reflects most of it and so the process is far less effective.
My apple green GBC is almost unaffected by UVs too, maybe a tiny bit of improvement after a lot of hours of trying but its hard to tell to be honest.
For those special cases the best way should be to take photos before and after in a controlled lightning area with the exact same settings on the camera (shutter / aperture / ISO / WB), but if i can barely see it with my eyes it doesnt really worth the pain to try for it.
I built one of these three years ago using the same list, but for Lego pieces. The results looks good when left for less time. Unfortunately they all reyellowed while being stored in a closed cardboard box for 18 months. I threw them into the scrap pile and dismantled the box. Can't with good conscience sell Lego knowing that the customer's going to have a yellowed set a bit later down the line.
When I was a kid my mom and dad bought secondhand Lego all the time for me and I used to use dawn dish soap to clean them then let them sit a few hours in heavy diluted bleach to bring back the color.
@@JohnZombi88 Yep, the UV isn't actually needed, they'll deyellow with just a bit of heat and peroxide! I put quite a bit of time into finding out a good process, unfortunately it was all wasted and I shouldn't have bothered 😂
I've wanted to retrobrite a few of my vintage electronics, but I've heard that some plastic types will re-yellow even worse than before really quickly. So I kind of decided against it but maybe someday.
@@beff5058 Yeah, I don't know the timescale unfortunately, but 18 months was enough. Can't say for sure if they were worse as some bricks were very yellowed when I started, but the reyellowing was definitely bad. If available, replica cases is the better way to go.
That’s a tough situation, but totally understandable. The reyellowing is due to the bromine in the plastic. UV light speeds up the yellowing, but heat and even oxygen exposure can also play a role. Unfortunately, it’s an ongoing battle with these older materials, but kudos for being honest about it with your customers!