How to remove yellowing from an old Atari case

[Tempest]

Ok I've been out of the loop on this topic for a few months, what is the latest consensus on the best way to remove yellowing? Last I read it was the 40 solution, some thickener, and a UV light, has that changed? Also, is this technique good for the beige colored Atari's as well such as the 800?

 

Tempest

 

That is the safest method. Works well on the beige kit too, but you have to make sure that the solution does not dry out as you run the risk of "blooming".

An aquarium UV bulb is the best option, or you can use daylight (if you still get some sunshine!) but the risk of drying out is greater.

 

I have doe 3 atari 400's and an 800 using the daylight method with no problems.

 

I was going to try this this weekend on the dead 810 I have (so if I screw it up it's no real loss). I plan on doing this in my dark basement with only a reptile bulb on the case. The basement is a little damp so it shouldn't dry out. I read somewhere that someone had good results by reapplying the solution every 8 hours, I may try that.

 

Oh and I don't have xanthum gum, I have arrow root. Do I use the same amount or more/less?

 

Tempest

[Merlin]

Yeah, start with about the same and see how you get on. Just remember to allow the gel to cool before you add the Oxy and apply it.

[tjlazer]

I found the Clairon Pro 40 developer alone works awesome in the sun! Have done it on Commodore 64/Vic 20, Atari 65XE, ST series, keyboards and monitors. All turn out awesome with very little to no blooming.

[Merlin]

Hi to all the Retr0brighters out there!

 

In keeping with the best spirits of product development, I think it's about time that we started work on Retr0bright Mk.2. There are probably quite a few ideas that we could add to the basic recipe, and this is where all of you come in.

 

I've started a discussion topic on the Retr0bright Wiki. Please feel free to add your ideas to this topic and we'll see what is possible - remember, we've already sort of proved the impossible with Retr0bright in the first place, so don't stifle your creativity.

 

Ultimately, we could end up with a whole range of open-source Retr0bright products.

 

Thinking caps on, people!!

 

[Rik]

Were the 400/800 casings PURE bright white new out of the box?Anyways,this OXY stuff makes me nervous.I once disintegrated a classic pair of NIKE shoes by soaking in Oxyclean.I let soak for 15 minutes too long,that's all it took to destroy them,melted off all the rubber vinyl,nylon, pieces of shoes,melted the Nike swishes right off.

Edited October 17, 2009 by Rik

[flashjazzcat]

Were the 400/800 casings PURE bright white new out of the box?Anyways,this OXY stuff makes me nervous.I once disintegrated a classic pair of NIKE shoes by soaking in Oxyclean.I let soak for 15 minutes too long,that's all it took to destroy them,melted off all the rubber vinyl,nylon, pieces of shoes,melted the Nike swishes right off.

I don't bother with the Oxy at all now: I just use 40vol creme peroxide straight out of the bottle. Works great, and my hair feels much softer than it did with the Oxy in. But I honestly blame the Oxy for the blooming I got on the first ST I did. I put far too much in: sure, it was my own fault, but I find the process works just as well without it.

 

Anyway, before and after photos of my latest treasure:

 

 

 

The far side of the upper half of the case (above the joystick ports, out of shot) is still a little yellowed (it was by far the most severely discoloured area) but this was after only two hours out under the fleeting sun this morning. I would have liked longer, but I'm completely happy with the results and I'll just give it another couple of hours one day when I get a UV light.

 

This one's had the video circuitry fixed up and is just awaiting a 1MB upgrade: job done!

[Rik]

Waaaaaaaay too much work and hassle,not to mention messy, to remove console yellowing for me,I'll live with it.

Edited October 19, 2009 by Rik

[Tempest]

Waaaaaaaay too much work and hassle,not to mention messy, to remove console yellowing for me,I'll live with it.

That's pretty much what I concluded. I have very few yellowed consoles (more as the result of luck than a conscious effort on my part) and those that are yellow I never use.

 

Tempest

[tjlazer]

Waaaaaaaay too much work and hassle,not to mention messy, to remove console yellowing for me,I'll live with it.

That's pretty much what I concluded. I have very few yellowed consoles (more as the result of luck than a conscious effort on my part) and those that are yellow I never use.

 

Tempest

 

I despise the yellowing so much that I did pretty much every single yellow computer component I had! Atari 65XE, 130XE, Atari 800XL, 1050, Atari 520ST, 1040ST, SC1224, and even Commodore stuff...

 

I also did a yellow Airball XE cart I had!

 

It got to be so fun for me that I did a couple of old spare "yellow" as piss ST keyboards too!

Edited October 21, 2009 by tjlazer

[AtariLeaf]

Waaaaaaaay too much work and hassle,not to mention messy, to remove console yellowing for me,I'll live with it.

That's pretty much what I concluded. I have very few yellowed consoles (more as the result of luck than a conscious effort on my part) and those that are yellow I never use.

 

Tempest

 

Yep, I don't want to have to need a chemist degree to fix this. I've got a coco 2 that yellowed but I don't want to try anything that I have to worry might cause blindness, infertility, or a nuclear explosion.

Just not worth it to change a color.

[ApolloBoy]

I also did a yellow Airball XE cart I had!

 

How were you able to do that? A few of my XE carts are a little yellowed and I'd like to try this.

[tjlazer]

I also did a yellow Airball XE cart I had!

 

How were you able to do that? A few of my XE carts are a little yellowed and I'd like to try this.

 

Well I just brushed a little Clairol Pro 40 with a brush on the yellow part and let it sit in the sun for about 4 hours. I rebrushed the plastic about every 30-60 minutes. Took all the yellow away and it looks great now. It was the top part that was yellow so not the whole cart.

[TechnoTrickster]

Also, if your not a purist (I'm not) new colors look cool too.

 

My daughter loves blue so I made her a blue metallic 800xl. Looks great....)

Coincidentally, I did a laptop in metalic blue too this week, it's a nice look. Do you have pics of the XL?

 

Not yet, but I'll snap one and put it up.

 

 

Here it is.

 

800xl

 

 

Wow, that 800xl looks amazing in metalic blue. Nice work dude.

[potatohead]

I just obtained a really, really yellow 800XL.

 

(I'll get a photo before I do this Merlin)

 

After reading the thread, I think I want to do the bath, keeping the chemicals simple then.

 

What's the ideal ratio between say 6 percent H2O2, and "OxyClean" type cleaner?

 

Edit: Never mind. Reached the end of the thread and saw the note on the Clarol Pro 40 Developer. That's easy enough to get hold of.

 

(this is really cool, BTW)

Edited November 15, 2009 by potatohead

[Retro Rogue]

The peroxide is in the form of "creme developer," bought at "Sally Beauty" franchise. It is "50 vol" which means it is the "strongest" they had. For the 32-oz bottle, it was $5.49. It is somewhat thick, and it eliminated the need to locate Xanthan gum, which is fortunate because every idiot phone jockey I called at every health food store around here didn't know what I was asking for (or Arrowroot) and furthermore, they figured I didn't know what I was talking about when I asked. I guess pork rinds trump health food stores around here.

 

I tried getting a 50 and the Sally store wouldn't let me without a beautician's license. Apparently the 50 is to strong for mere mortals. They let me get the 40, so I hope that's strong enough.

 

BTW, what's everyone using to spread the gel evenly on their casings? Mixing spatula?

Edited December 22, 2009 by wgungfu

[+wood_jl]

The peroxide is in the form of "creme developer," bought at "Sally Beauty" franchise. It is "50 vol" which means it is the "strongest" they had. For the 32-oz bottle, it was $5.49. It is somewhat thick, and it eliminated the need to locate Xanthan gum, which is fortunate because every idiot phone jockey I called at every health food store around here didn't know what I was asking for (or Arrowroot) and furthermore, they figured I didn't know what I was talking about when I asked. I guess pork rinds trump health food stores around here.

 

I tried getting a 50 and the Sally store wouldn't let me without a beautician's license. Apparently the 50 is to strong for mere mortals. They let me get the 40, so I hope that's strong enough.

 

BTW, what's everyone using to spread the gel evenly on their casings? Mixing spatula?

 

I used a paintbrush - like what you'd paint the side of your house with. Kind of a narrow one. I think this is best because you can load up the bristles, and then kind of "tap it onto" the case thickly. Since you don't want this stuff drying on there, I thought this was best. That's also why I didn't use the SUN for light, although it's cheaper. Perhaps if you checked on the stuff VERY regularly the sun would be fine.

[mimo]

paint brush, 40 vol is plenty strong enough

[Retro Rogue]

I used a paintbrush - like what you'd paint the side of your house with. Kind of a narrow one. I think this is best because you can load up the bristles, and then kind of "tap it onto" the case thickly. Since you don't want this stuff drying on there, I thought this was best. That's also why I didn't use the SUN for light, although it's cheaper. Perhaps if you checked on the stuff VERY regularly the sun would be fine.

 

How thick do you guys put it on? And how long do you leave it on for? Now you have me worried with the "don't want this stuff drying on there".

[mimo]

Personally I go for a wall paper paste consistency. As for time, it depends on the condition of the plastic and the strength of your bit of the sunshine. In my experience (don't forget I am in the UK and we have crap sunshine) 2-6 hours should be enough for even an extremely yellow plastic. But really it is a case (sorry) of suck it and see.

I would go for a 2 hour stint then wash off the case and see how you are doing.

If you are doing it in the sun, re-apply the mix every 20 minutes or so to stop the plastic from drying out.

XL cases are pretty easy to do as even if you do get "blooming" it is hard to see. XE/ST plastics are easier to see any blooming, don't get carried away and I am sure you will be fine.

 

Please let us know how you get on

I'm looking forward to the spring so I can get going on some more XL stuff, a couple of Amigas, a C= 1084, a SNES, a vic 20 etc etc etc:D

[Retro Rogue]

Personally I go for a wall paper paste consistency. As for time, it depends on the condition of the plastic and the strength of your bit of the sunshine. In my experience (don't forget I am in the UK and we have crap sunshine) 2-6 hours should be enough for even an extremely yellow plastic. But really it is a case (sorry) of suck it and see.

I would go for a 2 hour stint then wash off the case and see how you are doing.

If you are doing it in the sun, re-apply the mix every 20 minutes or so to stop the plastic from drying out.

XL cases are pretty easy to do as even if you do get "blooming" it is hard to see. XE/ST plastics are easier to see any blooming, don't get carried away and I am sure you will be fine.

 

Please let us know how you get on

I'm looking forward to the spring so I can get going on some more XL stuff, a couple of Amigas, a C= 1084, a SNES, a vic 20 etc etc etc:D

 

 

Thanks. I'm doing mine with the reptile UV light. So what, maybe 6 hours? I'm doing my Apple III case, and an old Bally Computer (supposed to be very white, this is a yellow/tan color).

[mimo]

Personally I go for a wall paper paste consistency. As for time, it depends on the condition of the plastic and the strength of your bit of the sunshine. In my experience (don't forget I am in the UK and we have crap sunshine) 2-6 hours should be enough for even an extremely yellow plastic. But really it is a case (sorry) of suck it and see.

I would go for a 2 hour stint then wash off the case and see how you are doing.

If you are doing it in the sun, re-apply the mix every 20 minutes or so to stop the plastic from drying out.

XL cases are pretty easy to do as even if you do get "blooming" it is hard to see. XE/ST plastics are easier to see any blooming, don't get carried away and I am sure you will be fine.

 

Please let us know how you get on

I'm looking forward to the spring so I can get going on some more XL stuff, a couple of Amigas, a C= 1084, a SNES, a vic 20 etc etc etc:D

 

 

Thanks. I'm doing mine with the reptile UV light. So what, maybe 6 hours? I'm doing my Apple III case, and an old Bally Computer (supposed to be very white, this is a yellow/tan color).

Yes probably about six hours, but I would still wash everything off every couple of hours

[+wood_jl]

Personally I go for a wall paper paste consistency. As for time, it depends on the condition of the plastic and the strength of your bit of the sunshine. In my experience (don't forget I am in the UK and we have crap sunshine) 2-6 hours should be enough for even an extremely yellow plastic. But really it is a case (sorry) of suck it and see.

I would go for a 2 hour stint then wash off the case and see how you are doing.

If you are doing it in the sun, re-apply the mix every 20 minutes or so to stop the plastic from drying out.

XL cases are pretty easy to do as even if you do get "blooming" it is hard to see. XE/ST plastics are easier to see any blooming, don't get carried away and I am sure you will be fine.

 

Please let us know how you get on

I'm looking forward to the spring so I can get going on some more XL stuff, a couple of Amigas, a C= 1084, a SNES, a vic 20 etc etc etc:D

 

 

Thanks. I'm doing mine with the reptile UV light. So what, maybe 6 hours? I'm doing my Apple III case, and an old Bally Computer (supposed to be very white, this is a yellow/tan color).

Yes probably about six hours, but I would still wash everything off every couple of hours

 

I agree. I went a couple of hours the first time, then repeated. On a white computer (800XL/Vic-20) I re-applied for a long time. There's little danger of "overdoing it" it seems. I haven't tried a colored computer - such as 400/800/XE or C64 as none of mine are yellowed. I would use a bit more caution with those, checking them frequently and washing off/reapplying.

 

The reptile light is probably ideal. My light was too small to cover all sides, so I moved the light each time, and had it sitting on foil bent up in a bowl-shape to try to reflect as much as possible.

 

As far as how thick to put it on - I put it on as thick as possible, as this minimizes liklihood of drying out.

 

I can't remember what the Apple III (or II for that matter) looked like new....was it white or supposed to be a little beige/yellow?

 

I think you'll be impressed when you get done. I was totally tickled and jazzed up when I was reassembling the stuff....how nerdy, eh?

[Retro Rogue]

Yes probably about six hours, but I would still wash everything off every couple of hours

 

I agree. I went a couple of hours the first time, then repeated. On a white computer (800XL/Vic-20) I re-applied for a long time. There's little danger of "overdoing it" it seems. I haven't tried a colored computer - such as 400/800/XE or C64 as none of mine are yellowed. I would use a bit more caution with those, checking them frequently and washing off/reapplying.

 

The reptile light is probably ideal. My light was too small to cover all sides, so I moved the light each time, and had it sitting on foil bent up in a bowl-shape to try to reflect as much as possible.

 

 

So it's hard to overdo it?

 

And what you guys are describing is 2 hours each application, 6 hours total?

 

Another quandary I have as well - I'm mixing up a 500ml batch (as the directions call for) in a small paint can so I can keep it. I.E. I want to reuse the batch across several different pieces. My concern is that you're only supposed to add the 1/4 teaspoon of Oxy when you're going to use it. But I'm not doing all the pieces at once, therefore the quandary. Any suggestions? Since I don't know how much it'll take to measure a surface, I can't measure out a small amount and a smaller amount of oxy (besides dealing with less than a 1/4 tsp would be a bitch).

 

 

As far as how thick to put it on - I put it on as thick as possible, as this minimizes liklihood of drying out.

 

I can't remember what the Apple III (or II for that matter) looked like new....was it white or supposed to be a little beige/yellow?

 

http://oldcomputers.net/pics/sun6.jpg

[mimo]

yes 2 hours at a time, total 6 hours, but this is not an exact science so it may take 4 hours or it could take 12. It really depends on when you are happy that you have gone far enough/as far as you can go.

If you keep everything wet then it is really difficult to over do it.

Once you have added the oxy (actually the T.A.E.D that is in the oxy) you have started the process, and you have approximately 12 hours to use the mix until it is spent.

a 500ml batch that I did treated both halves of an ST, a 65XE a 1050 and two keyboards, re-coating every 15-20 minutes over a 5 hour period.I re-applied often as I was doing it in the garden at the height of summer, no "blooming" though. I say re-coating, really you don't add much more, just move around the wet stuff making sure you have an even application. I have also made up smaller quantities and still added 1/4 t-spoon of TAED ( I have some pure TAED:D)

You could of course mix up 500ml and use another vessel to measure out smaller quantities and add the Oxy to that as required.

I have done the process so many times that I just kinda throw it all in now and it still works.

Can't stress using rubber gloves and eye protection enough though, it stings like a bitch about 5 minutes after you get it on your skin:x

[Retro Rogue]

a 500ml batch that I did treated both halves of an ST, a 65XE a 1050 and two keyboards, re-coating every 15-20 minutes over a 5 hour period.I re-applied often as I was doing it in the garden at the height of summer, no "blooming" though. I say re-coating, really you don't add much more, just move around the wet stuff making sure you have an even application. I have also made up smaller quantities and still added 1/4 t-spoon of TAED ( I have some pure TAED:D)

 

 

Ok, so it's spread around every 15-20 minutes, wash off and completely reapply every 2 hours?