How to remove yellowing from an old Atari case

[Tezz]

Interesting. I had a look at that Krylon Fusion Dover White but could only find mention of it with a gloss finish, whereas satin would be the ticket

Happily yes they do make a satin dover white which is the one I was intending to go for ...

Dover White #2322 (I assume this is gloss but it doesn't specify)

Satin Dover White #2422

 

Plastikote paint is good, though, and is available in a wide range of colours. "Ice Cream" (Satin) is what I used to paint a 1084S, and I was very happy with the result. Moreover, the paint finish (which I understand to be a plastic layer which bonds to the original surface beneath) has proved to extremely durable (after all, heavy monitors tend to get swivelled and banged around a bit).

I've used Plastikote previously whilst painting laptop casings and car trims, it does give a great looking finish but it didn't wear at all in my case, I did prepare everything with wet and dry and plastic primer too so I was a bit disapointed with that at the time. I moved on to trying automotive celulose rattle cans preparing the surface first with plastic primer and flatting off between coats with wet and dry 1200 grit before finally applying clear. The results were excellent but the trouble with celulose paint is that it never really cures or hardens as well as you need it so that it'll be hard wearing. Ideally it should be professionally painted with for example a 2 pac paint but that's far too expensive. I did once have a pc case painted proffesionally by someone I was doing some work for in 2000. That lasted many years of full use without a blemish.

 

This bodes well for an XL paint job, although I think lots of practice-runs on discarded cases would be required before attempting a 1200XL. The colour match would be pretty spot-on, though. That said, I'm still reluctant to consider the paint-job, since painted things always "look" painted, even if you have to get pretty close up to tell. Like I say, though, I think some practice / evaluation on some old wrecks is required.

Yes this is the big thing really, it's acceptable I think for a laptop casing or a customised console to be painted for example but I agree with you fully, I don't want my original computer equipment to look painted, I just want to restore the plastic to it's original colour. When painting the XE I just used grey plastic primer only so it didn't have the appearance of being painted. Ideally I would want to match the colour perfectly but It was acceptable against the correct XE colour of its new keyboard so it was a compromise I could live with and a far cry from having it looking a miserable yellow mess

 

As for XEs: I can see the wisdom in painting those, since they're often difficult to successfully de-yellow without blooming. Plastikote, once again, do a nice XE shade in satin which I used to paint the 3.5" drive bay adapter in one of my XF551s.

I have a couple of discoloured XE's in storage so I might give Plastikote another try if the Krylon doesn't work out as well as I'm hoping.

 

Keyboards are always gonna be a problem (except with XLs), however. The XE keyboards yellow like Hell and there's not much you can do with them other than repeatedly peroxide them or buy new ones. Protectants are likely to chip and wear, and you can't really paint them either.

I took the easy option and bought a bunch of new ones

 

perfect long-term solution, of course, is for somebody to make an injection mould from a cast of an original case and produce new ones from non-yellowing plastic.

Yes that'd be excellent, without the fire retardant added to the plastic manufacturing process we'd never have had this problem.

[Tezz]

Apparently there is a good reason why it's difficult to find Kryon Fusion here in the UK. The ones selling it here must simply ignore the legalities.

 

You cannot get krylon Fusion spray paint legally in the UK because of the high level of fumes that come off the paint when applied.

[flashjazzcat]

Apparently there is a good reason why it's difficult to find Kryon Fusion here in the UK. The ones selling it here must simply ignore the legalities.

 

Interesting... I remember when I did a (brief) test-application of the River Rock, it stunk the place up.

[Tezz]

I always do any painting in the garden shed with the door open and make sure to wear a respirator, I can't afford to lose any brain cells, I don't have many to spare

I'm just waiting (hoping) for the sun to return so that conditions are right for it.

[flashjazzcat]

I always do any painting in the garden shed with the door open and make sure to wear a respirator, I can't afford to lose any brain cells, I don't have many to spare

 

This entirely explains my situation.

[+wood_jl]

I've noticed some re-yellowing on some of my systems, but it's never been as bad as the original yellowing. It sucks that the gains from Retr0brite are not permanent, but you can definitely gain from keeping the light off the unit. Any units I have in use (that is, on the desk) are always covered (when not in use, obviously) with a non-translucent cover. For systems that I have a brown vinyl cover for, I hope that will suffice. For those that I don't, I get a large black beach-sized (or large bath sized) towel and fold it several times, so it's many layers thick. Since we don't retro-compute as much as we'd like to, this means covered most of the time.

 

For the units that are in the storage room, it's pitch black in there most of the time. I have carefully covered the window to that room so that *NO* sunlight can get in, at all. The machines are stored in the dark. This will not only slow re-yellowing, but hopefully prevent some of the mint systems from yellowing in the first place. Light is your enemy!!!!

 

Thanks much to FJC for reporting on the coating, as I was really wondering about that. Shared experiences benefit everybody, of course!

[Tezz]

I finally got a price back for the Krylon Fusion in the UK... Royal Mail will no longer carry these types of items so it's courier only which makes the total cost including VAT at £27. Not great for something you can pick up in WalMart for $4 but that's the only option if I want to go for that. It'll be cheaper to buy a new case at this rate.

 

The Royal Mail have put restrictions on several things lately. For someone posting a mobile phone for example it will now be listed under explosives due to the battery. They do still carry them but you have to pay extra. I guess when they sell off the Royal Mail shortly and prices are hiked again they will be dropping the Royal name.

[flashjazzcat]

Go Plastikote, then... wouldn't pay £27 for a tin of paint.

[Tezz]

Indeed yes, it's really not worth it at that price. It's a shame as I wanted to check this Krylon out.

[55five66six]

My Sunday project.. Using the Peroxide trick on my Atari 800 case.

I pulled the entire thing apart. The people that used it or had it in their house before me must have been heavy smokers because it was really, really yellow and gross. Boards were dirty and gross as well.

Here are my results after using 20% peroxide paste from the local Hair Salon depot store.

 

There's some weird coloring on the cartridge cover. The lighter areas are where light is reflecting off the cartridge cover and the grill behind it. There is one dark spot which is a small burn of some sort.

 

All in all, I thought it was pretty good results!

 

I've been cleaning all the boards with Isopropyl. (More on those)

Edited August 26, 2013 by SoilentGreen

[Brian R.]

I've seen this topic before, and for some reason this off-the-wall thought just occured to me.

 

Has anyone thought of or tried "dipping" their cases?

 

I only recently first learned about this thing, plastidip, which some people use on their cars. It's a spray-on, removable synthetic rubber coating.

 

Usually people using it on their cars use black, such as on the wheels. But I guess it also comes in colors, some use it on various parts like badges. I've read of some putting it over body sections, like the entire roof of the car, or even the whole car.

 

I guess if your case is horribly yellowed, you could coat it with this, and later peel it off. If they make it in clear, I guess you could in theory treat the case to remove the yellowing, and maybe the clear cover would help protect it against re-yellowing.

 

Crazy idea. Could be all BS.

[Brian R.]

I recently got my first 400, not long after followed by a second. This has to do with yellowing, so this seemed like a place to put this, even though I'm not planning on doing anything to try to correct it.

 

In the photo below, the first 400 I got is on the right, the second is on the left.

 

Since I never had a 400 before, I had no frame of reference for how yellowed the first one was until I got the second. And it didn't bother me because I got it so cheap and it puts out a perfect picture. But the second one does as well, and is like new it seems.

 

Check out the difference. Wow.

Edited August 31, 2013 by Brian R.

[Muzz73]

Since it isn't going to be all original if you paint it, why not do it with style?

 

I got the ugliest, yellowest, most sunburned VIC-20 I could find from my Commodore User Group and gave it the once-over... I took it all apart, stripped it down to just the housing, scrubbed it, painted it bright red, put the white keyboard from a C=64-II (or 64C, if you prefer) in it and voila. Snappy! I used that spray-on paint that is designed to stick to plastic patio furniture and doesn't require a primer coat.

 

I bring this up, because I plan on doing the same thing to my aged 800XL at some point (just not in screaming red). I'm trying to find a color that wouldn't look too offensive with the dark brown of the 800XL's keyboard, and all I come up with is white, beige or brown. :/

[flashjazzcat]

It should be possible to get an extremely close match using one of the Plastikote satin shades. I've been tempted myself, so prone is my 1200XL to re-yellowing.

[+Ripdubski]

Since it isn't going to be all original if you paint it, why not do it with style?

 

I got the ugliest, yellowest, most sunburned VIC-20 I could find from my Commodore User Group and gave it the once-over... I took it all apart, stripped it down to just the housing, scrubbed it, painted it bright red, put the white keyboard from a C=64-II (or 64C, if you prefer) in it and voila. Snappy! I used that spray-on paint that is designed to stick to plastic patio furniture and doesn't require a primer coat.

 

I bring this up, because I plan on doing the same thing to my aged 800XL at some point (just not in screaming red). I'm trying to find a color that wouldn't look too offensive with the dark brown of the 800XL's keyboard, and all I come up with is white, beige or brown. :/

Find a close color to the keyboard brown and use this to find a compatable color, then look for a paint to match.

http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html

[Muzz73]

Thanks! I'll give it whirl and will post pics after I get around to doing it.

[NinSEGA]

If you guys want mass-produced Retr0Bright, some Apple fan guy on YouTube came across this stuff-

 

 

Which can be purchased here-

 

http://www.amazon.com/Salon-Care-Volume-Creme-Developer/dp/B004FVROT0/ref=sr_1_1?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1389365900&sr=1-1

[+Stephen]

I have that, and have used it. Be CAREFUL with this stuff. It burns your skin in a matter of seconds. Does a nice job on the cases though.

[NinSEGA]

I have that, and have used it. Be CAREFUL with this stuff. It burns your skin in a matter of seconds. Does a nice job on the cases though.

Makes you wonder why people would use it on their scalp 0_o

[Sowden]

Hey guys. This might have been discussed but probably got lost in this sea of threads. Can anyone tell me a safe way of removing keys off of a Atari ST keyboard? I want to take them off to purify the color but I don't really know what I'm doing. Thanks.

[+ZuluGula]

Plastic keycaps puller worked great on XE keyboard. Cost $3-$4. Before, I made wire one but it leaves marks on keycaps.

[Sowden]

Yeah but I would only be buying that thing for a one time use. It'd be another random tool laying around here collecting dust. Anyone have a solution with something that I might already own? I have a rather large tool kit with this and thats.

[+Stephen]

What I would do, is remove the keyboard from the machine, and take the back panel off. Don't lose any of the screws Remove all the rubber "cups" under the keys. The upper portion of the keyboard only contains the keys, so it can be scrubbed and cleaned however you feel. Just make sure everything is rinsed off and dry before reassembling. I always use compressed air when doing these kind of jobs.

[Android8675]

I'm looking at my 1040STf that I got and it looks like shit, sticky too (warehouse sticky), wondering what color you guys think I should use?

 

Planning to just clean the shit out of it and put 1-2 coats of something that works good with plastics, with little prep work.

Probably not going to paint the bottom (it doesn't look too bad)

 

Will take any color suggestions with links to spray paints that could be easily obtained at OSH or Home Depot. Gonna do this tomorrow (if I have time) before the Atari Party 2014.

 

note: wife loves sparkly things... just sayin.

[fibrewire]

If you guys want mass-produced Retr0Bright, some Apple fan guy on YouTube came across this stuff-

 

 

Which can be purchased here-

 

http://www.amazon.com/Salon-Care-Volume-Creme-Developer/dp/B004FVROT0/ref=sr_1_1?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1389365900&sr=1-1

This stuff can be purchased stateside for about $3 at any beauty supply store. Gonna try 30% on an 800 here shortly.

 

*** has anyone tried stabilizing the plastic after the retrobrite process? ***