How to remove yellowing from an old Atari case

[+DrVenkman]

Oh and by the way, I used SalonCare Professional 30 Volume Cream from Sally's Beauty Supply for the case bottom today, after using Clairol 40 Volume liquid for the horrible top yesterday. I'm pretty happy except for the front, left corner, which I need to re-do next sunny afternoon I have free.

 

 

[+DrVenkman]

So I had a few faint light-brownish spots remaining after last weekend's massive effort to remove the worst yellowing of any XL machine I own. Today I used 30 Vol Cream for approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes in the bright morning sun, and the top is now just about perfect. I'll apply ArmorAll to help protect the surface and call it good.

 

[Matej]

Can I spray peroxid??? (to have same layer everywhere)???

[spacecadet]

Can I spray peroxid??? (to have same layer everywhere)???

 

I don't think you'd want to do that. Peroxide isn't something you want getting on anything it shouldn't be on, so you'd have to be in a really controlled environment to start with. And then I just don't think you'd get any advantage out of it, because if you spray liquid hydrogen peroxide, it's just going to drip and dry anyway. The reason you use it as a paste is so it stays in place and takes a lot longer to dry.

 

It's not hard to use a brush to get an even coating of whatever paste/gel solution you're using. And anyway it's not so much an even coating that you need as it is just having at least some of it everywhere you need it. As a liquid, you're going to end up with totally bare spots where it's just dripped off.

[Osgeld]

As a liquid, you're going to end up with totally bare spots where it's just dripped off.

 

which is why people that use liquid form, have the parts submerged in a clear container

[Mr.RE]

The Amiga boys seem to think that heat is what works the magic -->

 

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=37808&page=50

 

I had no luck with heat alone, after 4hrs there was no change at all.

 

2hrs in very bright sunlight on a hot day worked great.

 

Washed/degreased the parts first with washing up liquid.

I put foil over the table to reflect the sunlight back up onto the parts.

Used 12% salon cream mixed with 1/3 35% H2O2 (from eBay, hard to find now).

Kept repasting every 20mins for about 2hrs.

 

 

 

[Xebec]

Could we have the first post updated with the Salon Care 30 product? I can also vouch for it on a LOT of plastic.. (Focus 2001 Keyboards x4, Atari 1050 drives x 3, 800XL x 2, Amiga 1200, etc).

 

Also, A lesson learned I've seen a few times from 8-bit guy and others on Youtube is if you have a few spots that you missed, do not go back and retrobright the entire thing again. It caused additional issues that were only "fixed" by painting the cases..

[+Stephen]

.

[Osgeld]

Also, A lesson learned I've seen a few times from 8-bit guy and others on Youtube is if you have a few spots that you missed, do not go back and retrobright the entire thing again. It caused additional issues that were only "fixed" by painting the cases..

 

 

See I still will only use the liquid forms cause of this, I just watched one of those guy's basically ruin a IIGS's case cause he slathered on some thick as snot paste and instantly every bulge of it I was saying "there's a streak waiting to happen" and it did

 

Like I have said a few times, go down to the dollar tree, get a shopping cart of standard issue h2o2, run you about 10-15 bucks and dunk it all in a big clear container

[Scyzor]

Does it works on 130XE keyboard (matte)? I mean it will not remove keys printing?

[Xebec]

Just to check -- the Atari 800 (original) is supposed to be a bit yellow, and should not be retrobrighted, correct?

 

I saw a pic of an 800 for sale that was rather white looking at it seemed wrong?

[flashjazzcat]

They were pale grey originally.

[Xebec]

They were pale grey originally.

 

Interesting.. Just to check - you're calling this pale grey?

 

http://mcurrent.name/atariads/intro800.jpg

or

https://commodore64crap.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/atari-400-advert.jpg

 

My eyes are calling that brown/slightly yellow, but just want to make sure that these are close to the original color.

 

I assume retrobright should only be used on white color products?

 

Thanks!

[+DrVenkman]

 

Interesting.. Just to check - you're calling this pale grey?

 

http://mcurrent.name/atariads/intro800.jpg

or

https://commodore64crap.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/atari-400-advert.jpg

 

My eyes are calling that brown/slightly yellow, but just want to make sure that these are close to the original color.

 

I assume retrobright should only be used on white color products?

 

Thanks!

 

The white balance on those ads look off. The text in the second ad should be white - the whole image looks too warm. I don't have a good photo editor on my current Winbox to set a proper white point, but this is probably closer to the original color; at least, that's how I remember mine from my teenaged years but you know, memories can play you false with age.

 

 

EDITED TO ADD: And actually, I have my original Owner's Manual; the cover photo looks more beige, but the photo inside at the top of page 1 looks pretty much just like the edited photo I posted. *shrug*

[spacecadet]

The A800 was definitely beige originally - I specifically remember using them when they were current. They have become more beige over the years, but if you see one that's grey (which I take to mean no color, just a darker version of white), then that has been overly retrobrighted.

 

I do agree that the white balance on those photos is a bit too warm. They weren't quite that beige. But they were not colorless. Almost all computers of that era had some color; that was the style at the time. People liked brown and beige.

[Xebec]

Thanks all - I thought they were brown/beige originally, but wanted to double check. I've heard endlessly the mind is really bad at remembering colors.

 

So safe to retrobright once for a couple of hours, or should that be avoided on these cases?

[Osgeld]

when I got the 400 I recently sold I said to myself, yep going to retrobrite this, opened it up and pulled it apart and it was darn near stock color, kind of a beige khaki color, which makes since you wouldnt have a brilliant white or gray case in the late 70's then use brown, tan and yellow for the keyboard and badge

 

grey white silver is more mid 80's going into the 90's, even the ibm's were "putty"

[+DrVenkman]

This thread reminded me of something I noticed a few years ago - I have 4 x 410 Program Recorders (of course all of them need new belts but I digress ...). Three of them are fairly yellowed but one is not nearly as much. So for a quick comparison, I grabbed two including the one in question.

 

The one on the left was acquired CIB years ago from a collector and other than the dust shows no real signs of ever having been used; all the paperwork is in THE PROGRAMMER box it came in, including the thin cardboard inner box, the box for BASIC the cassette and box for STATES AND CAPITALS, manuals, warranty card, Atari Connection card, etc. The one on the right, by contrast, was acquired along with one of my 1200XL's; the 1200XL has a "PROPERTY OF MENDOCINO CITY SCHOOLS" inventory tag on it; I presume this 410 came with that one, complete with an aftermarket replacement white power cord and a service sticker on the bottom from an almost-certainly long-gone service company. Anyway, the one on the right was used and definitely NOT complete in box from a collector. As you can see, they are noticeably different colors. I strongly suspect, and my recollection tends to support this, that the one on the right is closer to its original color than any of my other 400/800-era computers and peripherals. I left the white Styrofoam from the boxed unit in the photo to provide a good white reference if anyone wants to tweak the photo to compare colors.

 

 

[toddtmw]

I agree, the one on the right looks like more what I remember the Atari 800's looking like. A friend ad the 400 and It seemed to me like the colors between the 400 and 800 were slightly differnt, though.

 

Does anyone else feel that way?

[Scyzor]

Kind of OT but is there any way to restore red ATARI badge on XE version? I'm looking to get it from a faded out state to closes red color as possible.

[flashjazzcat]

A friend ad the 400 and It seemed to me like the colors between the 400 and 800 were slightly differnt, though.

Hope so, since this 400 after Retr0Briting (and not necessarily right back to the original colour) looks grey:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/138244-how-to-remove-yellowing-from-an-old-atari-case/page-25?do=findComment&comment=2268393

[+DrVenkman]

This might be worth splintering off into a separate thread, but ...

 

A friend of mine had a neighbor die recently and the widow asked my friend to go through her husband's gear-filled techy basement, take anything he wanted and help get rid of the rest. None of the hardware was Atari unfortunately (he did have a very cool Heathkit machine that my friend took), but he also had toyed with the idea of buying a 400 around 1981/82 or so. There were a few brochures my friend sent me that have lived for 35 odd years in a file cabinet. Here's a quick photo showing all three. It looks pretty clear that Atari was not themselves terribly consistent in how they portrayed "400/800 Beige" (See the top brochure and compare the early-model 410 with the 400 next to it) and look how gray/white the lineup looks in the bottom photo.

 

​Frankly, unless someone like Curt or Tim Lapetino has uncovered preserved, properly white-balanced color advertising artwork photos, taken before pasteup and layout by the ad agencies, we'll never really know the exact specified "shade" of plastics intended. And the reality is, those of us who lived through those years are remembering back through the mists of decades, those memories colored (literally in this case) by the machines we have at home around us every day now as hobbyists.

 

 

(Personally, my fuzzy memories of getting my Atari 400 in '82 and 800 in '83 seem to jibe with the colors/tones in the middle brochure abut who knows?)

[OX.]

There's a new technique for removing discolouration from old computer casings as shown by The 8-bit Guy using an ozone generator and uv light, so no more random streaking effects

 

Edited September 8, 2017 by OX.

[Bikerbob]

Ok, I know this is 8 bit retrobriting, but I also own a bunch of ST stuff.. and thats what I am looking to retrobrite right now.

 

It is Grey, so.. will it bring it back to grey? or white?

 

James

[+DrVenkman]

Ok, I know this is 8 bit retrobriting, but I also own a bunch of ST stuff.. and thats what I am looking to retrobrite right now.

 

It is Grey, so.. will it bring it back to grey? or white?

 

James

 

I've never done one before, but plenty of folks retrobrite XE machines, and they were the same basic color originally, as I recall from my own ST-owning days in the mid/late 80's. So if the process works on an XE, it should work on an ST as well I would think. My suggestion of course would be to test on the bottom back edge of a case first, just to see how the plastic reacts.