How to remove yellowing from an old Atari case

[tjlazer]

Yep thats what I use, Clarol Pro 40 creme developer. Rawkz

[flashjazzcat]

Forgot to take before pics because I was in so much of a hurry to catch the sun, but I got a nice clean looking 600XL which only took a couple of hours:

 

[+wood_jl]

Disaster Strikes!

I finally ruined my first case!

 

And - this will make the "told you so" chemists laugh and point: I was using the 40vol creme developer.

 

However, aggravating circumstances which contributed to this:

 

(1) This was the most yellowed case I have ever seen. I just "couldn't get it all clean" and I just applied over and over and over because it wouldn't get all the brown out - until it "bloomed." I will post a pic, but the pic does not do it justice. For some reason (lighting? white balance?) everything looks better in the pics (even the screwed-up result) than it does with your eye. If I took "serious" pics I would need better lighting and hardware.

 

(2) I did this out in the sun. This was my first time using the sun, and the broad spectrum and heat of the sun, combined with the wind must have dried it on quickly and did bake it since I didn't watch carefully, seeing as how bad this was. But I have dried it on other [gray] Ataris with the fluorescent tube and had no ill results. As I suspected - but did not take appropriate caution for, perhaps - the sun and colored computers are tricky.

 

 

Here's the before: Between the flash and lighting, it doesn't look so bad. But in reality, it looked like someone seriously sprayed gold paint all over the front of the drive. Reference the EJECT button and name badge for some degree of comparison; eject button wasn't exactly clean, either.

click pics to enlarge a bit

 

 

 

 

Well I just kept seeing dark places and (and still do) but it "bloomed up" all over pretty badly, while it is sill dark in a few spots. I removed the label badge (not easy to do without damage).

 

 

 

So, scratch one SF314. I have a [less-yellowed/recoverable] SF354 that I was going to use the top case from (which is why I removed the SF314 label) but when I dug it up I noticed the top was scratched up; I never paid it much attention before since I considered it "worthless" although it works.

 

So I have a choice of painting this SF354, Retr0briting the scratched up SF354 case and switching the badges, or anybody have a mildly-yellowed SF354 case top they dont' need? What a shame! This drive works and I need it but I made it ugly! I think I'm going to go cry now.

[mimo]

Disaster Strikes!

I finally ruined my first case!

 

And - this will make the "told you so" chemists laugh and point: I was using the 40vol creme developer.

 

However, aggravating circumstances which contributed to this:

 

(1) This was the most yellowed case I have ever seen. I just "couldn't get it all clean" and I just applied over and over and over because it wouldn't get all the brown out - until it "bloomed." I will post a pic, but the pic does not do it justice. For some reason (lighting? white balance?) everything looks better in the pics (even the screwed-up result) than it does with your eye. If I took "serious" pics I would need better lighting and hardware.

 

(2) I did this out in the sun. This was my first time using the sun, and the broad spectrum and heat of the sun, combined with the wind must have dried it on quickly and did bake it since I didn't watch carefully, seeing as how bad this was. But I have dried it on other [gray] Ataris with the fluorescent tube and had no ill results. As I suspected - but did not take appropriate caution for, perhaps - the sun and colored computers are tricky.

 

 

Here's the before: Between the flash and lighting, it doesn't look so bad. But in reality, it looked like someone seriously sprayed gold paint all over the front of the drive. Reference the EJECT button and name badge for some degree of comparison; eject button wasn't exactly clean, either.

click pics to enlarge a bit

 

 

 

 

Well I just kept seeing dark places and (and still do) but it "bloomed up" all over pretty badly, while it is sill dark in a few spots. I removed the label badge (not easy to do without damage).

 

 

 

So, scratch one SF314. I have a [less-yellowed/recoverable] SF354 that I was going to use the top case from (which is why I removed the SF314 label) but when I dug it up I noticed the top was scratched up; I never paid it much attention before since I considered it "worthless" although it works.

 

So I have a choice of painting this SF354, Retr0briting the scratched up SF354 case and switching the badges, or anybody have a mildly-yellowed SF354 case top they dont' need? What a shame! This drive works and I need it but I made it ugly! I think I'm going to go cry now.

 

That is a real shame. Did you wash the case before treating it? I always run my cases through the dishwasher (avoiding the drying cycle) before treating to make sure there are no polish/solvent residues before treating. I have never had any issues with blooming or dark patches using this method despite using sunlight.

 

I believe Flashjazzcat bought a "bloomed" XE case back to life by using nail polish remover and a magic eraser

[Merlin]

I would be reaching for the Krylon Fusion Paint at this point... A Magic Eraser is abrasive and will remove the textured finish on the drive.

Edited April 16, 2010 by Merlin

[flashjazzcat]

Acetate and Magic Erasers are good for rectifying small mishaps, but I'd be inclined to paint that one, since not only has it bloomed, but the peroxide hasn't really impacted much on the yellowing. Spray-paint it grey and get your drive back! Hopefully the badge is still in one piece.

 

Prolific Retr0Briters will probably all go through at least one catastrophe like this: the thing is to learn from our mistakes and not to be so impatient/careless next time.

Edited April 16, 2010 by flashjazzcat

[tjlazer]

Try rubbing armor all on the case a couple times with a rag and see if it impoves. Seems these gray cases are prone to blooming if overdone.

Edited April 18, 2010 by tjlazer

[+wood_jl]

Success!

 

I don't want to leave this thread on a sour note.

 

This 520ST was pretty old and yellowed. It didn't look as garbage as the 520STfm, but looked (and smelled) like an old machine. It's not perfect, as it has a couple dimples from the longer (back) case screws being screwed in the front edge of the keyboard (common mistake). But it looks (and smells) pretty good now!

 

Once again, the lighting and white balance make it hard to pick up the yellowing and it looks better than it did before. This is not the worst I have seen, however.

 

click on pics to enlarge

 

Before - top

 

 

After - top

 

 

Before - front

 

 

After - front

 

 

Made another "fake" label by scanning the old at 600dpi then print on photo paper, carpet tape on back and Scotch "Super Strong Packing Tape" on the front. Did some minor photoshopping as the old label was wrinkled and dirty. Suprisingly, the original label wasn't the same size as the opening, and it was off-center too. I did not put a lot of time into this, as I could have painstakingly tried to round the corners like the original but decided I didn't care.

 

 

Not a perfect machine, but looks a bit more like it did in 1985-ish. [Now if only I could do the same for myself!!]

[+wood_jl]

That is a real shame. Did you wash the case before treating it? I always run my cases through the dishwasher (avoiding the drying cycle) before treating to make sure there are no polish/solvent residues before treating. I have never had any issues with blooming or dark patches using this method despite using sunlight.

 

I believe Flashjazzcat bought a "bloomed" XE case back to life by using nail polish remover and a magic eraser

 

Indeed, I cleaned it very well. It was just hella-yellowed, and I mean BAD, like someone spray painted the front of it. Must have been directly in the sun.

 

I am under the impression that there are limits to what this procedure can do. If the machine is just generally a little yellowed, this works fine. But I've had cases and keyboards now that improve with the process, but just stubbornly REFUSE to look like new again.

 

I am doubtful that a machine that has been in the sun for 20 years can look like new again. When the damage is so severe, it just never gets light enough before it starts to "bloom."

 

The 520STm (previous message) was part of the same set. I think it spent a lot of time with a vinyl cover over it, and it looks like new again. It just didn't require such severe treatment. The keyboard took several "exposures" to get back white. I have another keyboard that just refuses to. On that keyboard, some of the keys looked like baked beans and others barely yellowed. The ones that barely yellowed turned white as brand new but no matter how many times I treat the "baked beans" they stay slightly tannish - enough so to not match and look like crap.

[tjlazer]

Disaster Strikes!

I finally ruined my first case!

 

And - this will make the "told you so" chemists laugh and point: I was using the 40vol creme developer.

 

 

Guess what! I decided to do an Atari XF551 drive yestarday and the same thing happened to me! Though not as bad. I firmly believe, with the ST/XE series, the type of plastic used has a LOT to do with this issue... As I have had success on other ST/XE cases........

 

Used fingernail polish remover and Mr Clean Magic Eraser to clean it up. Seems to have worked pretty good....

Edited April 20, 2010 by tjlazer

[tjlazer]

I have been thinking about this the last few days and I believe the issue is different types of plastics Atari used. I have had succecss with a 130XE, 65XE, Atari 520ST (4 of them!), 1040ST (2), SC1224 monitor, ST mice and all did NOT bloom and turned out great. An Atari Mega ST and an XF551 did bloom. I did nothing different on all these.... Also it has been noted that the Atari XF551 drive color was not spot on with the 130XE, etc. This might give a clue?

 

Here is what my drive looked like before. And after. I got most of the blooming out though and it looks ok now. I added a 3.5" mech in it tho! The 5.25" one was dead. 720k on the Atari XE!

Edited April 20, 2010 by tjlazer

[Jacques]

A question for those who use UV tube instead of the sunlight: what is the recommended power of the UV-tube? Let's say, to use it in the dark bathroom?

Edited May 10, 2010 by Jacques

[Jacques]

Nobody to answer, so let's speculate. Today I retrobrighted (12%- Vol. 40 perhidrol in cream) slightly yellowed XE function keys.

I did it with a CLOUDY sky Is the UV needed to retr0brite a myth? No blooming occured, and it's hard to see any difference except that cream dries out quicker when the sun is shining.

So lets discuss, is UV really needed? Normally UV makes our cases turning yellow, so why should it be helpful for reverse-process? Is the higher temperature better for the process?

 

I'm just scratching my head, as in general it works without the sunshine, too and the risk of blooming (cream drying out) is much smaller

Anyone to convince me that UV is really needed?

Edited May 15, 2010 by Jacques

[flashjazzcat]

You might be onto something there. UV light definitely makes the process happen faster, but the best results have usually been with a part left on the windowsill unattended for a long time on a fairly fine day. I'm not sure how much UV light there is floating around in ambient natural light.

[mimo]

Well it can be done in a dark cupboard with a maplins black light bulb which I guess gives off much less UV than a cloudy day.

Ever got burned snorkeling in the Maldives on a cloudy day, I have

[Jacques]

Another question... What is the easiest way of retr0briting keys? Painting the perhidrol-cream on every side of every key seems not to be the easiest way, especially when someone has to deal with TT030 keyboard Apart from the perhidrol-cream, I also have liquid perhidrol 30%. What do you think of separating the keys from the keyboard and putting all of them directly into the liquid-perhidrol filled container? Any damage possible? Or if removed in time, the keys will be perfect?

Edited May 17, 2010 by Jacques

[tjlazer]

I found some parts I retrobrighted last summer are already yellowing! What can we do to prevent this? Parts were not left in direct sunlight, but were exposed to some light indoors.

[+wood_jl]

I found some parts I retrobrighted last summer are already yellowing! What can we do to prevent this? Parts were not left in direct sunlight, but were exposed to some light indoors.

 

 

OH NO!!! I thought we'd found the veritable "fountain of youth" here for our Ataris.

 

I have been keeping everything [that I care about] completely covered. Either with those brown vinyl dust covers, or a black towel if I don't have one.

 

Next I'll hear that it's TIME and not indoor UV doing it!!!!

 

I strongly suspect that time alone does it, and UV just makes it worse. Ever opened a brand new 25 year-old 800XL and found yellowing? I tend to think that I have. Not much, and very uniform, just it wasn't as bright as the actual yellowed one that I retr0brited. Also, some of these other brands of old computers and SNES, you'll see that they're yellowed INSIDE sometimes. How the hell did the UV get in there?

[Havok69]

Perhaps Krylon Fusion for plastics clear would work to protect them?

[Jacques]

Don't panic... I have TT030 keyboard yellowed as hell outside, but it stayed normal colour inside The same is for XE cases and so on... No need to panic, actually. Anyone to answer the question from my previous post?

[+Stephen]

I will hopefully be performing my first Retrobrite this weekend. It's on an old Focus 2001 (IBM Model M clone) keyboard from 1997. You can see the before pics here.

 

If all goes well with this, I have a 130XE, 520ST, and 1040ST to do.

[flashjazzcat]

Not Atari hardware, but my first treatment of a monitor (Commodore 1084ST). Forgot to take before pics as usual, so these are from the eBay listing:

 

 

 

And after:

 

 

 

 

 

The treatment took around twenty hours, but most of it was done either in dull weather or overnight. Only this morning did I have a few hours of bright sunshine to give it a final blast. Now I need to see if it still works...

[Merlin]

I found some parts I retrobrighted last summer are already yellowing! What can we do to prevent this? Parts were not left in direct sunlight, but were exposed to some light indoors.

 

Retr0bright reverses the yellowing process, it's not a permanent cure. If the surface of the plastic is still open to the air, it will yellow again, as the bromine free radical reaction is reversible (otherwise, we wouldn't be able to reverse it... )

 

The permanent fix it is to coat it with clear satin carylic lacquer to seal the surface off from the air. No oxygen, no oxidation; simple, really......

[+Stephen]

I'm using the 40 Vol Creme developer on an old PC keyboard. Let me tell you - keep this off your skin! It chemically burns it faster than battery acid. I was wearing gloves but took them off to put the cap back on and clean the goop off the bottle. That was a mistake. I only had it on my fingertips for a few seconds and there is some damage - I'll post pics (of my fingers and the keyboard) later.

[mimo]

A couple of weeks ago MugUK gave me an Atari 1040 STe that was saved from the trash .It was from the estate of an ST fan that sadly passed away in a care home, there was also a stack of discs as the guy was a coder of some sort. Mug saved the discs for his pasti obsession.

Here are some before and after photos,

It only took about 3 hours to do the transformation, pretty impressive if I say so myself ;D

 

 

It was without doubt the worst looking ST I have ever seen, my wife instantly banished it to the garage on first sight, I was worried about catching some mystery illness from it

 

After 3 hours or so it looked a little better

 

 

There is still some feint residue from the ink that was scrawled over the "F" keys, I have some isopropyl that will hopefully sort this out.

Amazingly it works fine, and has a 2 1/4 meg RAM upgrade

The FDD sounds like a washing machine on spin, but still loads fine. I gave away a load of Sony FDDs at a retro computer meet in November , I kept one as a spare that I had already hacked to make it compatable with the ST, but guess what, it has died in storage :'(