Completely removing marker ink from plastics. How-To.

I have recently found a way to 100% remove permanent marker off textured plastic with zero damage to the item. Sorry if this is already known or something but I felt like sharing this.

For demonstration, I have a SNES cart In very good condition and autographed by Famous BENNETT.


Bennett, dude, if you are reading this, please don't be mad but... THIS GAME NOW BELONGS TO ME!!

As many of you might already know, Isopropyl alcohol dissolves marker ink. It works great to remove marker ink off glass and some other surfaces.
However on plastics, wall paint and others, you will never be able to completely remove the ink. There is always some of it that penetrated too deep and will refuse to go away even with a hard rub with ISP and clean towel.

In any case, this is the first step. Just rub some ISP with a towel to remove as much ink as you can.
It should then looks a bit like this.


Now to completely remove it will require some patience but it is not too bad.
The trick is to use a Mr.Clean Magic eraser drenched in a proper solvent.
ISP works but when combined to the Magic eraser has a tendency to leave a mark on the plastic.
It will leave some faint discoloration that is very subtle. I was initially satisfied with this solution but I then found something better.

After some testing i found out that GOO GONE + Magic eraser can remove all the ink with no damage.
It is not as fast as using ISP but it really leaves the plastic nice and pristine.
For best results, rub the Goo Gone soaked Magic eraser in a circular motion and avoid putting too much pressure, especially when cleaning textured plastic, like the SNES cart here.
It can take a little while but the results are there. I took me about 10 min of delicate rubbing with the Goo Gone and eraser to do this.

A little note, when working close to cart label like that, try to avoid putting Goo Gone in contact with the edge of the label as it can get absorbed under the label and potentially weaken the glue.

Now is that cleaned or not?

 

Wow, that definitely got it off. How much time in all did it take you?

 

I just use eucalyptus oil

 

This is very relevant to my interests, as I have a handful of SNES/N64 games that are marked. Luckily, I already have some goo gone, cool to see something already so useful has another power. Gonna try this out in the next couple of weeks! Thanks for the information.

 

I've also seen Taking a dry erase marker and drawing over the writing multiple times take the ink out really well.

 

What about labels? I had to practically scrape ink off Super Mario Bros. 2. I got most of it off with the label still in good shape, but 30 of the label is still covered in ink.

I just use alcohol with a little elbow grease for plastic, but I'll consider a magic eraser and goo gone.

 

Good to know mate! Thanks for this!

 

Alcohol is a good choice for things that will tolerate it but I never can get the ink completely off textured plastic with only alcohol. Unless you rub for 30 min maybe...
Goo Gone and magic eraser still takes some elbow grease but it is less damagable than Alcohol and Magic eraser.

For labels, it appears that Jig a loo is great for removing ink without damaging labels. Someone removed ink from a genesis label using Jig A loo right in front of me. I have not tried it myself though.
However Jig a loo is bad for plastics so keep it to the label only. Maybe plain Goo Gone would work too? I have no game with inked label to try on.

At this point I have cleaned everything I had that had marker on them. 3 games and 2 NES. All using my Goo Gone+ Magic eraser technique.

 

I usually use Lynx/Axe deodorant spray (not the dry one), its not failed me yet, I also use it for marker on instruction booklets too, you have to be very quick and gentle with them though but the Lynx just lifts it right of the paper, its also good for removing sticker residue too

 

"Goof Off" also worked on some tough marker issues. The only problem is the stink. If you value straight nose hair, get a good mask use scuba tank and rebreather set to avoid getting a whiff of it. Otherwise you'd spend the rest of your life cursing at permanently warped nose hair irriating the inside of your nose.

 

Goof off is kind of like lighter fluid but stronger, I would be worried about the toxicity of that stuff and also I think it might remove the ink of some labels like N64 and some Genesis. Just my feeling.

 

any idea how to remove stuff like biro pen writing from manuals, i tried once with isopropyl alcohol on a ear bud and it didnt go to well, it started waring the paper down got a couple of snes manuals with passwords scrawled in the back of them....also any tips for felt tip pen writing....i think i had a manual with felt tip pen passwords(i imagine isopropyl alcohol might work better here but didn't want to try until i know XD).....how i hate the "password" page in manuals

 

How does that work with painted-on surfaces?

Some idiot scribbled marker all over the logo on an NES.

 

Hmmm, I woult try to avoid magic eraser over the Nintendo etching on a NES.
Not sure if alcohol is good either.
I think using goo gone on a clean towel would be safe on the logo and would still remove some ink.

Edit: @Gamequest: Do not know sorry. I cannot think of anything that would remove completely with no damage to paper.

 

no worries, kinda figured it was a bit of a pointless exercise tbh, the felt tip one i might be able to get off without causing much damage, but the biro is probably there to stay, would prefer biro writing over big white marks

 

From what I read, hairspray works fine.

From what I've test, Goo Gone works fine for remove old stickers from rent store. I've tend to reduce the use of magic eraser since it tends to destroy the "granular" finish of the Snes cartridges.

 

NEVER USE GOOF-OFF ON PLASTIC. A SEGA Dev.Box is cosmetically ruined because of it.

 

^this.

Anyone using such a strong solvent is a complete and total idiot. I've seen enough damage to paint and plastic from Goof-off/Goo Gone to know that no amount is a safe amount. When I need to remove the old adhesive backing labels on carts I use lighter fluid to do so as well as removing most permanent marker marks (but not 100% of it). So far it seems to not cause any damage to the plastic that I've seen but I expect anyone to have seen such damage to chime in. Rubbing alcohol has limited use for adhesives and sharpie marker.

Ultimately the plastic being porous means you'll either have to find a way to chemically remove the marker (think using Retrobrite to remove the yellow) or use mechanical means to remove the plastic layer that the ink is embedded in. A magic eraser is doing just that: removing a layer of plastic. Goo gone does act as a solvent to remove the ink but it also makes the plastic....plastic and causes damage to it that isn't reversible. You're infinitely better off trying to remove the (hopefully) undamaged label and placing it on a donor shell. Plenty of unsalvageable games out there with perfectly good shells.

 

For me getting marker off I use Awesome.

I just spray enough where it needs to go and leave it on for like 5 minutes,then use magic eraser and it all comes off very easy and no damage to the cart.