retrobright on coloured plastics other than grey/white we'll say dark colours...

Has anyone had issues with retro brighting dark colours? I am in the process of restoring a US snes. Top part of the case is coming along nicely but i gave the piwer/reset buttons a crack and the bastards bleached on me. I have 3% & 12% & i foolishly used the 12% stuff. Both i bought as a cream & i checked for the terpen & the creme doesn't have that.

Anyone else had said issue?

 

I used the recipe which calls for with topical type found in pharmacy mixed only with oxy-clean and nothing else. It works fine with any color. The only time I have problem with this formula is when I carelessly added oxy-clean while the parts are submerged and out in the sun and it caused a rapid and aggressive reaction on the surface of the part. Those parts end up looking over-bleached and blotchy. From then on I learned the lesson to mix the solution thoroughly before putting the plastics in and exposing it to the sun.

 

Thanks for that.

I am still trying to de-green the top part, I think this is the 4th run I have at it. Today was the first time (3rd run) out in the sun though. The other times have been under a UV bulb. I have just done another batch, I weakened the mix a bit (12% with a splash of luke-warm water) so as not to be so harsh. It is getting there but bloody hell I could have given it a flick of paint and done.

Not sure what to do with the power/reset button got an idea to try out, see how that goes.

I think after this one I won't do it again, takes too long. Painting bit of prep work, choose your colour, spray-spray-dry-done.

My sister is a hair dresser, when I told her I was using 12%, she said "12%! WTF are you doing with that!" "You are better off with 6% and do it slowly, 12% can go crazy, to unpredictable!"

 

Whats the highest non cream peroxide concentration you can find?

 

The topical type is 3% and is what's commonly found in the pharmacy. It's strong enough, plus they are cheaper. That's what attracted me to using them. Other than that one screw-up I mentioned, on multiple occasions I was able to get clean part from 3 to 6 hrs under sunny day. The only drawback is you do need more bottles for full submersion if you are brightening a larger item since it's not a paste form and there is a tendency for parts to float due to buoyancy.

 

The bleaching problems I had been having I found were down to the item drying out and the source of the UV being too strong. Now, I use a UV bulb and wrap my items in cling wrap, no problems since then.

 

I initially bought 2 bottles of that 40vol creme peroxide. Since it wouldn't work for me, I took the un-opened bottle back and swapped it for 20vol and gave to my sister (she is a hairdresser). These bottles were 1litre @ $11ish

I went to the chemist and found 20vol hydrogen peroxide (pure) in a 400ml bottle. This bottle cost $9.00 but as I mix up only 100ml at a time (plenty to do the top case) I will see how I go. It is turning out expensive lol! To be honest I think I would just prefer to paint a lovely colour.

As for the Power/Reset buttons since they were "bleached" I took to them with 1200 wet/dry (wet) and cotton wading (Brite Shine) and polished them up to their original colour, all nice and sparkly but rubbed off the text, which I don't care about.....anymore.

 

For me, painting is really the last resort. Generally not really a big fan of painted look on consumer electronic. Also you loose the silk screened texts/markings. I know people sometime make repro decals but why no ones does custom DIY silk screening? I'm tempted to try one of these days... As for the retrobright, you should really consider the 3% formula before giving up. It's remarkably simple and effortless. If I remember correctly, it's 1 tablespoon oxy-clean per two 32oz bottle. It's way more economical and milder on the plastic (as long you mix thoroughly ahead of time). At worst, if the result is not ideal, you don't feel the pinch as much as with the expensive stuffs.

 

Here I can find 30 vol pure peroxide at the drug store. The original recipe calls for 40 vol pure but for me 30vol worked pretty well without discoloration or anything. My only experience with it so far was with UV lamp on a NES. I used plastic wrap like fireaza.

Personally I also would not go for painting unless the case is badly scratched or as part of a mod project involving case mod with bondo and stuff.

 

Well this top part of the case is almost there. I will give the cling wrap treatment a go.

Thank you for the tips!