UV light bulb for using RetroBright.

Allright, I want to try the stuff. I pretty much have all the ingredients but we dont get much in the way of sun this time of the year, and my backyard is as shady as it gets.

So I will use UV lamp.
But What UV lamp??

Is a regular black light sufficient or you would need some of the shorter (more dangerous) wavelength UV bulbs??

This seems rather basic but i could not find a clear answer to this question so far.

Blacklights are UVA, but there are tanning lamps and those for curing nail polish or something.
Then you can also get lamps with UVC, to disinfect stuff.

Recommendation?

Edit: Found interesting link http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/message/view/home/27537777#27542207

 

anything that emmits UV light should be fine them UV cold cathode tubes should be fine or even an array of uv led's

 

I've actually just brought a UV bulb myself for Retr0brighting. Not because we don't get enough sun, it's summer in Australia, there's TOO much sun! I'm finding things are getting bleached lately, which wasn't happening during the winter, so I'm suspecting heat is the problem. I'm hoping using a UV bulb will be more controllable, plus I can do it at night or in bad weather.

 

use a dark closet like a boiler room and set it up there, works wonders.

But I just use a halloween blacklight, I'm sure something stronger could speed up the process but really anything works.

 

Cool! Sounds promising! A few questions though:
1) Do you leave them going for a certain period of time or just keep checking up and stop when they look right?
2) Have you found bleaching to be a problem with this method?
3) Are you able to fully-remove the yellowing without bleaching the plastic? I've sometimes found that I reach a point where the plastic still has some yellowing left, but it refuses to de-yellow any further, and upon cleaning up, the plastic has been bleached.
4) Is the paste drying out a problem?

 

1) There is no set time. Just keep checking and stop when you think it's good enough. Sometimes it takes only a couple hours and sometimes it takes all day.
2) Yes, if you leave it in too long you will bleach the plastic. Keep checking at least every hour, it can happen really fast sometimes.
3) I have had the same problem. I don't know what causes it, but it just happens sometimes. Usually I get really good results though.
4) If the paste dries out you will get an uneven result with bleached spots. Just make plenty and reapply every 2 hours or so. If you do it outside in the heat of the sun you will probably have to reapply even more often.

 

I'm kinda hoping that if I use a UV bulb, it won't dry out like it does in the sun, you're saying drying out is still an issue? I normally wrap the part in cling wrap when I'm Retr0brighting outside, which prevents drying out, but is fiddly to do (and probably squashes away some of the gel too!).

 

I have not yet tried Retrobright yet, I went to the Lamp store today and they were out of Blacklight bulbs :mad-new:

Considering UVs are often not very penetrating i would be tempted to try putting as little material as possible between the UV source and the plastic, This might include cling wrap and very thick amont of retrobright.

UVs are easily blocked by most stuff, including regular glass, this is why transition sunglasses wont work inside a car. However the wavelength generated by Black lights may not be as easily blocked. This is worth researching out.

 

Well, I know from Retr0brighting in the sun, that a thick application and cling wrap doesn't interfere.

I brought my bulb on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/221061482791?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

 

I usually do it in a box with the inside and the lid covered in aluminium foil to reflect the UV light. Because of the lamp it can get a bit hot inside so you still have to watch that it doesn't dry out, but it does not dry out as fast as outside in the sun.

 

In the past, I've used a foil tray to reflect the light on all sides, hopefully it should still work even with a smaller light source like a bulb. Is there anything special you do for parts that have not yellowed? I've been covering the entire thing in Retr0bright, since I figured that un-yellowed plastic would yellow since it's being exposed to UV light. But then again, it seems risky to Retr0bright plastic that doesn't need it.

Anyway, my UV bulb arrived today! Gonna try it out!

 

I found some blacklights at the corner hardware store. I still need to find a proper tray ( ill try to go for something all metal so i do not need to cover it in tin foil) and a lamp with reflector. Ill try to do a hit and run to the nearby thrift store tomorrow , they should have all this stuff for a few bucks. Will post pictures of my retr0brighting stories

 

Check your local grocery store, you should be able to find some large aluminum trays which are intended for cooking chicken and the like. They work well for reflecting the light all around.

 

Okay, I've had a bit of success with the UV bulb! The process is slow though, so I built a little foil-lined box to do the Retr0brighting in, I figure this will keep the UV light in one spot instead of spreading around the room and being wasted.

There's obviously a foil-lined door that I've removed for the photo

 

My first Retr0bright experiment will start tonight. I got a tin foil turkey tray and an articulated lamp + reflector for 7$ at the thrift store. I tried my blacklights, The CFL one is fine, makes plenty of phosphorescence but the incandescent one is crap.

Also, ive been hinted somewhere else that the best type of lamps for this might be Lizard fluorescent lamps, Also called full spectrum lamps. They generate UVA, UVB as well as visible light. I guess they are made to mimic the sun.

 

My first Retrobrighting was not a tremendous success. The UV bulb fried after like 10 hours... Fortunately the store i bought it from replaced it.

I worked on my original famicom . It certainly got whiter but there is still some yellow, I will make another round of treatment.

Also, my Hydrogen Peroxide is on the weak side, 9%, but its all i could find around here.

 

thats one reason i'd recommend uv leds or uv cathods which are normall used in pc casemods, rather then bulbs which can easil burn out

 

That's the strongest I was able to find as well. Try a hair salon, you should be able to pick up a hydrogen peroxide creme in much stronger strengths (up to 15% I've found) and it's already thickened to boot.

I've been experimenting with my little Retr0brighting box (which I've nicknamed "The Tanning Booth"), I've found that drying out is still an issue, so it's back to cling wrapping. There doesn't seem to be any issues with bleaching like there was when I was doing it outside, so the main reason for building this thing was a success! Here's some results:

Top half was Retr0brighted, bottom was not. Great success? Well, not quite:

As you can see, there's still a little bit of yellowing left. That seemed to be as far as it would go, I left it in the booth for hours, but it refused to go any lighter. Either way, this is about as good as I could get it when doing it outside (minus the annoying bleaching). If the whole thing had been yellowed instead of just one side, it would be basically unnoticeable.

 

Be careful if you use hydrogen peroxide creme, it can contain other chemicals which might interfere or sometimes even damage the plastic. I always buy 1 liter bottles of 30% peroxide at a chemist store and dilute it so I have 2 liters of 15%.

 

True, though I ran the ingredients of the stuff I'm using past the guy who invented Retr0bright, and he gave it the OK It must be a local laws thing, I can't get anything above 8% for straight hydrogen peroxide.