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IBM Personal Computer Family Plastics

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RHopple

Experienced Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2017
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Hello, I am curious about the plastics used in the IBM PC family. I have a few Apple machines that are badly yellow, but all my IBM machines maintain their original white color. In fact, I have never seen an IBM PC with yellow plastics on eBay or in collector’s photos.

I read somewhere that IBM used heavy gauge plastic, but I couldn’t find any information on the matter.

The reason I want to know is I have a few PCs on display in my living room, but I am worried that may fade to yellowish beige with all the sunlight in that room.
 
Are IBM plastics painted or dyed? It's been decades since I owned any but I seem to recall that if scratched, the subsurface colour was different.

Sunlight isn't the only factor. Some of my most yellowed things all but never saw the light of day.
 
I've also noticed the IBM PS/2 range seems to stay white too.
I actually asked on a video for people to let me know if they've ever seen a yellow PS/2, and so far I've only had one person say they have.

My biggest issue is actually rust, front panels all still original color on my PC and PC XT machines.
 
RHopple said:
The reason I want to know is I have a few PCs on display in my living room, but I am worried that may fade to yellowish beige with all the sunlight in that room.
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I have had several machines on display in my living room for years and the IBM PC and AT are the only ones I'm not worried about since they are obviously painted, but it's not as clear if the 5151 and 5153 monitors are the same. It does make sense to keep direct sunlight to a minimum.
 
I can't speak for anything but the PS/2 line as that's all I've ever had, but those are definitely painted metal and painted plastic. So no worries about those turning yellow. If one of those is off-color, it's simply dirty and it will most likely come right off with a little windex.

For the Monitors, those are plastic, but I don't think it's the same kind of plastic used on Apples, SNES's, etc. I've had a few over the years and not one has turned yellow and they've all had plenty of exposure to sunlight. The plastic on them feels a bit heavier and sturdy, but also a bit more brittle than what was used on Apple machines of the era, which is probably why it's not uncommon to find ones that have tiny nicks and chips along the corners.

And when I say brittle I don't mean rotting a way brittle, I just mean it doesn't seem to flex as much when stressed as say the ABS plastic used on an Apple machine.
 
As for me, all IBM PC family plastics are stabile ivory white, but with age, they get very fragile. Especially on the monitors, that plastics are fragile like dark chocolate. Hell for all shipping and service.
 
The Only IBM I ever saw that Yellowed was the IBM PS/2 Model 30 286 I had back in my Alabama days - and that was because it was a FIRE Survivor from Tuskeegee University where the professor I got it from worked. IT had a big white square on top where the monitor was. It was about as yellow as most Pentium and older PC clones I find these days are.
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I did find one clone that did not yellow and that's the GEM 286 I have. That's because the front plastic was painted at the Suncheer/Songcheer factory to a darker grey color to match the boack of the PC (it's a very nice case for a bog-standard AT Clone, thick powder-coated haircell back pattern both on the metal chassis and metal back).
 
Thanks for all your replies! I will keep sunlight to a minimum but still proudly display them.
 
but it's not as clear if the 5151 and 5153 monitors are the same
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Not sure for 5153 but 5151 is painted. Mine is scratched in a few places and you can see difference between paint and plastic.
 
The only part of the CRT's which is your normal yellowing plastic is the two square covers at the top hiding the screws. I ended up going to the trouble of retrobrighting the two on my 5151 because it annoyed me seeing these two mustard yellow squares on the top! :D
 
Flamin Joe said:
The only part of the CRT's which is your normal yellowing plastic is the two square covers at the top hiding the screws.
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One of my 5151s, made in Korea, has painted screw covers, the other, made in Taiwan, does not.
The 5153, also made in Taiwan has painted covers.
 
paul said:
One of my 5151s, made in Korea, has painted screw covers, the other, made in Taiwan, does not.
The 5153, also made in Taiwan has painted covers.
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Which always brings us to the question:

Anyone have a good COLOR match for the colors used on these computers if you were inclined to pain them?

I know there is a color recommendation floating around for the platinum Apples and HP printers but I have never seen one for the IBMs. Nor have I ever seen a recommendation where one could source said colors...
 
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