Remove white coat from dark plastic/Keys after washing

[Dallas_Green]

I wonder if there was some sort of shellac coating on the keys to begin with and that's what's turning white. If that's the case then they won't really clean up and maybe your only hope is to re-coat?

Can you shellac shellac?

How could I check that out?
But it doesn't seem that there is something like a coating on it.
Also, I can carefully scratch this white stuff with my nails of. So I guess that this has more to do with the plastic surface.

What would be an unimportant key? I mean every single difference on the keyboard would be visible instantly ^^
There is just the chance to check it on the side of a key

Thank you guys for your comments!

 

[durgadas311]

Another product recommended by the telephone experts is Nova 1,2,3 polisher. The difference between cleaning and polishing. https://novuspolish.com/

I still think it's unlikely that these keys have any sort of shellac or coating, that would wear off very soon (and look terrible) with heavy use. The keycaps themselves are a plastic made to stand up to heavy use.

 

[durgadas311]

Does that little bottle cost $170!?

That's the price for a case. You'd need to find someone that's selling individual bottles. I got some many years ago, I forget who from.

 

[durgadas311]

Here's one place that sells individual bottles: https://startechtel.com/products/new-general-telephone-cleaner. Not sure about what's available in Germany/EU.

 

[Timo W.]

What would be an unimportant key? I mean every single difference on the keyboard would be visible instantly ^^

The red one maybe? If that discolors, it would not be that obvious.

 

[Dallas_Green]

Hello
This is the result of several stages of treatment with this poduct.
I'm quite satisfied with it

 

[Jazzy]

Interesting, I was wondering how this went. There's still a bit of that white haze visible on the picture, but I assume it looks much better in person.

 

[Dallas_Green]

Yes, there is still a rest of the gray coating visible on some caps when you get close to them. From regular distance its all right, a way better then before. I didn't want to polish a lot on their surfaces either to not destroy the original surface structure too much.
I'll report how it looks after half a year.

 

[Jazzy]

It looks great, especially considering the state before you cleaned it. Very different design and keys than on my KC 85/2 (technically 85/3) keyboard.

 

[Dallas_Green]

Yes, they're all different and have barely something in common. There wasn't just one big Robotron company back in the day. It was more an union of different factories which had to produce also computers, which leaded to different developments, more or less in parallel.
There were also washing machines and cooking equipment available, made by "Robotron"

Here the rest of the machine. Almost finished. I was lucky for getting exactly this crt with a western analog board in it. Normally they made them on their own and the flyback transformers of those always fail - with no simple replacement available.