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Removing Yellowing from Plastics - Part 3

Lorne said:
My son was wanting me to do his gameboy as well, but I haven't got around to it yet. Take before and after photos - I want to see how this one turns out.

And I'd definately use the striaght liquid H2O2 & Oxy solution for something that small. Just make sure you stir it up about once an hour, as the bubbles collecting on the underside, tend to make the pieces float up out of the liquid.
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Thanks for the info. Whats a good mixture to work with for the liquid? Is it just fill a pan with say 6% H2O2 and put in a scoop of Oxy Clean? I have 3% H2O2 around the house for an antiseptic, but would that be too weak for something like this? I know too strong is bad but would it be more beneficial to try and track down 6% strength H2O2?

Also I probably will want to remove the plexiglas screen and put masking tape over the serial number sticker for this correct?

I'm just hoping it doesn't remove the logo and button names. My Game Boy is not in the best condition, it has some dings from being dropped, but I am getting sick of it being almost brown in color.
 
@TrekkiesUnite118

With a handle like that, I'm surprised you're posting now, and aren't out watching the latest Star Trek movie.

When I use the liquid solution, I use about a couple pints of H2O2 and a 1/4 teaspoon of Oxy powder (use a scoop, and you'll have skin removing foam all over the place, and you don't want to try to clean that up).

I've been using 30% H2O2 solution, so 3% would supposedly just take longer. I suspect Merlin will probably disagree, but I've not seen any bad results from using too (ie: 30%) strong a concentration. (where are you located? - if it's in the US, I may be able to direct you to somewhere that you can get 30% for about $ 20/gal, and then you can dilute it, as you see fit).

I've found that the solution will remove paint or painted logos, so if they look painted, I'd remove them before processing the piece. I now do the same with any stickers, etc, just to be on the safe side, because I've found different stickers/labels act differently in the solution.

I'll see if my kid can dig out his Gameboy, and I'll have a look at it to see what I think should be removed.
 
The logo and button labels appear to be printed on in a style similar to how Keyboard Keys are labeled.

Here is a pic of an original Gameboy (Not Mine), just so we are on the same page since there are numerous styles:

Gameboy.jpg


I live in Central Pennsylvania, but I don't want to work with the really nasty stuff in case of accidents.
 
TrekkiesUnite118 said:
The logo and button labels appear to be printed on in a style similar to how Keyboard Keys are labeled.
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My kid can't find his Gameboy (he must have as much crap as patscc!).

Remember, if no else one has tried it before, your piece might be THE experiment, and we'll all appreciate your sacrifice if it doesn't work as planned or expected. At least the Gameboys don't go for $ 1000 plus on Ebay.

I suspect you can pop that plexiglass piece out of the Gameboy (a little cutting with a razor blade may be necessary though, and re-gluing with a palstic glue later). I don't think however, that the solution will bother it. That's just a suspicion, it's not based on any prior experience with plexiglass.

With your photos, I now remember the Gameboy clearly - based on my memory of the Gameboy, and the stuff I've processed previously, I think the name, and keypad labels are safe (they're just like the numbers/letters on keyboard keycaps).

And as Merlin will tell you, safety is number 1.

Take those before and after photos.
 
Does painters tape or anything like that help protect parts you don't want to be exposed to the solution? My only real concern is the serial number sticker on the back if the labels are fine. I don't think removing it would be a good idea because it's a very thin sticker, and I think if I remove it it might just be so old and flimsy that it might just fall apart, rip, or roll up and become a mess to unroll. If painters tape will work I can cut a small piece to cover it easily.
 
TrekkiesUnite118 said:
Does painters tape or anything like that help protect parts you don't want to be exposed to the solution?
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Not that I've found.
I've tried blue painters tape, and even the expensive green (frog) painters tape. It'll stay on for a while, but it gets wet and inevitably loses its adhesion, and just floats off.
I've even tried dripping candle wax on labels, and eventually that just floats off too.
After trying pretty much everything I could think of, I now carefully peel the labels off with a razor blade, and then apply adhesive to them to stick them back on. In some cases, you can't even tell they've been removed. In others, it's obvious.
You might just have to lose the label.
How often do you look at the back of the GameBoy anyway? :)
 
Lorne said:
Not that I've found.
I've tried blue painters tape, and even the expensive green (frog) painters tape. It'll stay on for a while, but it gets wet and inevitably loses its adhesion, and just floats off.
I've even tried dripping candle wax on labels, and eventually that just floats off too.
After trying pretty much everything I could think of, I now carefully peel the labels off with a razor blade, and then apply adhesive to them to stick them back on. In some cases, you can't even tell they've been removed. In others, it's obvious.
You might just have to lose the label.
How often do you look at the back of the GameBoy anyway? :)
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Well it's just that it's the serial number, and on top of that it's one of the old style ones before they started slapping barcodes on the back. It's a small silver label with the number printed on it. But I did have an idea. Perhaps waterproof medical tape might hold up to the liquid.

And I did try to remove the label, its so thin and stuck on there that I can't even get a fine razor blade underneath it to peel it off.
 
Hi guys, I have some news that you may be interested in....

Retr0bright made it into Issue 2 of Retroaction magazine, an online retro gaming magazine. Issue 2 was launched today; I suggest that those of you such as Lorne, Tezza and the guys that helped to make this project work go and grab a copy, some of your project photos are in there.

http://www.retroactionmagazine.com/magazine

;):mrgreen:
 
Tezza:

So you don't know what an Apple II looks like vs an Atari 130XE ?
LOL (see the captions in the article).

I've always said, give a printer (typesetter) a chance to screw up, and they'll do it every time.

Reminds me of when I lived in NZ as a 6 yr old kid. I got in the newspaper. The written article was about me, but the photo adjacent the article was of a 5 yr old girl ! Great, huh?
 
Lorne,

I'm in Barcelona Spain (part business/part holiday) at the moment on an EXTREMELY slow wireless network which isn't allowing me to download that issue without a lot of pain.

I'll take your word for it!

Good to see articles like this getting the info out though.

I didn't realise you did a stint in NZ? Were you born a New Zealander?

Tez
 
Lorne said:
Tezza:

So you don't know what an Apple II looks like vs an Atari 130XE ?
LOL (see the captions in the article).

I've always said, give a printer (typesetter) a chance to screw up, and they'll do it every time.

Reminds me of when I lived in NZ as a 6 yr old kid. I got in the newspaper. The written article was about me, but the photo adjacent the article was of a 5 yr old girl ! Great, huh?
Click to expand...
Oh, a copy and paste error - I was using the same captions as the document I was sent. The two images at the bottom of the second page should have had the caption: An Apple Mac treated by Krye of Vintage Computer Forums. I will amend this and re-upload. Thanks for reading.
 
Lorne said:
I suspect you can pop that plexiglass piece out of the Gameboy (a little cutting with a razor blade may be necessary though, and re-gluing with a palstic glue later).
Click to expand...
Yep, they're held in with that non-setting adhesive which you can usually reuse a couple of times. You can pry it out from the front but to avoid knicking the edges, you can also pop them out by pushing from the inside.

TrekkiesUnite118 said:
And I did try to remove the label, its so thin and stuck on there that I can't even get a fine razor blade underneath it to peel it off.
Click to expand...
Most stickers peel off a lot easier with a bit of gentle heat (like from a hair dryer) to soften the adhesive.

TrekkiesUnite118 said:
Though I need to get a Tri-Wing screw driver so I can take the thing apart first.
Click to expand...
Ideally, yes. You can also get them out with a small straight-bladed jeweler's screwdriver, albeit not quite as easily!
 
Being curious as everyone else about this de-yellowing stuff, I figured on trying it out on a old MAC Mouse that was yellowish

After taking it apart, I put the bottom shell and the top shell in a mixutre of 6% H2O2, and placed them in the sun.

After a week they were definetly less yellow, I didn't put anything else into the mix except for the clear H202, what benefit is there to having the OXY or other chemicals in there?

Wouldn't the clear mix allow the UV rays to penetrate and interact better with H2O2 molecules than to fog it up with OXY etc?

:eek:
 
Nope; all you have done is replicate the original experiment carried out at a1k.org.

The reason for this is that a chemical in the Oxy (called TAED) acts as a catalyst and speeds up the reaction, which is what you would have seen.

It's all in the Wiki... http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com
 
Last edited:
Hi all, i'm new to this forum. First i wanted to show my appriciation for the people who made de-yellowing possible! :)

I have so far made three attempts on de-yellowing plastic.

1)
Only using Hydro-peroxide with 35,5% strenght on a A600 case for 5 days.
Absolutely nothing happened.

2)
Only using Hydro-peroxide with 35,5% strenght and Sunlight on a Amiga-mouse for 2 days.
Original colour restored to 100%!

3)
Making Retr0Bright gel using Hydro-peroxide (20%), Vanish Oxy and Arrowroot. Applied on a A500 case toghether with UV lamp for 2 days.
Absolutely nothing happened.


To my question. Why did the Gel completely fail?? any ideas?

Thank's!!!

//Pavel
 
Hmm...strange.

Was your UV lamp a REAL UV lamp (i.e. a flourescent), or one of those standard lamps just painted so most of the normal light is filtered out (but often sold as a UV lamp). The latter emit very low levels of UV which probably wouldn't be enough to excite the molecules to react.

Tez
 
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