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RetroBrite I have never use it.

J

Jmdlcar

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How many ounce do I need? And I see there is blue or clear so which do I need? Will have to dry before I remove it? Where is the best place to buy it?

I was going to use it on my Coco2 and will the keys on the keyboard come or pop off easy?

EDIT:
Is it Hydrogen Peroxide if so what percent do I need?
 
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You can streak/bloom at any concentration, I just managed to do so last week with the front off an old SCSI disk box and 3% drugstore peroxide. I suspect that the piece floated up and dried out, apparently that is believed to be more the cause of blooming/streaking by some.

Any concentration of peroxide works, but lower concentrations will be slower. Natural sunlight works faster than a blacklight, but blacklight does work. Sunlight also has the benefit of heating the piece up. Heat seems to play some role in it; not surprising as most chemical reactions happen faster at higher temperatures. For the few faceplates I experimented on over the last two weeks, I put them in a small shoebox sized clear plastic storage container with a top, dumped in two large bottles of 3% peroxide from the drugstore, and topped off with tap water to fully submerge the pieces. I had to weight down one of the larger faceplates as it kept collecting bubbles and floating up. Took about three partly cloudy days to more or less totally restore them.
 
In Ohio where I live it 85 to 90 deg for the past week with little cloud cover. I will try Computer keyboard keys with 3% drugstore peroxide for 2 days but I need find away to weight them down so they don't float. I will need to find where they sell 40% peroxide and how much.
 
That why I'm going to try 3% peroxide first and id it works I will stay with it. When I mix it should it be more peroxide then water?
 
Has there been any updates on the archival effects of retrobrite? I remember when it was being developed here and had completely forgotten about that since, but there was some concern about it damaging the plastic at the microscopic level. There was a Danish archivist who posted results of a (relatively) quick study of the effects, and she was not impressed - considering it to likely be a bad choice from an archivists point of view.

To me there is an intersection between vintage pursuits and preserving the past. To others, not always so much. In any case, it's a consideration.
 
Large clear rubbermaid containter, Sodium percarbonate powder and warm water. UV lamps afixed to the top of the rubbermaid lid. No cleanup, no mess. Just set it and forget it,,, ya know.. like Ron Popeil.
 
Ole Juul said:
Has there been any updates on the archival effects of retrobrite?
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Retrobrite doesn't stop the decomposition process of the plastic, it just changes the chemical structure of the very outermost layer of it. The peroxide treatment basically strips the bromine atoms out (the fire retardant) and replaces them with oxygen atoms.

Some plastics will yellow/brown again rapidly, while others don't. There are a few sparse videos of people showing like 6 month or 1 year after retrobrite and you can see some yellowing appearing again.
 
I've got a pair of Apple UniDisk drives that I retrobrited in 2008 or 2009, they still look good. They don't get left in the sun or extreme heat though. And of course a data point of one isn't very significant :) I wouldn't be likely to try it on anything truly unique/historical. Old beige box PCs, dime-a-dozen drive enclosures, etc...sure, why not?
 
When I Coco3 and all the hardware back when it came out 30 years ago and here is what I did. I keep it all cover when not in used and I will do the same when I get my Coco2 setup the way I want it. I am at the point I don't want to take away the Vintage of the Computer and everyone know at 35 Years old it won't look new. The tan is not that dark.

When I can I will take more picture of the out side and in side of the Coco 2. Should I take the picture out side of my house or inside my house?
 
GiGaBiTe said:
Retrobrite doesn't stop the decomposition process of the plastic, it just changes the chemical structure of the very outermost layer of it. The peroxide treatment basically strips the bromine atoms out (the fire retardant) and replaces them with oxygen atoms.

Some plastics will yellow/brown again rapidly, while others don't. There are a few sparse videos of people showing like 6 month or 1 year after retrobrite and you can see some yellowing appearing again.
Click to expand...

Thanks. yeah, that's where I left off last. That's a pretty superficial look at it though, and I was hoping there was more in depth information. For archival purposes a year usually doesn't show meaningful change unless some accelerated degradation is simulated, and just looking at something is not really meaningful. The last professional research about it that I saw was from the Danish National Museum and they did not recommend it because of the microscopic degradation of the surface which they observed from the use of retrobrite on the plastic they tested. Each to his own I guess. :)

Like I said, one probably needs to make a choice between a "vintage" and an "archival" approach. In this case you probably can't have both.

Edit, I found the article in Danish here. You can use Google Translate, or check out my previous post on the forum where I talked about it.
 
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I've mentioned before that archivists are generally against any chemical treatment. For display purposes, a water-based paint represents a reversible solution.
 
GiGaBiTe said:
For retrobrite, you'll need as much as it takes to paint on a thick layer on whatever you're trying to treat.

Though according to research done by 8 bit guy, hot 40% peroxide held at a constant 160F (IIRC) tends to work better because it doesn't leave streaking behind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZYbchvSUDY
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Jmdlcar said:
I will need to find where they sell 40% peroxide and how much.
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8-bit guy clarifies later in that video (about 16:45) that the peroxide he used wasn't 40% but 12%. In the cosmetics industry hydrogen peroxide is sold in grades 10, 20, 30, and 40, which he assumed referred to the percentage strength, but it's not. Those grades are really 3, 6, 9, and 12% strength. They should all be easily available either as a liquid or a cream.
 
There's the stuff I use: 40 vol. Developer creme. You can get this, or similar, at a salon or beauty supply store.

IMG_20190317_042404860.jpg The lighting is poor in this photo, but you can see the badge space with the original colour.

Paint the creme on with a brush and cover with Saran food-wrap to prevent it from drying out, then stick it in the sun.

Periodically rotate it and smooth out the plastic to prevent streaking. Remove the plastic and apply another coat of creme if you think it's been spread out too much.

After being outside in the sun all day, wash it off and see the results!

IMG_20190317_130835696.jpgIMG_20190317_204726670.jpg

The CD-ROM was white to begin with. The Zip drive had some yellowing, and whitened up nicely, but I left the floppy drive un-retrobrited for comparison (just replaced it with another whiter one). The bezel didn't get all the way white (but it matches the painted metal chassis cover now), and another day in the sun probably would have gotten it whiter, but I'm happy with how this turned out. This looks presentable now.
 
I use a regionally different but chemically identical product to blackepyon with good results but I built an exposure box to add some consistency to the process and to avoid the sun drying things out and the inevitable blooming that comes with. I can do a full 17" CRT shell in this thing, its a 48 hour exposure because my UV bulbs are nowhere near as powerful as the sun but I can just set it and forget. It flattens down for storage and holds together with gaff tape and velcro, has lasted me about 4 years with no signs of impending failure.

20190327_184539.jpg 20190327_184624.jpg 20190327_184709.jpg

Then of course I saw 8-bit guys submersion and heat method and immediately got excited. Much faster process and, as has been pointed out and confirmed by running a hair dryer on low into the box on the last batch, heat is a great catalyst, knocking 18 hours off the exposure time. I'm considering going full retard, grabbing a uC, an SCR, thermocouple and heater element, and making a submersion tank out of half of a chemical (HDPE) drum. Will require a tonne of peroxide per batch but the ability to do bulk amounts of components (literally cram as much in as I can) with no concern about parts casting shadows on other parts seems like it might be a good trade off. Will post results if I get that far.
 
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ATSystems said:
I use a regionally different but chemically identical product to blackepyon with good results but I built an exposure box to add some consistency to the process and to avoid the sun drying things out and the inevitable blooming that comes with. I can do a full 17" CRT shell in this thing, its a 48 hour exposure because my UV bulbs are nowhere near as powerful as the sun but I can just set it and forget. It flattens down for storage and holds together with gaff tape and velcro, has lasted me about 4 years with no signs of impending failure.
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Gaff tape is awesome stuff. All the tack without the residue. Used to use it back when I was doing lights and sound for my old school.
Your box lacks aluminum foil though. That eliminates the dead zones and gives much more even coverage.

The problem with the chemical drum idea, is how much space it takes up, and how much H2O2 you go through (not to mention what you're doing with it afterwards).

Adrian Black found that Royal Blue LEDS as salvaged from some old remote phosphor lamps does a pretty good job. https://youtu.be/cRlAFnhmPlw
I'm thinking of sourcing myself some royal blue LEDs and giving that a go. I work a day job that leaves me very little daytime hours for doing stuff like this, and Retr0brite kinda needs to be attended periodically to avoid the streaking issue.

Stone said:
The active ingredient in this is 12% Hydrogen Peroxide. Same with Retr0brite.
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I think Retr0brite refers to the process, not the product used.
 
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