Cheapo retrobrite experiment

Nes4life

Nes4life

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Got a C64 recently and saw it could do with being a few shades brighter.
Took it apart, gave the plastic a rince and gentle scrub and brushed all the dust off the pcb.
Took all the keys off the keyboard, soaked the springs in WD40 and then googled for alternatives to Retrobrite or whatever. Found that basic 30vol or 40vol peroxide should do the trick. Applied the peroxide to all the brownish areas, put the keys in a zipped food bag and covered the rest in cling film. Left it all to bake in the sun for 2 hours. Wear gloves when applying peroxide!

Cost of peroxide was £1.99 from a local chemist.
Results were really good!

https://imgur.com/a/wX6Z3
 
backflipper

backflipper

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Nice.
Do they say how long it will last and if it is not harmful to the plastics long term?

The difference is amazing. I watched one of the youtubers do it to his apple computer a little while back.
 
Nes4life

Nes4life

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From what I read it didn't need repeating annually or anything. I'm sure time will tell as it probably differs from machine to machine with the different plastics used. I didn't feel the surface change texture or anything like that and it doesn't seem brittle.

If your console or classic computer can be readily replaced by another from eBay for less than £100 I'd say go for it. I'll certainly do it again on another machine (SNES or Amiga) when I get the chance.

Further tips:
- spread peroxide evenly
- seriously wear cheapo gloves or use food bags on your hands (chemical burns are not fun)
- covering with cling film or putting smaller parts in a food bag whilst baking is advised as it stops the peroxide reacting with the air. For the same reason keep the peroxide bottle cool and put the lid on as soon as you're done. My wife is a hairdresser and tells me peroxide slowly becomes water if exposed to air and heat.
- dismantle the console into smaller parts and bake all parts at the same time so they are exposed to the same amount of heat for the same amount of time. Apparently it's not the uv we're after but the slow heat from direct sun light. Perhaps a hairdryer would do the same job?
 
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