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How to bring back original color of plastic panel on old PCs

tezza said:
Cases and keys come up nicely, but be aware that de-yellowing with hydrogen peroxide+UV (whether Retr0Bright or a soak) might not be a permanent solution....
http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2013-01-15-retr0bright-only-temporary.htm

Tez
Click to expand...

It also depends a bit on the type of plastic. Some plastics have a tendency to re-yellow themselves rather quickly while some are less prone to that. My first attempt is always with gasoline since that does not bleach but rather clear off yellowing smudge, cigarette smoke, dust and so on. So if you improve the condition with gasoline it's pretty much permanent. And the re-yellowing takes years to reach a really annoying state again.
 
It went well!:)

I bought 5l bottle of hydrogen peroxide 12% and simply soaked case front panel in it for 5 hours in a flat plastic container and left it outside in my garden.
This is Glasgow, Scotland, so not much sun we get, but last few days it's been sunny so it helped a lot:)

First I did that with 3.5" cover plate just n case something would go wrong.
But it was fine, it turned nice and grey/beige like 25 years ago:)

I should upload photos tonight to show how well it went.
It was very easy, to be honest. Only thing is you need to watch and ware gloves when handling 12% peroxide - it burns your skin pretty quickly:huh:
 
Well, here you go! :)

This the front of the case, you can see how yellowish it is - 5.25" cover plate and 3.5" drive is newer, take a look at 3.5" cover plate and front panel itself - both yellowish.

front_peroxide0.jpg

Now, first I did that 3.5 cover plate, look how nice and clean it is after 4 hours soaking in peroxide.

front_peroxide1.jpg front_peroxide2.jpg front_peroxide3.jpg front_peroxide4.jpg
 
...and here is a result of the front panel - 3.5 cover plate is exactly same color as whole panel. AWESOME!!! :D

front_peroxide6.jpg front_peroxide5.jpg

This looks a bit more beige than first photos - it was late and sun was going down quickly, so different white balanse I guess... but still you can see how exactly same these bits are now.
 
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before acquiring all the supplies for retrobriting (20-30$ US), I would buy a bottle of Fantastic. It does remove some browning/yellowing. If you scrub a little, it might work to your satisfaction. A first step.
I once laid a warm ceramic mug of coffee on top of a Tandy 2000, and it left a white ring for the better part of a minute. Can someone explain the physics/chemistry of that to me??
 
No need for any other chemicals, just hydrogen peroxide and some sun.
4-5 hours and colors come back again. Job done, happy days:)
 
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