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Author Topic: Retrobright  (Read 6405 times)

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Offline Hakhu

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 46
Retrobright
« on: Wed, 16 September 2009, 04:42:20 »
Does anyone here have experience using Retrobright?

What methods do you use to reverse the yellowing of old keyboards?

Thanks,
Hakhu
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Offline Hamblet

  • Posts: 159
Retrobright
« Reply #1 on: Wed, 16 September 2009, 05:53:29 »
What I heard is, you have to prepare hydrogen peroxide and if possible ultraviolet light source. Basically it is a reduction process. So, it maybe needs warm temperature also. Do not ask me exact percentage and time or degree figures. i do not know. Some guy says you need a little bit of chloride bleach.

Good Luck and tell me the results, if you are not suffocated in your tiny room.
« Last Edit: Wed, 16 September 2009, 05:56:06 by Hamblet »
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Offline lowpoly

  • Posts: 1749
Retrobright
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 16 September 2009, 05:54:57 »
I'll try this as soon as I get to IKEA to buy the tanks I need.
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Offline Hakhu

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 46
Retrobright
« Reply #3 on: Wed, 16 September 2009, 06:06:42 »
Quote from: Hamblet;118357
What I heard is, you have to prepare hydrogen peroxide and if possible ultraviolet light source. Basically it is a reduction process. So, it maybe needs warm temperature also. Do not ask me exact percentage and time or degree figures. i do not know. Some guy says you need a little bit of chloride bleach.

Good Luck and tell me the results, if you are not suffocated in your tiny room.


I know the recipe. You can find it on Retr0Bright.
I just wanted to see if anyone here already has some experience.

So besides Retrobright, no-one here has ever tried or sucessfully brightened a yellow keyboard?
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Offline Hamblet

  • Posts: 159
Retrobright
« Reply #4 on: Wed, 16 September 2009, 06:09:23 »
Oh, Thanks,
That is really good information.

I will try it someday. (All boards of mine are less than 2 years old.).
« Last Edit: Wed, 16 September 2009, 07:45:27 by Hamblet »
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Offline itlnstln

  • Posts: 7048
Retrobright
« Reply #5 on: Wed, 16 September 2009, 08:19:42 »
Quote from: Hakhu;118362
I know the recipe. You can find it on Retr0Bright.
I just wanted to see if anyone here already has some experience.
 
So besides Retrobright, no-one here has ever tried or sucessfully brightened a yellow keyboard?

Take a look in the mods section (the really old posts).  An old member of ours, Chloe, and another, lam, have whitened keyboards with toothpaste.
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Offline InSanCen

  • Posts: 563
Retrobright
« Reply #6 on: Wed, 16 September 2009, 15:33:20 »
Quote from: Hakhu;118362
I know the recipe. You can find it on Retr0Bright.
I just wanted to see if anyone here already has some experience.

So besides Retrobright, no-one here has ever tried or sucessfully brightened a yellow keyboard?


Not just keyboards, but an awful lot of yellowed ABS plastic.

I have a fair few old bases (Well, had, long story), and they all cleaned up well with it. Badly yellowed stuff will probably need multiple applications.

In short, it's great stuff... just make sure that "normal" gunk you find on vintage kit is cleaned off thoroughly (Isopropyl alcohol works great, dries with no residue) beforehand.
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Offline talis

  • Posts: 195
Retrobright
« Reply #7 on: Wed, 16 September 2009, 15:46:02 »
I've tried a ghetto version of it that worked ok:

Mix corn starch and Hydrogen Peroxide (3% stuff you find at the chemists) .
Microwave for 15-20s.
Stir until it thickens.
Stir in some glycerin.
Let the mixture cool back to room temp.  (This is very important, if you don't let it cool it becomes a runaway exothermic reaction when you add the oxyclean).
Dissolve some Oxyclean in a little Hydrogen peroxide then add to the cooled mix.
Brush it on and leave in the sun.

The problem with this recipe is it tends to dry out pretty quickly even with glycerin, so you need to rinse it off and re-apply every couple of hours.
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Offline timw4mail

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Retrobright
« Reply #8 on: Wed, 16 September 2009, 15:51:33 »
Quote from: talis;118533
Let the mixture cool back to room temp.  (This is very important, if you don't let it cool it becomes a runaway exothermic reaction when you add the oxyclean).

How exothermic is the reaction? Would it cause structural distortion, melting, fire?
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Offline talis

  • Posts: 195
Retrobright
« Reply #9 on: Wed, 16 September 2009, 16:32:30 »
Quote from: timw4mail;118538
How exothermic is the reaction? Would it cause structural distortion, melting, fire?


It melted its way out of the container I mixed it in, but then it was a fairly large volume.
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Offline itlnstln

  • Posts: 7048
Retrobright
« Reply #10 on: Wed, 16 September 2009, 16:45:54 »
Toothpaste sounds the easiest to me.  That, and it'll make your 'board minty fresh.
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Offline talis

  • Posts: 195
Retrobright
« Reply #11 on: Wed, 16 September 2009, 17:34:30 »
It doesn't get warm at all if you wait for it to cool.  The real recipe doesn't use corn starch at all, so there's likely some weird oxidation reaction going on.
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Offline InSanCen

  • Posts: 563
Retrobright
« Reply #12 on: Wed, 16 September 2009, 17:51:32 »
Quote from: talis;118577
It doesn't get warm at all if you wait for it to cool.  The real recipe doesn't use corn starch at all, so there's likely some weird oxidation reaction going on.


While I know little about Chemistry, I can vouch that the Retr0Bright recipe as linked further up, does not get hot at all.

The next batch I make up goes on the Model M's, so I'll post here with pictures (Before and after) when I'm done. Don't hold your breath waiting though, it may be a month or so before I do it.
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Currently Using :- IBM M13 1996, Black :
Currently Own :- 1391406 1989 & 1990 : AT Model F 1985 : Boscom 122 (Black) : G80-3000 : G80-1800 (x2) : Wang 724 : G81-8000LPBGB (Card Reader, MY) : Unitek : AT102W : TVS Gold :
Project's :- 122 key 1389620 Wireless ESP32 :
'Pooter :- Xeon E5-2680v4 : Machinist MR9A : 2x16GB DDR4 : Radeon RX6600 : NVME & Spinning rust :

Offline Hamblet

  • Posts: 159
Retrobright
« Reply #13 on: Wed, 16 September 2009, 19:11:49 »
Quote from: ripster;118579
After reading Hamblet's warning I'm definitely not holding my breath and doing this outside.  Far away from the neighbors, small children, and my dog.


I wrote it not with sarcastic meaning. My intention was to remind ventilation. Thanks !
(You have very nice picture and video clip database in your brain).
« Last Edit: Wed, 16 September 2009, 19:20:07 by Hamblet »
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Offline wellington1869

  • Posts: 2885
Retrobright
« Reply #14 on: Wed, 16 September 2009, 19:52:18 »
Quote from: Hamblet;118587

You have very nice picture and video clip database in your brain...


...and a usb port in his ear.
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