Retrobrite in Australia

[jsarchibald]

I have some machines that I need to de-yellow, but we have different products than in the US.

I'm assuming I can use Napisan Oxi-Action instead, but instead of guessing, I'd rather get some local advice (ie. products we have, measurements in metric, etc). I have a heap of machines I want to treat, as they are great condition but have inconsistent yellowing.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[lameboyadvance]

Haven't tried it myself but came across http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51985 when I was looking a while back and seems you can get all the stuff here (assuming there is a Priceline near you). They sell a 12% peroxide solution that you can buy in a big bottle for larger jobs.

 

[mcdermd]

You should be able to find equivalents of the materials I use for a "bath" method of placing all parts in a large, clear plastic bin and covering completely with liquid solution.

Find "20 volume clear developer". It's for bleaching hair and you can find it in beauty supply stores. I usually purchase a gallon or two and mix it maybe 1:8 or 1:10 with hot water. I also use about 1/4 cup (60ml?) of any brand "Oxy" oxygenated cleaning powder in with the bath. Dissolve the cleaner with a gallon of hot water before adding. Be sure to move your parts around every 15 minutes or so and check that none are poking above the water line. With strong sunlight, they should be done in an hour or two.

 

[jsarchibald]

Cool, I know a gallon is 3.78 litres and we measure stuff in cups too, so that should give me enough info to figure it out.

Sounds like I need to hit Priceline when I am back in the city, living in a small town sucks for range of products.

 

[unity]

I will add that based on a lot of reading, faster may not be better. Sometimes the slower methods yield more even results - depending on yellow they are of course. Also make sure you mix very well. An issue with spotting and "chalking" may be from not being properly mixed to start with. As mcdermd said, agitating should help too.

 

[lameboyadvance]

Just adding to my info above, I'm sure I remember the creme developer used to be in percentage, but now they list it in vol.

You can get 20, 30 or 40 vol in either 200ml or 1L bottles. From what I've read its best to get the highest concentration as you can water it down later if necessary.

Did a bit more reading by the time I got to the end of http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=37808&page=45 some were saying all you need is NapiSan/Vanish Oxi Action combined with the Creme Developer, some were saying you needed the developer only, and some were saying the Oxi alone is enough since there are hydrogen peroxide elements in it (but you need the rest to make it into more of a paste for case applications). At this rate it looks like you can pick a retrobrite ingredient at random and it does the whitening on its own...

Did notice someone used 'powdered bleach'. The result looked a bit, well, bleached...

...Also note that Retr0brite is only a temporary solution. The process will start again immediately after you do it, and even seems to get yellow again a LOT quicker. People say to clear laquer your cases to stop it reoxidising.

 

[Timbo]

mAJORD started a thread about it over at OCA if you want to check it out- he is in Brisbane.

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=902264

He has had some success.

Also Tezza over at classic computer (NZ) has been busy.

http://classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2008-12-30-de-yellowing-old-cases.htm

 

[JDW]

I live in Japan where we don't have access to Oxi Clean or many of the variants. To solve that the problem I simply bought the stuff online and have it shipped to me. Why waste money and time experimenting with other brands if I can buy the authentic Oxi Clean brand online so easily? I've used both the liquid and gel forms with the Oxi Clean brand and it works quite well. More information is given under my photo here: