You've just picked up that new plus or whatever you've got, and its got that dreaded heavy dirty yellow look...
How will it ever look clean again?
With Retr0brite! (As most of you already know)
I got my SE/30 from a fellow member here, and after bringing it home I discovered it was a beige color! (The sunlight makes it look whiter than it is). The keyboard was also a horrible heavy yellow color also. I decided I would try retr0brite.
Anyways, onto the guide!!!
MATERIALS NEEDED:
Ok, now that you've got everything, first decide: Will you be using the sun or artificial light? I went both ways to see what would be better!!!
Again, I live where there is not much sun, so I used a bit of both, artificial on bad days and sun on good sunny days!
WHAT I NOTICED:
Sunlight is better for a whole all around whitening. If you've got an extremely yellow case that just needs ANY help, sunlight is a MUST!!! For example, the front panel of the keyboard for my SE/30 was pretty yellow. So I had that one out in the sun for a while, and finished it (FINISHED!!!) with the artificial light. The artificial light simply isn't strong enough in most cases. Now if you don't mind rebutting this stuff every 20 minutes each day for a week to deyellow something, go right ahead and use this!
In my case the top of the front panel for my SE/30 was a little beige compared to the back case, so I brushed on some creme developer and positioned the light above the top part! It finished and whitened well!
So tl;dr, use sunlight as much as possible.
PS: If you DO use an artificial light, construct a box lined with aluminum foil! Position the light above the piece!
LETS DO THIS!!!
Dissemble your computer BEFORE hand! (
) Do not leave anything attached to the front case! CRT, speakers, WHATEVER! It all goes! The IIGS has a metal plate plastic welded to the top, I have not tried anything with that yet...
Apple logs, pop them all out too! Don't risk it!
Get your creme developer ready first! If you use traditional retr0brite, please make this first! The optional ingredients for this are above. Just look up the recipe. For creme developer, the stuff I have used, if you want it thicker I have read of adding the corn starch, and oxiclean to make it faster. I did not want to experiment.
Wash the parts you are doing now too!
So get your piece, and dump a drop about the size of a quarter thats about a quarter inch thick. Do this around the entire surface of the part. Brush this so it creates a coat thats EVEN around the entire surface. Repeat around 3 times. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure you add a lot, otherwise you will end up with bleaching!!! Id say the coat should be thick enough so you can use your finger and swipe at the stuff and not have the surface of the part dry.
Make sure your strokes are all going the same direction, and make sure they are fine and not wide with gaps!
Wait about 20 minutes (More/less depending on temperature and such) and check on your piece. Now brush the OPPOSITE direction! If you first time you went from left to right, go up to down now. This is because if there ARE any streaks, the will fade when you keep going over them.
Repeat...
For me, I think I did about 6 rounds and then I washed the piece off to check it.
Heres the yellowed IIGS mouse...
Take er apart!!!
Look at all of that dirt! I washed it really good first...
And brush it on!!!
I don't have an after photo of this one on me. However, it turned out that I missed one of the rebrushes, and it got really light streaks on the top. After this I made the coating really thicker, compared to whats above. DONT MAKE THIS MISTAKE!
Some after photos below... I compared my Classic II which was about the same color as my SE/30 originally.
Id say it came out pretty good. As you can see, the top of the back case has some light brush streaks. Again, don't make this mistake! Luckily the sides and back were perfect! Well worth the streaks to have the original color back! The front panel in these was not deyellowed yet.
The keyboard and case on some foil in the snow! I think the now makes a great sunlight reflector, so if you don't have the snow you might have to use more foil??
(Keyboard before)
And all finished below! Came out excellent in my opinion. The keyboard seems a little darker than the computer..? It won't deyellow anymore.
Please ask any questions you've got! I know Im missing stuff!
How will it ever look clean again?
With Retr0brite! (As most of you already know)
I got my SE/30 from a fellow member here, and after bringing it home I discovered it was a beige color! (The sunlight makes it look whiter than it is). The keyboard was also a horrible heavy yellow color also. I decided I would try retr0brite.
Anyways, onto the guide!!!
MATERIALS NEEDED:
- Paintbrush (It WILL get bleached! Don't use your favorite! I use one about an inch wide)
- Aluminum foil
- 40 Volume Creme Developer (I got the 32oz here: http://www.sallybeauty.com/creme-developer/SLNCAR63,default,pd.html)(I have heard of people using lesser volumes? I live where its winter most of the year and not much sun, so I need that extra strength. I did not notice any harmful effects from this. More about it later)
- OPTIONAL 3%+ Hydrogen Peroxide
- OPTIONAL Oxiclean
- OPTIONAL Cornstarch
- OPTIONAL Reptile Extreme UVB bulb
- OPTIONAL Box
Ok, now that you've got everything, first decide: Will you be using the sun or artificial light? I went both ways to see what would be better!!!
Again, I live where there is not much sun, so I used a bit of both, artificial on bad days and sun on good sunny days!
WHAT I NOTICED:
Sunlight is better for a whole all around whitening. If you've got an extremely yellow case that just needs ANY help, sunlight is a MUST!!! For example, the front panel of the keyboard for my SE/30 was pretty yellow. So I had that one out in the sun for a while, and finished it (FINISHED!!!) with the artificial light. The artificial light simply isn't strong enough in most cases. Now if you don't mind rebutting this stuff every 20 minutes each day for a week to deyellow something, go right ahead and use this!
In my case the top of the front panel for my SE/30 was a little beige compared to the back case, so I brushed on some creme developer and positioned the light above the top part! It finished and whitened well!
So tl;dr, use sunlight as much as possible.
PS: If you DO use an artificial light, construct a box lined with aluminum foil! Position the light above the piece!
LETS DO THIS!!!
Dissemble your computer BEFORE hand! (
) Do not leave anything attached to the front case! CRT, speakers, WHATEVER! It all goes! The IIGS has a metal plate plastic welded to the top, I have not tried anything with that yet...Apple logs, pop them all out too! Don't risk it!
Get your creme developer ready first! If you use traditional retr0brite, please make this first! The optional ingredients for this are above. Just look up the recipe. For creme developer, the stuff I have used, if you want it thicker I have read of adding the corn starch, and oxiclean to make it faster. I did not want to experiment.
Wash the parts you are doing now too!
So get your piece, and dump a drop about the size of a quarter thats about a quarter inch thick. Do this around the entire surface of the part. Brush this so it creates a coat thats EVEN around the entire surface. Repeat around 3 times. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure you add a lot, otherwise you will end up with bleaching!!! Id say the coat should be thick enough so you can use your finger and swipe at the stuff and not have the surface of the part dry.
Make sure your strokes are all going the same direction, and make sure they are fine and not wide with gaps!
Wait about 20 minutes (More/less depending on temperature and such) and check on your piece. Now brush the OPPOSITE direction! If you first time you went from left to right, go up to down now. This is because if there ARE any streaks, the will fade when you keep going over them.
Repeat...
For me, I think I did about 6 rounds and then I washed the piece off to check it.
Heres the yellowed IIGS mouse...
Take er apart!!!
Look at all of that dirt! I washed it really good first...
And brush it on!!!
I don't have an after photo of this one on me. However, it turned out that I missed one of the rebrushes, and it got really light streaks on the top. After this I made the coating really thicker, compared to whats above. DONT MAKE THIS MISTAKE!
Some after photos below... I compared my Classic II which was about the same color as my SE/30 originally.
Id say it came out pretty good. As you can see, the top of the back case has some light brush streaks. Again, don't make this mistake! Luckily the sides and back were perfect! Well worth the streaks to have the original color back! The front panel in these was not deyellowed yet.
The keyboard and case on some foil in the snow! I think the now makes a great sunlight reflector, so if you don't have the snow you might have to use more foil??
(Keyboard before)
And all finished below! Came out excellent in my opinion. The keyboard seems a little darker than the computer..? It won't deyellow anymore.
Please ask any questions you've got! I know Im missing stuff!
