Thank you for inspiring me to try a different technique with my own Amiga 1200! :) I went to an industrial supply company and bought 25 litres of 60% food-grade hydrogen peroxide; diluted that to about 10-20% in water, filled a large tray and immersed the case (held down with a glass lid). I removed all the key springs and bars, then refitted the keycaps and took the membrane/metal plate off the back. That way, all the keys are immersed and treated evenly. I don’t get any bleaching problem (on the darker keys or the black plastic) because I’m just using pure peroxide without other bleach-like additives. It seems to have turned out well and perhaps I can make a slideshow of the photos. Greetings from New Zealand!
Luckily had the same zip-bags at home and the 12% cream. Tried it with my A600 keys today… mixed with hot/warm water like you and put it outside in the bag… there was only 2-3 hours of autumn-sun, but it did quite a good job. Will try it again tomorrow to brighten it up the rest.
I use a food grade liquid peroxide to do my retrobright. If you get it on your skin it will instantly turn bright white where it touch's you. The nice thing though is if you have a sunny day it will do a perfect job within an hour. I use a clear bin that the part will fit all the way in. Fill with warm water until it's covered. Then dump a pint of the food grade peroxide in and give it a stir. Then cover it with seran wrap. It should take about an hour as long as it's bright and sunny.
i'm really addicted to watching videos like this, i just love that before and after reveal of making something look fresh again, i'm hoping to buy another famicom soon just for the fun of restoring it, i might mod it for kicks too.
Hi Jan, ein Tipp für das Lösen von Labels: Aus meinen Erfahrungen mit diversen C64- und 154-Retrobrite-Projekten ist das Lösen von Labels wesentlich einfacher, wenn man sie vorher mit dem Fön heiß macht und dann erst mit einem Cutter-Messer versucht, sie zu lösen. :-) (Better heat up the labels with hot air using a hairdryer for example, this makes it much more easier to remove them with a cutter knife like you did.)
I did this to my amiga too. Though our lack of british sun over here doesnt help. Had to give mine 2 sessions. Your videos are so satisfying to watch 😊
Inspirational. Proves that only a bit of UV required. I've had more success with 50 degree celcius heat in an oven. No streaks from peroxide cream if you brush it on regularly and put the parts in zip lock/tie handle bags!
Oh, danke für die Rückmeldung! Schön, dass das Ganze für dich auch funktioniert hat. Ich habe hier auch noch so eine 1541-II, die ich dringend behandeln sollte. ;)
You don't need to remove the label btw! I've done a few 1200's with the label on and they are not affected by the H2O2. Also looks like you need a few more coats. If you persist at it (like 3 or 4 days with repeat coats) you can get it perfect.
The only thing you have to watch out for is the function keys can go slightly white looking with too much H2O2, but over time it starts to change back to a normal colour. In fact, they do very very gradually yellow as the years go on. I did my 1200 about 3 or 4 years ago and it was almost white, its not not perfectly white - just beige.
Why didn't you use a 40% peroxide instead of the 12% you used?. That should had worked better with few sunlight as you've got there. And you even diluted the keys with a lot of water... I would also suggest to add active oxigen for laundry. The formula is Peroxide+Oxigen+V rays.
When I retrobrighted my Amiga a while ago I put the keys in a mixed solution (like 1:3 cream:water) on the stove at 70 degrees C for 4-5h. Worked almost better than sun. :) I think I needed like 2dl cream and 6dl water to cover all keys. I first measured by dialing in with water on what number to put my electric stove. Try with one key to see the result. :) Make sure to make a bath, not just cover them a bit.
Oh, thanks for sharing! I'm going to do my A500 soon so this is a very useful tip. I also heard that heat is more important than sunlight in general and wanted to try it.
High powered UV lamps work well for this. I was planning to do this to a SNES a while back but the wife wouldn't let me buy a UV lamp. Since I live in a apartment I didn't want to attempt to leave the case outside.
Yeah, I saw people doing this with great success under UV lamps. I don't have one and I thought it would be sunnier when I started this video. I guess the result is okay but next time I'll pay more attention to the weather forecast. ;)
Hair dressers use the 12% cream, and they mix in an activator. A hairdresser/amiga fan i know did that to his A600 and good results without sun. you can se the machine in my A600 recap video
Ah, that's interesting. I saw the exact cream peroxide I used being offered together with the activator. I thought it would do more harm than good to the plastic. Might try that with something less valuable some time (while it's still "Summer" here...).
The A600 looked fine, but when I tried this 12%+activator on my breadbin. It got cloudy/spotty. The breadin had been retrobrighted with a milder hydrogenperoxide two years ago and was yellow again. So be careful with that. I will try again on something else, and this time try and mix the activator powder much more thoroughly.
Thank you for naming a product that is available in Europe! Oh, and please keep us updated how much of the yellowing/discoloration will return over the years.
I’m doing my 1200 now, weirdly, my case hasn’t yellowed at all but all my keys are totally yellow. So I’ve got the keys all soaking. I’ll give them a few days In the greenhouse!
Ah, I was also thinking of using the dishwasher. Ours only has automatic programs so I wasn't sure about what temperature it would use and was a bit afraid of ruining the case. Might try it with something less valuable at some point though.
I tried it with an ST casing, and it ended up bent ... The Archie (A30x0) plastics are more resistant, so no issue with them. I don't know what it is like for the Amiga .. I have the feeling the A500 and the A1200 used different qualities.
Nice first retro bright job!… I mean for barely any sunshine it’s worked out quite well I think… I was under the impression that you'd need constant bright sunlight! You’ve given me the motivation to try it out :o) , it’s a shame about the weather, I think it would have been quicker with sunshine but at least it brings hope for the people living in cloudy regions haha. Btw you have a really nice green view from your balcony :o)
Thanks! I was really surprised how nice this turned out. Seems that sun speeds the whole process up but is not the most important part for it to work at all. I love the view from the balcony (on the other side of the flat is a noisy and dirty street so it is nice to have that view). ;)
I think my biggest question is: What kind of soap holder is that above your bathroom sink? I've never seen anything like that in the US, and it has me very intrigued!
It uses a magnet on the holder and a little metal plate that you press into the soap. I consider it the least messy way to hold soap. It was pretty common in the 80s and 90s here in Germany, you don’t see it that often nowadays but I had to get it. ;)
Yes, but I don't have one and I thought it would be sunny for some days when I started shooting this. I'll pay more attention to the weather forecast next time. That said, it worked pretty well without much sun so I guess it just slows the process down a bit.
The final result it's amazing! U did a great job! Btw I did this on my vintage barbie doll furnitures and the teal green stuff who became army green due to aging turned out teal and white marbled and another pink thing who due to aging turned nougatt after retrobrighting came out with circles like a tree trunk. Why? Does this method works only on white stuff maybe?
Cream + water, great idea for submerging the keys. I used my girldfriends sprayblonde bottles. I hadn't enough for all the C64C keys, so i repeat over and over with same solution. :) Now two years later they are showing sings of yellowing.
Schönes Video, schöne Inspiration. Was ich allerdings gemacht habe ist die Tasten gesteckt zu lassen damit die Tasten nach oben zeigen. Also das ganze "Brett" ohne Elektronik in Wasserstoffperoxid getaucht. Schwarz blieb schwarz und die Tasten wurden heller. Sobald die Sonne kommt wiederhole ich das ganze nochmal.
Some say that the plastic can turn very brittle when using hydrogen peroxide. Don't know if it's true though. But the results are truky amazing! Im thinking of doing this procedure on my lightly yellowed c64g.
I heared that it happened when you repeated it many times. The yellowed plastic is already very brittle in itself apparently. But if you repeat this operation, it looks like it fells into dust. The thing that bothers me is that it turns yellow again after some time unfortunately
It's hard to tell of course but in my case the process doesn't seem to have made the plastic any more brittle than before. It felt exactly the same afterwards and is still elastic a bit.
Yeah, from what I've heard, the UV light is what makes the plastic brittle rather than the chemical treatment. So the yellowed plastic already is brittle and it doesn't get better if exposed repeatedly I guess.
You made one mistake at the keys: The printed side of the keys should face upwards in the plastic bag. I put the peroxyde creme on each single key with a brush and put every single faceing upwards into some plastic bags. After 5 hours on a day with some sunlight and some clouds they keys got white like new - without any discolorations.
Good video! Great results! :-) Personally, I only fully submerge plastics in hydrogen peroxide. It seems the safest way to avoid blooming. It may cost a bit extra, but even if you dilute it a lot with water, to allow full submersion, it will still work, and is safer
Great video. I have been thinking about retr0brighting, but never pulled the trigger. Some of my machines REALLY need it, including my new C128. Got some great tips watching your video! Not sure if I will use the water trick you did with the keys, as I think it's thinning the HP too much for it to be effective. ;-) But a LITTLE water could maybe be helpful, to help spreading the HP around better. I have no experience at all, this is just what my mind is telling me. I may do a video on this myself some time. Could be interesting. Again, great video!
I did a retrobright of a badly yellowed C64C case a month or so ago, and I used the same amount of peroxide on the keys caps as I did on the case. I dipped the keys in and flipped them over so they get the same amount of sunlight). Both returned back to the factory colour with no damage to the keys or the letters and symbols on them.
Thanks! I saw the water trick used and working very well with liquid H2O2 so I thought I'd give it a try. The keys are pretty white so I guess it worked alright. The only mistake I made was putting the keys in two different containers so they got different amounts of light/peroxide and turned out a bit differently in color. Definitely would recommend trying this yourself. It's not that difficult and all you really need is persistence and patience. ;)
That's funny. Last week I did my A500 and I was thinking I have some tips for people who want to brighten there retro computers. And I thought to contact you for that. 👍🏻 nice job. Yesterday I have made a Gotek floppy emulator amiga compliant.
+Edwin Noorlander Thanks! It worked okay the way I did it but there's a thousand different methods probably. More tips and experience always welcome, of course! I also want to make an Amiga Gotek some time. :)
Nice, not bad at all. An UV lamp could yield slightly better results since you have limited sunlight up north. Perhaps try to use the brush on the keys too so the stuff gets spread evenly?
Thanks! I'm quite happy with the result. The keys are evenly colored in themselves. The only mistake I made is to put half of them in another zip lock bag than the other half in the beginning so some of them are a bit darker. If I treat them again I'll probably try to dip them into the peroxide cream and then spread them out on a piece of cardboard to put foil over them.
I am thinking of only to retro bright the keys and spray the main case with a nice color. Is it possible to get the keys nicely white when they are slightly yellowed? I want to do this on a A500+ and a A1200.
Yes, the retrobright is working great on the keys. I messed it up by using two different containers for my keys so they are not perfectly colormatched. For best results with keys, I'd recommend using liquid peroxide in water. Might take a bit longer but you can be sure that the keys are evenly brightened.
For the keys i dont think it is a good idea to add water into that bag because peroxide breaks down in water too quickly. I figure the best way to retrobrite the keys would be to brush it on while currently attached so the key faces can become white, then take them off and add them all into a bag with the pure peroxide (as u did the first time) so it can reduce the yellow along the sides.
Somebody suggested dipping the keys into the cream so they are evenly covered and spreading them out in the sun/UV light. It's a bit more work but it sounded most convincing to me so far. I didn't consider the chemical side of things when I put the cream into water. Makes sense that the peroxide breaks down.
Great video. I tried it on my C128 and C64 (Breadbin) but the result was not satisfying especially when it comes to the C64: the label was affected and the case itself has now some bad mixture of colors! (I used the same peroxide cream) Now I will paint the case with acrylate lacquer (color code RAL 1019)! I think the results at all are better with this method! On the other hand the C128 keys are perfectly white; so here the mixture worked perfectly! (2 days of sun)
Ahhhh... I would have put some large thing under the cases with foil, put the case on it, apply the peroxide boldly, then cover the whole thing with foil and avoid overlapping... then put it in the direct sunlight. And for the keys, I would have laid them straight up on something, one by one, applied the peroxyde and covered again with foil... I usually do it so and I need just one pass and 3-4 hours of exposure....
Nice video, and many thanks for showing it's much easier than mixing the Retr0bright recipe. He-he! I have an C128 that is almost as yellow as an orangutang, so I def. need to do this to it.
Thanks! Haha, yes they can get unbelievably yellow sometimes. This A1200 was a lot darker in real life than came across in the video, actually. So this should work on the C128, too. ;)
What are these, the Behringer MS-40? I thought they were borderline dreadful! And you can get new Mivoc Monitors + some olde HiFi amp from the 90ies for half the price.
My excuse is that I got them for VERY cheap a while back. Not a big fan of Behringer at all except for the price. The MS-40 really are dreadful if you want to use them for anything serious but just fine for gaming and watching movies. Plus they can handle about every input you throw at them (that's the only plus, really).
I'm always loking for ways to shorten this time consuming process. I tried the ziplock bag for the keys method myself and I didn't like doing it this way. Uneven UV distribution and too much wastage of peroxide cream. I had much better success making trays for outside and little balls of blu tack to hold the keys in place from the wind in columns and rows while periodically painting them with a small brush. I put aluminium foil under the tranparent trays to reflect the UV rays from the sun back up onto the keys for faster results. I don't think removing the sticker was probably necessary the peroxide was unlikely to have done much to it (could have always have painted around it with fine tip brush).
(Sorry your comment was marked as spam and I didn't read it at first...) Nice job on the Atari! So the theory that it just takes a bit longer with less UV light might just be correct. :)
Wow, what a dilapidated kitchen and bathroom. :-O Thank you! I was starting to think that I was a dirty pig, but I see that compared to this I am pretty clean and decent ;-)
Haha, glad I could "clean" your conscience. It was the summer holidays so the bathroom and kitchen were in an even sorrier state than usual at the time the video was shot. ;)
Oooooh... can you share some details of how, please? :) I collect all the early LEGO robotics - Interface A/C64 with LEGO Lines, Apple II and IBM PC with TC-Logo, etc. but I suspect you’ve used Interface B (9-pin serial) with the Amiga’s 25-pin serial port? I have Control Lab running in Windows 95; I’m guessing you’ve done some custom software? And maybe custom hardware too :)
Just got my original first A500 back from my sister (who kept it all these years without me knowing about it). It looks pretty bad, too. Definitely will get some treatment soon. ;)
Die Folie darf das Gehäuse nicht berühren, sonst kommen streifen auf das Gehäuse. Die streifen sieht man wenn man das Gehäuse gegen das Licht hält. Oder man zieht die Folie 100% Glatt.
Bei mir hat es geholfen, die Folie alle halbe Stunde mal zu massieren. Das Gehäuse ist jedenfalls absolut streifenfrei geworden. Vielleicht liegt es in meinem Fall auch daran, dass das Ganze mangels Sonne so langsam ging.
Love your channel Jan but sad to see another Retrobright video that concludes with "it probably needs doing again". No wonder so many people are skeptical of this process. With that fairly light degree of yellowing it should have been possible to get it back to white and shouldn't take three days. I'm not trolling you, just don't think it got anywhere near enough UV.
It looked a lot more yellow in reality than in the few "before" shots actually. I'm pretty amazed about how it turned out. You're of course right that enough UV would probably have significantly sped up and improved the result further. The case is very nice I think. The only thing that really needs improvement are the keycaps. I messed those up by putting them in seperate containers rather than treating them all together. I think I'll give the keycaps another round of H2O2 when it's sunnier here.
One criticism that comes up a lot is that people are very selective with their before and after photos, to (falsely) show a more dramatic change. Your results are clear, so thank you for that. It's not perfect but that's better than filming your after shots in the dark :-) I have a yellowed Commodore 64 case here which had a label on it for most of its life, so there is a 1" square right on the top of the case that shows the original colour. I plan to photograph this under artificial light before and after, with the same camera / lens / aperture / exposure / ISO and white balance to properly document the result.
I completely forgot to do proper before/after shots sadly because I was so excited that the sun finally came out and I had some time on my hands. I had been planning to do this for quite a while. ;-) I kind of faked a before/after shot on my Twitter account by taking an old picture and trying to copy the setup and lighting. It's not perfect, but the yellow in the "before" picture is a lot more accurate than my film camera made it look in the video. -> twitter.com/thejanbeta/status/880907323346223107 The plastic beneath labels and stickers really seems to be a good spot for comparison. :)
Habe Dein Video durch Zufall gefunden und wusste nicht ob es auf deutsch oder englisch aber ist. Als ich Dich aber sprechen hörte, wusste ich direkt dass ist ein deutschsprachiger mit Akzent :) Mein Akzent ist auch nicht besser : )
I'm late to the comment party, yet again. I think it turned out very well, indeed. As mentioned on Twitter, you've inspired be Retrobright my A1200, as well. I'll add it to my never-ending project list. One of the first videos I watched of bwack's was his UV LED Retrobrighting cabinet that he made, goo.gl/BFt9wr. I purchased parts a long time ago to build something similar, and yet it too is still on the project list.
Haha, I definitely know that kind of project lists. I have a lot of unfinished stuff piling up here, too. Probably one of the reasons why I wanted to keep the retrobrighting process as simple as possible (no additional hardware). :)
Well spotted! It's the German keyboard layout actually, where the Y and Z are changed compared to most other layouts. If you watch closely, you can also see the Umlauts ÄÖÜ on there. ;)
Jan Beta Ja. Ich habe es bei einem Händler gesehen und genommen, Ohne vorher zu wissen, ob es funktioniert. Aber: Es funktioniert wunderbar. Auch ich wartete auf eine seltenen Sonnentag. Wie Du erkennen kannst ist das Gehäuse super geworden. Mittlerweile habe ich einen Amiga 1200 und gestern meinen C64C blondiert. 😬
Thank you for inspiring me to try a different technique with my own Amiga 1200! :) I went to an industrial supply company and bought 25 litres of 60% food-grade hydrogen peroxide; diluted that to about 10-20% in water, filled a large tray and immersed the case (held down with a glass lid).
I removed all the key springs and bars, then refitted the keycaps and took the membrane/metal plate off the back. That way, all the keys are immersed and treated evenly.
I don’t get any bleaching problem (on the darker keys or the black plastic) because I’m just using pure peroxide without other bleach-like additives. It seems to have turned out well and perhaps I can make a slideshow of the photos. Greetings from New Zealand!
Hello i am about to retrobright my 1200 got the peroxide but living in the uk where can i order sunlight from.
ANDREW LAISTER you can use a uv lamp but it would probably take longer
Use a UV light and some heat.
@@cosmicrdt I got a bright UV light and good heater. I put the case in a bin with tin foil on the sides. It restored it pretty fast.
Luckily had the same zip-bags at home and the 12% cream. Tried it with my A600 keys today… mixed with hot/warm water like you and put it outside in the bag… there was only 2-3 hours of autumn-sun, but it did quite a good job. Will try it again tomorrow to brighten it up the rest.
Nice to hear you don't need much sunlight..I am from england and the sun makes occasional appearances...Your amiga looks great and thanks.
I mostly use an LED grow light for retrobrighting these days. Sun is sparse here in northern Germany still. :D
I use a food grade liquid peroxide to do my retrobright. If you get it on your skin it will instantly turn bright white where it touch's you. The nice thing though is if you have a sunny day it will do a perfect job within an hour. I use a clear bin that the part will fit all the way in. Fill with warm water until it's covered. Then dump a pint of the food grade peroxide in and give it a stir. Then cover it with seran wrap. It should take about an hour as long as it's bright and sunny.
i'm really addicted to watching videos like this, i just love that before and after reveal of making something look fresh again, i'm hoping to buy another famicom soon just for the fun of restoring it, i might mod it for kicks too.
Yes, it's definitely an addictive hobby to do restoration and repair on these old machines. Glad you like the videos, too. ;)
Hi Jan, ein Tipp für das Lösen von Labels: Aus meinen Erfahrungen mit diversen C64- und 154-Retrobrite-Projekten ist das Lösen von Labels wesentlich einfacher, wenn man sie vorher mit dem Fön heiß macht und dann erst mit einem Cutter-Messer versucht, sie zu lösen. :-)
(Better heat up the labels with hot air using a hairdryer for example, this makes it much more easier to remove them with a cutter knife like you did.)
I did this to my amiga too. Though our lack of british sun over here doesnt help. Had to give mine 2 sessions. Your videos are so satisfying to watch 😊
Oh, thank you! Yeah, the lack of sun is a problem. I really need to get a UV lamp for retrobrighting sometime.
Inspirational. Proves that only a bit of UV required. I've had more success with 50 degree celcius heat in an oven. No streaks from peroxide cream if you brush it on regularly and put the parts in zip lock/tie handle bags!
Thankyou for showing how this is done Jan, your Amiga looks so much better,
Yeah, it was pretty ugly before. I might do another retrobrighting run in Spring I think. ;)
Danke für das Video. Hab ich am Wochenende mit meiner 1541II ausprobiert. Super Ergebnis.
Oh, danke für die Rückmeldung! Schön, dass das Ganze für dich auch funktioniert hat. Ich habe hier auch noch so eine 1541-II, die ich dringend behandeln sollte. ;)
WOW !!! a massive improvement !!
Yes, it felt a bit like magic. I hope it stays white for a while now. ;)
You don't need to remove the label btw! I've done a few 1200's with the label on and they are not affected by the H2O2. Also looks like you need a few more coats. If you persist at it (like 3 or 4 days with repeat coats) you can get it perfect.
Ah, good to know. Thanks. I may give it another treatment soon. Especially the keycaps didn't turn out as nice as they could have.
The only thing you have to watch out for is the function keys can go slightly white looking with too much H2O2, but over time it starts to change back to a normal colour. In fact, they do very very gradually yellow as the years go on. I did my 1200 about 3 or 4 years ago and it was almost white, its not not perfectly white - just beige.
If you do this here for above 2 hours you'll get a bleach case :-/
Haha, I would love to have your problems at the moment. This "Summer" is not quite working out as planned here. ;)
Why didn't you use a 40% peroxide instead of the 12% you used?. That should had worked better with few sunlight as you've got there. And you even diluted the keys with a lot of water... I would also suggest to add active oxigen for laundry.
The formula is Peroxide+Oxigen+V rays.
Hey!, 1.3k subscribers, well done!
Oh, thanks! I'm really happy about how quickly the channel grows. Great for motivation. :)
When I retrobrighted my Amiga a while ago I put the keys in a mixed solution (like 1:3 cream:water) on the stove at 70 degrees C for 4-5h. Worked almost better than sun. :) I think I needed like 2dl cream and 6dl water to cover all keys. I first measured by dialing in with water on what number to put my electric stove. Try with one key to see the result. :) Make sure to make a bath, not just cover them a bit.
Oh, thanks for sharing! I'm going to do my A500 soon so this is a very useful tip. I also heard that heat is more important than sunlight in general and wanted to try it.
We FINALLY got to see what Jan Beta looks like! :)
Haha, yes... I have to admit I'm very camera shy. But I'm working on it. ;)
High powered UV lamps work well for this. I was planning to do this to a SNES a while back but the wife wouldn't let me buy a UV lamp. Since I live in a apartment I didn't want to attempt to leave the case outside.
Yeah, I saw people doing this with great success under UV lamps. I don't have one and I thought it would be sunnier when I started this video. I guess the result is okay but next time I'll pay more attention to the weather forecast. ;)
I don't think it will get any brighter than that.
Give your wife a fingernail varnish dryer, she'll love it. And you'll have your UV lamp.
Hair dressers use the 12% cream, and they mix in an activator. A hairdresser/amiga fan i know did that to his A600 and good results without sun. you can se the machine in my A600 recap video
Ah, that's interesting. I saw the exact cream peroxide I used being offered together with the activator. I thought it would do more harm than good to the plastic. Might try that with something less valuable some time (while it's still "Summer" here...).
The A600 looked fine, but when I tried this 12%+activator on my breadbin. It got cloudy/spotty. The breadin had been retrobrighted with a milder hydrogenperoxide two years ago and was yellow again. So be careful with that. I will try again on something else, and this time try and mix the activator powder much more thoroughly.
+bwack Okay, I'll be careful. Maybe I'll try it on my A500 power brick first. If it turns out cloudy it's not that much of a problem. ;)
Thank you for naming a product that is available in Europe! Oh, and please keep us updated how much of the yellowing/discoloration will return over the years.
I realize it is pretty off topic but do anyone know a good website to watch newly released movies online ?
I’m doing my 1200 now, weirdly, my case hasn’t yellowed at all but all my keys are totally yellow. So I’ve got the keys all soaking. I’ll give them a few days In the greenhouse!
For my Archies I use the dishwasher at 75 degrees for the casings, plastic or metal.
Ah, I was also thinking of using the dishwasher. Ours only has automatic programs so I wasn't sure about what temperature it would use and was a bit afraid of ruining the case. Might try it with something less valuable at some point though.
I tried it with an ST casing, and it ended up bent ... The Archie (A30x0) plastics are more resistant, so no issue with them.
I don't know what it is like for the Amiga .. I have the feeling the A500 and the A1200 used different qualities.
it's a nice method to help restore the original color TEMPORARILY it'll usually begin it's color change around a year or two.
Well done Jan. It's quite a process but the result is impressive.
Thanks! I was amazed at how well this worked really. :)
Thanks for yet another great informative video.
Thanks. :)
Nice first retro bright job!… I mean for barely any sunshine it’s worked out quite well I think… I was under the impression that you'd need constant bright sunlight! You’ve given me the motivation to try it out :o) , it’s a shame about the weather, I think it would have been quicker with sunshine but at least it brings hope for the people living in cloudy regions haha.
Btw you have a really nice green view from your balcony :o)
Thanks! I was really surprised how nice this turned out. Seems that sun speeds the whole process up but is not the most important part for it to work at all. I love the view from the balcony (on the other side of the flat is a noisy and dirty street so it is nice to have that view). ;)
I think my biggest question is: What kind of soap holder is that above your bathroom sink? I've never seen anything like that in the US, and it has me very intrigued!
It uses a magnet on the holder and a little metal plate that you press into the soap. I consider it the least messy way to hold soap. It was pretty common in the 80s and 90s here in Germany, you don’t see it that often nowadays but I had to get it. ;)
Very unique idea. I like it tho. Seems like it would keep you from having a soapy mess all over you sink.
Thanks for the explanation!
Could you not use a UV lamp instead of waiting for the sun to show up?
Yes, but I don't have one and I thought it would be sunny for some days when I started shooting this. I'll pay more attention to the weather forecast next time. That said, it worked pretty well without much sun so I guess it just slows the process down a bit.
Yes, the result is pretty good!
The final result it's amazing! U did a great job! Btw I did this on my vintage barbie doll furnitures and the teal green stuff who became army green due to aging turned out teal and white marbled and another pink thing who due to aging turned nougatt after retrobrighting came out with circles like a tree trunk. Why? Does this method works only on white stuff maybe?
Now we are over 1 year after this video. Has it yellowed back yet?
Der Jan wieder! Saubere Sache wie immer, und jo 12% is schon das beste, sicher besser als sich das Zeugs selber anzumischen.
Danke! Ich wollte beim ersten Mal nicht gleich den Chemiebaukasten auspacken und habe die vorgefertigte Variante gewählt. Hat ja funktioniert. ;)
Cream + water, great idea for submerging the keys. I used my girldfriends sprayblonde bottles. I hadn't enough for all the C64C keys, so i repeat over and over with same solution. :) Now two years later they are showing sings of yellowing.
I saw people using liquid peroxide in a bag for the keys so I thought I'd give it a try. Worked okay, I guess. :)
Cool. I tried it myself just now. 12% cream, added some water, added som activator powder. trying it on the white shift key of the C64C now :)
Nice. Hope it works for you! :)
Schönes Video, schöne Inspiration.
Was ich allerdings gemacht habe ist die Tasten gesteckt zu lassen damit die Tasten nach oben zeigen. Also das ganze "Brett" ohne Elektronik in Wasserstoffperoxid getaucht. Schwarz blieb schwarz und die Tasten wurden heller. Sobald die Sonne kommt wiederhole ich das ganze nochmal.
Thanks. Just copied your technique and it worked a treat.
Nice video Jan!!..inspiring me to retrobright my Atari 800xl
Thanks! The Atari 800xl is a such a beautiful computer. Hope it works well for you. :)
Some say that the plastic can turn very brittle when using hydrogen peroxide. Don't know if it's true though. But the results are truky amazing! Im thinking of doing this procedure on my lightly yellowed c64g.
I heared that it happened when you repeated it many times. The yellowed plastic is already very brittle in itself apparently. But if you repeat this operation, it looks like it fells into dust. The thing that bothers me is that it turns yellow again after some time unfortunately
It's hard to tell of course but in my case the process doesn't seem to have made the plastic any more brittle than before. It felt exactly the same afterwards and is still elastic a bit.
Yeah, from what I've heard, the UV light is what makes the plastic brittle rather than the chemical treatment. So the yellowed plastic already is brittle and it doesn't get better if exposed repeatedly I guess.
You made one mistake at the keys: The printed side of the keys should face upwards in the plastic bag. I put the peroxyde creme on each single key with a brush and put every single faceing upwards into some plastic bags. After 5 hours on a day with some sunlight and some clouds they keys got white like new - without any discolorations.
Good video! Great results! :-) Personally, I only fully submerge plastics in hydrogen peroxide. It seems the safest way to avoid blooming. It may cost a bit extra, but even if you dilute it a lot with water, to allow full submersion, it will still work, and is safer
Thanks! Yes, I want to try the liquid peroxide method some time, too.
Excellent job, looks a lot better. Lack of Sun did you say, try living in the UK. ☺
Jan, can you please tell us did yellowing returned after 4 years to that case?
Gutes Durcheinander , Jüngling 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😂😂😂😂😂
Great video. I have been thinking about retr0brighting, but never pulled the trigger. Some of my machines REALLY need it, including my new C128. Got some great tips watching your video! Not sure if I will use the water trick you did with the keys, as I think it's thinning the HP too much for it to be effective. ;-) But a LITTLE water could maybe be helpful, to help spreading the HP around better. I have no experience at all, this is just what my mind is telling me. I may do a video on this myself some time. Could be interesting. Again, great video!
I did a retrobright of a badly yellowed C64C case a month or so ago, and I used the same amount of peroxide on the keys caps as I did on the case. I dipped the keys in and flipped them over so they get the same amount of sunlight). Both returned back to the factory colour with no damage to the keys or the letters and symbols on them.
Thanks! I saw the water trick used and working very well with liquid H2O2 so I thought I'd give it a try. The keys are pretty white so I guess it worked alright. The only mistake I made was putting the keys in two different containers so they got different amounts of light/peroxide and turned out a bit differently in color. Definitely would recommend trying this yourself. It's not that difficult and all you really need is persistence and patience. ;)
That's definitely a better method than what I used. I might give the keycaps another round with a similar method.
I'll remember that. Sounds like a good method for the keys. Time consuming, but who cares if the result is great. Thanks!
Fortunately, I have lots of patience. This will happen! I believe! :)
The Y and Z keys are switched on your keyboard after re-assembly Good job on the whitening ,
Thanks! It's actually the German keyboard layout. We have QWERTZ here. You'll also spot the umlauts "ÄÖÜ" on there. ;)
Jan Beta , i never knew there was that difference. Sorry for the interruption, carry on. 🤔
Danke Jan! Heute bestellt!!! Da bin ich gespannt!!!
That's funny. Last week I did my A500 and I was thinking I have some tips for people who want to brighten there retro computers. And I thought to contact you for that. 👍🏻 nice job. Yesterday I have made a Gotek floppy emulator amiga compliant.
+Edwin Noorlander Thanks! It worked okay the way I did it but there's a thousand different methods probably. More tips and experience always welcome, of course! I also want to make an Amiga Gotek some time. :)
Nice, not bad at all. An UV lamp could yield slightly better results since you have limited sunlight up north. Perhaps try to use the brush on the keys too so the stuff gets spread evenly?
Thanks! I'm quite happy with the result. The keys are evenly colored in themselves. The only mistake I made is to put half of them in another zip lock bag than the other half in the beginning so some of them are a bit darker. If I treat them again I'll probably try to dip them into the peroxide cream and then spread them out on a piece of cardboard to put foil over them.
I am thinking of only to retro bright the keys and spray the main case with a nice color. Is it possible to get the keys nicely white when they are slightly yellowed? I want to do this on a A500+ and a A1200.
Yes, the retrobright is working great on the keys. I messed it up by using two different containers for my keys so they are not perfectly colormatched. For best results with keys, I'd recommend using liquid peroxide in water. Might take a bit longer but you can be sure that the keys are evenly brightened.
Can you put a clear coat spray on top to keep it from yellowing again?
For the keys i dont think it is a good idea to add water into that bag because peroxide breaks down in water too quickly. I figure the best way to retrobrite the keys would be to brush it on while currently attached so the key faces can become white, then take them off and add them all into a bag with the pure peroxide (as u did the first time) so it can reduce the yellow along the sides.
Somebody suggested dipping the keys into the cream so they are evenly covered and spreading them out in the sun/UV light. It's a bit more work but it sounded most convincing to me so far. I didn't consider the chemical side of things when I put the cream into water. Makes sense that the peroxide breaks down.
Great video.
I tried it on my C128 and C64 (Breadbin) but the result was not satisfying especially when it comes to the C64: the label was affected and the case itself has now some bad mixture of colors! (I used the same peroxide cream)
Now I will paint the case with acrylate lacquer (color code RAL 1019)! I think the results at all are better with this method! On the other hand the C128 keys are perfectly white; so here the mixture worked perfectly! (2 days of sun)
I did bright my a4ooo in 3 hours. It was direct sun. 40 creme. No foil. Every hour I just rotate it.
Nice! Yes, I heard from various people that sun/heat significantly speeds up the process. Rotating it is crucial of course to avoid uneven color.
Ahhhh... I would have put some large thing under the cases with foil, put the case on it, apply the peroxide boldly, then cover the whole thing with foil and avoid overlapping... then put it in the direct sunlight. And for the keys, I would have laid them straight up on something, one by one, applied the peroxyde and covered again with foil... I usually do it so and I need just one pass and 3-4 hours of exposure....
Nice video, and many thanks for showing it's much easier than mixing the Retr0bright recipe.
He-he! I have an C128 that is almost as yellow as an orangutang, so I def. need to do this to it.
Thanks! Haha, yes they can get unbelievably yellow sometimes. This A1200 was a lot darker in real life than came across in the video, actually. So this should work on the C128, too. ;)
What does it look like now Jan? It's been about 10 months now.
It’s ever so slightly yellowed again but nowhere near the old "cheesy" color. I’m going to make a little follow up video showing it soon!
Awesome stuff Jan :)
Thanks! :)
What are these, the Behringer MS-40? I thought they were borderline dreadful! And you can get new Mivoc Monitors + some olde HiFi amp from the 90ies for half the price.
My excuse is that I got them for VERY cheap a while back. Not a big fan of Behringer at all except for the price. The MS-40 really are dreadful if you want to use them for anything serious but just fine for gaming and watching movies. Plus they can handle about every input you throw at them (that's the only plus, really).
After almost two years, did the yellowing return? How is the machine's color now?
It did return slightly after a year, it's not fully re-yellowed though. Still way better than what it looked like.
@@JanBeta Thank you for your reply. So is a process that someone might want to repeat once a year I guess. Do you think to do that to yours again?
What have you been doing with your fingers at 03:10 ? ;-)
It's my favorite obscene gesture. ;)
I'm always loking for ways to shorten this time consuming process. I tried the ziplock bag for the keys method myself and I didn't like doing it this way. Uneven UV distribution and too much wastage of peroxide cream. I had much better success making trays for outside and little balls of blu tack to hold the keys in place from the wind in columns and rows while periodically painting them with a small brush. I put aluminium foil under the tranparent trays to reflect the UV rays from the sun back up onto the keys for faster results. I don't think removing the sticker was probably necessary the peroxide was unlikely to have done much to it (could have always have painted around it with fine tip brush).
How longs does it last before you need to do it again?
@@JamesCorbettMusic5000 Haven't got that far yet only recently done. However online estimates indicate around 3-4 years at best.
von wo im norden?
Ich bin in Kiel. :)
Sun is actually not needed at all ;) have a look at my blog www.retrohax.net/atari-800-xl-u1m-and-restoration-2/
(Sorry your comment was marked as spam and I didn't read it at first...) Nice job on the Atari! So the theory that it just takes a bit longer with less UV light might just be correct. :)
For me it is not theory :) I've retrobrighted more than 40 cases so far :D
That probably counts as scientific fact then. ;) Thanks for clarifying!
Definitely, try it out :) I know it for fact that I'll work. Only thing that is needed is patience and warmth :)
thanks for the video but maybe you should clean your kitchen counter before the AMIGA...
You're probably right... But PRIORITIES!
sunbed shop/tanning lounge works 100%
I'd guess so. UV light seems to speed up the process considerably. It supposedly also works without light I was told but takes way longer.
Wow, what a dilapidated kitchen and bathroom. :-O Thank you! I was starting to think that I was a dirty pig, but I see that compared to this I am pretty clean and decent ;-)
Haha, glad I could "clean" your conscience. It was the summer holidays so the bathroom and kitchen were in an even sorrier state than usual at the time the video was shot. ;)
"Kill It, BANG" :) , they needed to rename it to Cillit Bang, lol
Haha, true!
Use the Cillit Bang cleaner in your bathroom!
You're right. It's a bit messy. But... priorities!
my Amiga 1200 is still in regular use controlling my Lego
Oooooh... can you share some details of how, please? :) I collect all the early LEGO robotics - Interface A/C64 with LEGO Lines, Apple II and IBM PC with TC-Logo, etc. but I suspect you’ve used Interface B (9-pin serial) with the Amiga’s 25-pin serial port? I have Control Lab running in Windows 95; I’m guessing you’ve done some custom software? And maybe custom hardware too :)
Just use a face tanner next time. It will speed up the process and make it even whiter.
Maybe I'll get something like that for my next retrobright adventures.
Du musst deine Dusche vom Schimmel befreien. Du sollst uns ja noch etwas erhalten bleiben ;-)
+xorben1981 Ja, ist auf der to-do Liste. ;)
My god, your Amiga 1200 looks like my Amiga 500 and 600.
My 1200 looks relatively unaffected though.
Just got my original first A500 back from my sister (who kept it all these years without me knowing about it). It looks pretty bad, too. Definitely will get some treatment soon. ;)
Die Folie darf das Gehäuse nicht berühren, sonst kommen streifen auf das Gehäuse. Die streifen sieht man wenn man das Gehäuse gegen das Licht hält. Oder man zieht die Folie 100% Glatt.
Bei mir hat es geholfen, die Folie alle halbe Stunde mal zu massieren. Das Gehäuse ist jedenfalls absolut streifenfrei geworden. Vielleicht liegt es in meinem Fall auch daran, dass das Ganze mangels Sonne so langsam ging.
Half assed job. Should have rechromed the RF shielding. :P
You should retrobright your Kitchen and Bath :-)
I moved out in the meantime. It was a lost cause. ;)
That pro tip was hardly necessary; of _course_ you can use a spare keyboard for parts...
The tip was more about that the keycaps/parts from an Amiga 500 keyboard are compatible with the A1200. ;)
@@JanBeta Oh, how silly of me! I didn't factor in the different models; my apologies.
No worries! I guess it wasn’t very clear from the video. :)
Love your channel Jan but sad to see another Retrobright video that concludes with "it probably needs doing again". No wonder so many people are skeptical of this process. With that fairly light degree of yellowing it should have been possible to get it back to white and shouldn't take three days. I'm not trolling you, just don't think it got anywhere near enough UV.
It looked a lot more yellow in reality than in the few "before" shots actually. I'm pretty amazed about how it turned out. You're of course right that enough UV would probably have significantly sped up and improved the result further. The case is very nice I think. The only thing that really needs improvement are the keycaps. I messed those up by putting them in seperate containers rather than treating them all together. I think I'll give the keycaps another round of H2O2 when it's sunnier here.
One criticism that comes up a lot is that people are very selective with their before and after photos, to (falsely) show a more dramatic change. Your results are clear, so thank you for that. It's not perfect but that's better than filming your after shots in the dark :-)
I have a yellowed Commodore 64 case here which had a label on it for most of its life, so there is a 1" square right on the top of the case that shows the original colour. I plan to photograph this under artificial light before and after, with the same camera / lens / aperture / exposure / ISO and white balance to properly document the result.
I completely forgot to do proper before/after shots sadly because I was so excited that the sun finally came out and I had some time on my hands. I had been planning to do this for quite a while. ;-)
I kind of faked a before/after shot on my Twitter account by taking an old picture and trying to copy the setup and lighting. It's not perfect, but the yellow in the "before" picture is a lot more accurate than my film camera made it look in the video. -> twitter.com/thejanbeta/status/880907323346223107
The plastic beneath labels and stickers really seems to be a good spot for comparison. :)
can I suggest a hair dryer to heat the sticker 1st
Great vid =D
Thanks!
Thanks for doing the vids ;)
Schöner deutscher Akzent : )
So schön finde ich den nicht. Trotzdem danke. ;)
Habe Dein Video durch Zufall gefunden und wusste nicht ob es auf deutsch oder englisch aber ist.
Als ich Dich aber sprechen hörte, wusste ich direkt dass ist ein deutschsprachiger mit Akzent :)
Mein Akzent ist auch nicht besser : )
Hört sich ein wenig nach Chris Hülsbeck an
Haha, dann fehlen mir jetzt nur noch die musikalischen Skills von Chris. Das wäre nicht schlecht. Einer meiner absoluten Computer-Helden. :)
LOOKS LIKE I SEE A GHOST JAN WHAT HAPPENED ????......LLOLL
Haha, yeah, I was surprised myself how white it turned out.
what a waste of that beautifully, painstakingly accumulated, signature tan! :P
I just like the white a bit better. ;)
I'm late to the comment party, yet again. I think it turned out very well, indeed. As mentioned on Twitter, you've inspired be Retrobright my A1200, as well. I'll add it to my never-ending project list. One of the first videos I watched of bwack's was his UV LED Retrobrighting cabinet that he made, goo.gl/BFt9wr. I purchased parts a long time ago to build something similar, and yet it too is still on the project list.
Haha, I definitely know that kind of project lists. I have a lot of unfinished stuff piling up here, too. Probably one of the reasons why I wanted to keep the retrobrighting process as simple as possible (no additional hardware). :)
I HEAR MY PEOPLE
Haha, yes, I'm pretty close to the sea. :)
Hehe... I'm using the exact same M:C stuff :D:D I got it from Spain :D LOL
Hey! You put Y and Z in the wrong spot :D
(j/k)
Well spotted! It's the German keyboard layout actually, where the Y and Z are changed compared to most other layouts. If you watch closely, you can also see the Umlauts ÄÖÜ on there. ;)
It was a joke, i know about the keyboard... Ahwell.
Oh, dang... :D
Awesome. Now clean your Wohnung!
Haha, you're right. But priorities!
your voice its the same of sir. George Harrison
What!!
+Serpico Sicilia Oh, never heard that before. Maybe I should consider a career in pop music then. ;)
Haha. www.forum64.de/index.php?thread/75586-bleichen-meines-pc-engine-multiplayeradapterdeckel/ 😬😬😬😬😬 Das vom Friseur ist gut 👍🏻. It was me.
Oh, sehr gute Wahl! Ja, das Zeug war tatsächlich ein Glücksgriff. :)
Jan Beta Ja. Ich habe es bei einem Händler gesehen und genommen, Ohne vorher zu wissen, ob es funktioniert. Aber: Es funktioniert wunderbar. Auch ich wartete auf eine seltenen Sonnentag. Wie Du erkennen kannst ist das Gehäuse super geworden. Mittlerweile habe ich einen Amiga 1200 und gestern meinen C64C blondiert. 😬
Der A1200 hier wird definitiv auch nicht das letzte Stück Hardware sein, dass ich mit dem Zeug behandle. ;)
Jan Beta Mach ruhig. Ich habe das ja nun auch für A1k2, C64C und PCEngine genommen.
Your Amiga is clean but your sink is filthy.... yeah that makes sense.
Priorities! ;P
No much point in retrobrighting, it will get yellow again in a few years even if you UV coat it.
Yeah, I heard about that. I still had to try it. Not much to loose anyway. I probably have a couple of years with a whiter Amiga now at least. ;)
Not much point in your negative comment either. He can just retrobright it again if he wants to.