Yep. Just normal dish soap mixed with water works great. If it's bad a toothbrush and rubbing alcohol works great. I've actually brought a few electronics back to life by going over the PCB with a toothbrush and iso alcohol.
@@nojuanatall3281 The alcohol has the added benefit of dissolving old rosin flux from the soldering process, which can cause problems when it starts to break down, and of course it looks a lot better with that off of there! It also makes it easier to see cracked solder joints.
Yep 100%. Starting with a non-abrasive household surface cleaner (as they also have de-greasing chemicals) then finishing with lots of soapy water and rinsing well to remove any residue! Then going over the cleaning with a dry magic eraser sponge will remove any porous scuffs or dirt. That's the reason the edges of the transparent GBA case stayed yellow: Dirt and grease. I would never use alcohol on plastics unless I am sure it is absolutely safe! PCB's yes, PCE plastic cases: No!
One thing that might be worth checking is whether or not the clear container is transparent to UV light. Even though the container is clear (transparent to visible light), that may not necessarily mean that it is transparent to UV light. Polycarbonate, for example, can look clear or transparent to a degree, but it can appear very opaque from the perspective of UV light since it can act as a filter for most of that part of the spectrum.
I think a glass container would be better, but often those are smaller/shallow than we actually need. I had an idea for a good container for this, but would have to be manufactured: i.ibb.co/SxhkZMx/retro.png -The lid is longer enough to cover around half of the container. -Insert the peroxyde up until you find it good enough, since the lid is big enough to act as a bowl. -Put the yellowed plastic inside it (I still prefer it submerged) -Put the container on top -Insert a rubber-like seal that you can insert after closing the container And if you have any UV light bulb around, make use of it or leave it at the sun.
My understanding from Simon's tweets about this is that UV isn't needed for this at all. UV is simply being used as a heat source to accelerate the process. You can literally do this indoors with no UV, it'll just take way longer. As an alternative to the sun, buy a small heater from Amazon or an aquarium store and use that to heat the peroxide.
@@You-gk1el maybe glass under direct sunlight may cause some damage if the light gets amplified, it sure is interesting, but it may be better to try that when it's cloud or during summer heat.
Just tried this method today on an old Macintosh and it worked extremely well. The color is so even and not overdone at all. Think looks almost brand new.
OddTinkering and other channels have a method where they use a plastic box, hydrogen peroxide, UV light strips, and some heating clamps to retrobright things in. It seems to give the best, most consistent results without leaving streaks. They just weigh everything down with large steel screws, set it and forget it till the next day. It seems like it might take some more setup time having to assemble everything but if you really do care about getting rid of all the yellow and looking as nice as possible, it seems like the best method and it's not even close.
With liquid peroxide you need longer session though, unless you use a quite powerful source of UV light. But you seems to get more even result, even if depends on the original state of the shell. I personally prefer the cream because when wrapped, it keeps temperature and vapors that makes the whole process faster. I normally do 12h sessions and 24h sessions for more extreme cases. With the liquid sometimes you need days.
@@Sacren365 They need be stainless because the peroxide will remove most platings and the screws will flash rust. UV doesn't reverse the yellowing (it's just a heat source) so it doesn't matter if you throw the screws on top.
I saw 8 bit guy experimenting with this and I wasn't too convinced by the results he had. Saving some money on the amount of peroxide and most notably not having to submerge the shells is definitely a major plus. Now I have the urge to jump up and do it right now. Always interesting to see your takeaways, you get some extraordinary shots that really do these consoles justice!
Just want to share what has worked for me since this isnt a well documented topic. I got a large tub similar to the one in your video and lined it with aluminum foil. Used food grade hydrogen peroxide on the inside, it can be in contact or not (it won't damage the shell). Then cut a hole in the lid to fit a larger uv lamp. Leave it for a few days and it looks incredible. You can get a few USB UV strips as well but it is very very slow. Comes out even and much newer looking. I did it on a snes Jr and Japanese Saturn to great success.
Although UV helps in the process restore the color. I wonder if the UV will cause the plastic to be brittle eventually or if that is ok because it's not exposed for too long. I picked up some plastic that was outside for some time and it was all brittle and fell apart. But maybe it takes a long time for plastic to get to that point.
From my experience, the best was was dunking them in Hydrogen peroxide mixed with water and don't worry leaving in the sun or UV. But need to keep an eye after a day or so so it doesnt pass to the point that becomes too white. This way the results are more consistent and without marks. Why t his method? If you rely on SUN or PLASTIC to try to put hair cream (40% vol) it can make streak marks or uneven whitening. (when I did on my Super Nes with hair cream and plastic to try to keep it moist in the sun, it created several plastic marks, its pretty hard to keep mixing to try to get an even exposure to sun and cream). With some controllers shells I had better results by just sinking them and not using lights. But I left them too long so they became more white than I wanted, but no uneven whitening.
Exactly. For my past two projects, a Boss tuner cover from the 1980's and a Fender P Bass pick guard, I put them in water with a few healthy splashes of peroxide. I didn't measure the water nor the peroxide, and left them both in open containers for 2-3 days until I was satisfied with the results.
Yeah I’m pretty sure the method he shows is the old method as I’ve seen it a lot, I do the same thing as you but I put it in a box with uv lights and reflective foil and it works amazingly
Tried our this technique today on my PAL SNES console. This technique is genius it worked flawlessly on mine. No hint or any yellowing after 9-10 hours today using 12% peroxide. Beauty part as the day was hot here too. Perfect day for it. Thanks for this method. 👌🏻👍🏻
I've been using a similar method for a couple years now. I put liquid in a tupperware container (or an empty lunch meat container), submerge the plastic face down, and leave the container sitting by a sunny window. I've had incredible results. Granted it's all been small devices so far and nothing as big as a console, but for those I'd just use extra liquid and something to weigh down the shell.
Did this with a bottle of 35% I had laying around. In a much smaller container. It worked great and it's especially great for things that are hard to take apart but still contain electronics, since you don't have to submerge them in liquid. I did this with a second hand Lego Mindstorms NXT I bought a few years ago and was very yellowed. Now looks like new. It even made the orange parts look more vibrant
Hey Tito big fan, love all of your videos brother, I recently tried this method over the weekend with my snes and wow!!!!! The results were fantastic, thank you for showing this method. I did 2 passes, so 2 days, one day was for about 4hrs, second day was about 10hrs. I highly recommend this method, as long as you have the right products, some time and patience and a hot day does help you get some fanatstic results. Thanks again brother!!!!
Hi there, i tried this method on my grail vintage keyboard and it worked amazing!!! The result was far better than i could ever dream of. Thank you so much for bringing this method to light
Two men walk into a bar, the first said "I'll have a glass of H2O", the second guy said, "I'll have a glass of H2O too". the second man didn't leave alive.
UV light is a falsehood. It was ALWAYS heat that initiated peroxide brightening. I took keyboard keys off a mac keyboard, placed them in a mason jar with store bought H2O2 filled to the top, put on the lid and heated the jar in an electric double boiler until the contents reached 150F and kept it at that temp for 6 hours before turning it off and leaving it over night. The next morning I was greeted with pristine perfectly retrobrighted keys. No UV light was used and no sunlight exposure occurred. This was done with just 3% H2O2 and precise temp of between 150F and 160F. I tried lower temps and it resulted in non activation. I tried higher temps and the color became blotchy. This also applied to dry heating, coating the plastic in H2O2 and Glycerine mixture and saran wrapping to seal it and placing in an oven at 160F for several hours then leaving overnight resulted in an even clean retrobrightening. Neither used UV. And with this vapor method I tried it with store bought H2O2, in a fish tank, with a heating pad beneath it. I heated the H2O2 up to 150F first then poured it in the bottom of the tank. I also heated the item in the over to 150F FIRST, then placed it in the tank and sealed the tank. Covered it with blankets to insulate it and left it for 6 hours then turned it off. Next morning... it was evenly brightened. UV is not needed, it never was. special H2O2 is not needed, the reason previous attempts with UV seemed to work for people was because they were using high strength H2O2 (12%-30%) which needed less heat to achieve similar results. Does no one understand the UV is what CAUSED yellowing in the first place? It's a reaction between UV and the fire retardants that cause discoloring in modern plastics. In what universe did anyone think the thing that caused discoloring would reverse it? Its like saying if your pool is to acidic the solution is to add more acid! Jeeze. Its simple chemistry.
@@celestialstar6450 @ScissorKickPro I did but I don't think I did everything correct. It brightened up a bit but I don't think it was hot enough. Also the plastic tub wasnt the best I think for the UV rays. Lastly I didn't have the best "sun" spot. Under ideal conditions I bet it does work but didn't work well when I did. But I will try again once summer comes around again
It seems to be universal that many people doing this process haven't bothered too look into the various elements involved in the process, especially the actual chemical reactions that are occur and how to stop some of these from happening while taking advantage of the process of "reversing" the "yellowing" of the plastic. A few people on RUclips have created their own specialised containers to improve their efficiencies in the "RetroBrite" process and to help speed up the rate at which the chemical reactions occur. Here's what you should take note of: 1.) Artificial UV Lighting is more reliable than natural daylight. 2.) A purpose built container made from the right type of material with the correct modifications applied to improve thermal efficiency and light refraction & reflection within the container. 3.) The correct type of Hydrogen Peroxide with NO ADDITIVES !!! 4.) Sufficient protection of the hands, face, &, skin. Adequate ventilation is also critical! 5.) Genuine UV LED's and not faux-UV LED's which are VERY COMMON and often mis-sold as being genuine UV LED's. 6.) Heat IS REQUIRED! But you MUST BE CAREFUL! If you mess this up you could have more than just minor chemical skin burns to deal with, so a properly maintained heating element with highly precise temperature control & regulation is a MUST. Adding heat can massively improve the effectiveness of the process as well as obviously aid in speeding it up which means you may only require a single 24-Hour cycle in your DIY RetroBrite chamber for the process to be sufficiently effective. 7.) Give the chemical reaction ample time to occur, a minimum of 24-Hours should be your baseline, although you may sometimes need to give the target material another coating/submersion of the Hydrogen Peroxide and leave it in the container for another 24-Hours. Remember that researching into this process will be your best friend to getting the best outcome possible, and, if the idea of using harmful & hazardous chemicals scares you then my advice is to either seek the assistance of a genuinely qualified chemical expert, OR, don't do any RetroBriting and instead just buy a replacement shell and sell your current shell on eBay or similar with a note attached to mention that it needs to be processed via RetroBriting. Chemicals are dangerous, handle them with respect and use them responsibly! You can only have one opportunity too see with your eyes, you can numerous opportunities to replace the plastic shell on a games console! Safety First!
I would love a follow up video where you run it thru this method 2 to 3 times to see if the process works even more and brightens and brings back the original color more than just one time.
@@MachoNachoProductions I did find you on Twitter separately, but your link in the description leads to what seems to be an old account? Just might wanna update that! Thanks for the video!
Reducing the headspace in the container is for sure a good idea, at the very least it'll be a more efficient use of peroxide. I'd also consider glass containers if you can swing it since they're less occlusive. In a perfect world I imagine you'd do this in a big ol' vacuum bell jar so you could evacuate some air and really get the peroxide vapor concentration high in the vessel.
Possibly add a curved plastic sheet to the bottom (used on top) to prevent condensation from collecting on top and potentially dropping droplets on the shells. That could result with polka dots on the shell if they’re left to sit for hours.
I have a dedicated H2O2 bath in my workroom that's covered in LED UV strips and then covered in aluminum foil. H2O2 cream or straight H2O2 mixed with water and I just submerge the plastic, weighted down with either stainless steel bolts or glass cups. Takes a bit longer, a day or so depending on the plastic, but I've never had a problem with streaking because of it or noticed the plastic being weaker. All I do is flip the lights on, submerge, cover, and forget it for a couple days.
For handhelds if you aren't a crazy originalist it's the way to go. I can pick up new shells with a glass screen lens, new buttons, new pads, and they throw in screwdrivers and new labels for under $10. Crazy.
The 8-bit guy who you showed the footage of streaking figured out this "new" method years ago. He has a comprehensive video where he goes over a bunch of potential methods. However he never did it in a crafty way like this with a large container, so thanks.
Little update, so i've learned that despite leaving it out for 24 hours it only works to a certain point. Submerging still remains the best result at a higher cost due to needing 1-2 gallons of peroxide per run. However this method is the best for pieces that have laser printing on it such as snes power buttons.
This is strikes me as pretty similar to deposition and etching techniques in nanofab facilities. I bet the closer you get your setup to that kind of equipment the better your results will be. If you've got a couple hundred bucks to spend you might get a vacuum chamber to allow the hydrogen peroxide to diffuse more readily. Also if we're talking purely hypothetical, you could use a high power UV laser instead of the sun. And you cloud fill the container with argon when it's not in use so reactive gasses are less likely to interfere with the chemistry.
Simon Lock did an awesome job restoring and modding my Sega Saturn a few years back at a reasonable price. Took a hell of a long time, but I think it was reasonable. Life happens.
Wow, you did great, i used to do just like that, but i would bag each piece and leave for at least 12h, and if its still very yellow it can have another 12 hour of sun bath. i just find your channel and im loving it! you rock, keep doing your thing mate !
I like the vapor method. In my opinion it restores my vintage Macintosh computer cases back to the original color. Other methods in which the H2O2 comes in direct contact with the plastic results in over-bleaching to a platinum look. That fine if that's your desire, but over-bleaching doesn't last. After a couple of year the bromine in the plastic works its way back to the surface of the plastic returning it to a beige/yellow color. A platinum colored 68K vintage Mac is a sure sign that the case has been retrObrighted.
Not trying to be picky, but most of the items looked like they had streaking, but I don't think it was the procedure, simply the fact that I could see actual dirt on at least 3 of the items. Items must be given a real good clean before any of these forms of retrobrighting, if a patch of the plastic is dirty, then it will lighten compared to the patch, so allows for a gradient type look. Totally agree that longer would have yielded better results, the fact that it's not immersed or have cream on would slow the reaction down.
This was what I was thinking. Other youtubers (even 8bitguy) do a good cleaning before attempting to retrobright. His results would be better if he had cleaned up the pieces.
If you clean the shells thoroughly, like in an ultrasonic cleaner I think you'll get better results. The oils from handling probably held back some of the bleaching. I use simple green for about 30 minutes in an ultrasonic cleaner and it takes all the dirt and oil off first.
Interesting new method for applying hydrogen peroxide. Never actually retro-brightened before but noticed my dreamcasts yellowing like crazy in just a few months when tucked away in boxes with foam packaging material, cables and stuff. Weird thing is, they do de-yellow when put out and placed on a shelf in a bright living room (no direct sunlight to console though). It takes a few months but the result is quite noticable. One of them looked like cheese when I bought it four years ago and it looks just as good as new today. Once i used chlorine on some non-console plastics though, with great success, but i do avoid bringing my consoles in contact with chemicals, using only wet towels for cleaning for the most part.
This is how I whiten G1 Transformers and the results are dazzling! The best part is there's no need to remove stickers and rubsigns, and you don't have to repaint.
THIS METHOD CAN BE USED WITH REGULAR 3% HYDROGEN PEROXIDE! You just need the best conditions possible, an enclosed warm space, a glass air-tight container, and direct sunlight for 6 hours (I think). It worked wonders for my white gba shell and my yellowed clear gameboy pocket shell.
Very happy you did this one, so much better this way. What I would like to know is does it need to be outside or is there a way to do it indoors? Edit after reading comments below............ So from I see, this can be done indoors and just requires a heat source.... building off your method in the video, I am thinking a heat blanket under the lid base (with maybe a lightly deeper lid), use a shallow container for less head space and better gas containment and concentration at item level. holy snot...... I already have a device on order that would do this...... heat and vaporize a liquid to gas and vacuum sealed? Yup, just checked, it also has a Nebulizer and is designed for polishing 3D PLA & ABS Prints with gas. TOPPOSH...... as long as it is not a scam campaign
My method to alleviate the uneven and streaking using the HP creams, is to give them a rub down with the plastic wrap still on the parts, every few hours. This ensures the cream isn't concentrated to any one spot for too long. I've done it this way a number of times and have never had uneven whitening. The downside as you mentioned is the decals sometimes get bleached and it takes significantly longer to reach the desired results. Usually about a week depending on the severity of the yellowing. That said I'm excited to try this new method out.
Clever! I'll be trying this on my NES Advantage stick. I've been lucky enough that none of my retro consoles have been affected by yellowing so the joystick is the only thing I have that would be worth doing this process on. Excited to try it! I'll send the results on twitter whenever I get to it.
@@MachoNachoProductions This combined with UV Leds would be the ultimate way to retro-bright on my opinion, no need to rely on good weather (And a safe place to put the devices outdoors if you don't have a backyard) and less liquid used. But I wonder how could you achieve the condensation indoors, maybe a water heater would be enough?
This is one of the reason I preferred the cream with cling film rather than liquid peroxide: the cling film traps the vapor from the chemical reaction. Definitely heat has an important role in the process, and that's why at direct sunlight it always works better. Probably with vapor you get better distribution but dunno if would work as well without direct sunlight.
This method relies heavily on natural UV light. I find the submerging method(with water heater, UV led strip and alu foil wrap around the container) much easier and never had any issue with the result.
I have a backyard finally as of two weeks ago (hurray! lol), so when things settle down around here I was just going to try the old "submerge everything in hydrogen peroxide and leave it in the sun forever" type of this, but good to know if that doesn't work very well there's this option! Great video Tito!
Questions: 1. Can you over-brighten these devices? What is the max limit to leave these in? Will it damage the parts rebrightening many times? 2. Does hotter temperatures make faster brightening? 3. Is this animal safe? 4. Does this change texture / feel of certain buttons or mattes. 5. Would pressurizing the bin increase results? 6. Does this work for any other materials? Are there consoles/ devices that SHOULD NOT be brightened? I think that's all I got rn.
>"Absolutely wear gloves" >proceeds to not wear gloves >Later wears gloves "that's what I should have done from the get go" >Doesn't wear safety glasses Nice one haha
So you could probably get a more reliable setup by, like some commenters have stated, cleaning the shells first in dish soap. But you could also buy a small heat pad and some UV lights to be able to control the results better.
This method is not new. I saw it in Spanish forums in early 2000s. Recently I talked about it in some forums and nobody knew it. It seems that went forgotten. I used it in some Game Boy cartridges and consoles with good results. In my case I left then several days. Thanks for the video, I hope this time the method don't be forgotten again.
Hey that "vapor" fills up your container with fumes. The peroxide collects on the wall and top of your container. Then it falls back down onto your parts. Therefore your parts are still in DIRECT contact with the peroxide 🤔🤔🤔 just saying.
Great addition to restorations. I may have to try it in the future. Here's what I do for mine. Clear shoebox and the sun for 4-7 days on both sides (if needed). Incredibly long wait time, but the results have all been consistent. No chemicals added so they are good to go.
@@MarkFrankJPNYes. Just a box, system shell, sunlight and a week or 2. It's just basically a waiting game to notice the difference. As long as your area has constant exposure to the sun it should work. The box is to prevent any outside weather - rain, dirt and debris. The method itself is based on bone bleaching from the sun.
Two things: 1) You could cobble together a vacuum chamber, a fuel injector, and an array of UV LEDs to radically optimize this approach. 2) I reckon the method used by Odd Tinkering is probably the best overall in terms of efficiency. I don't know why you're squeamish about immersion methods, since everything you objected to had to do with the creams.
Cool idea, and looks fairly effective as well. Several years ago, I lined a large cardboard box with foil, with an LED UV grow lamp mounted in it. Works very well with the HO2 hair products, and can be done in my garage, so I'm not beholden to the weather.
It appears this works by condensation on the plastic surface. What is the surface tension profile like for the solution? Do droplets form as it condenses? From the video, the case definitely forms droplets. I would be concerned with a droplet pattern forming as it condenses.
Hm. H2O2 doesn't usually really evaporate: the extra oxygen molecule is really easily lost ( hence why it's stored in light resistant, usually brown, containers ) then the left over normal water is left behind. Which suggests to me that most of the work is being done by pure oxygen. So I wonder if it wouldn't be more effective to skip the peroxide altogether and just use water and DC current to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen, capturing said oxygen inside a sealed container.
I like this method because it uses much less peroxide. You don't need gallons to completely submerge the item(s). I wonder if the H2O2 is actually evaporating and condensing on the parts, or if that's just water vapor. H2O2 breaks down into H2O and O, leaving a free oxygen atom that usually quickly combines with another free oxygen atom to form the more stable O2. Most theories believe is those free oxygen atoms that do most of the work, so this method does make sense to trap the oxygen in the container and allow it time to break down the chromophores. Even if the container is opaque to UV, the inside will heat up from just from solar heating and the heat will break down the peroxide.
Here is my experience with RetroBrighting: AVOID CREAMS. Just clean your stuff for good, then submerge it with peroxide in a very hot and very sunny summer day and you’ll be fine. Remember to move the container (no cover) during the day according to the shadow, if necessary.
Does this process affect the colored parts? I'm trying to restore a Lugia figure from Pokemon, which is light gray and has some blue parts also, should I do this?
You can also leave them just out exposed to direct bright sunlight for a couple of days without anything else.. Works on most console cases. Second best methode: Just dunk them in a bin with diluted h2o2 and hit it with uv light (sun or artificial). No need for such a fuzz with airtight containers and vapors.
> You can also leave them just out exposed to direct bright sunlight for a couple of days without anything else. Considering that repeated exposure to sunlight is a major contributing factor to plastic yellowing and becoming brittle that doesn't sound like a great idea.
Good method, but I still prefer a MDF wooden box, with 2 15w lamps, so I don't need to depend on the daytime sun... (on my channel I made a recent video showing this) and I can simply let the UV light bath act at night, until dawn, all the time, even if it's sunny outside or the moon... inside the box, I have the whitening production all the time, even if it's dark outside LOL... congratulations on your video!
You should have cleaned the shells, especially the PCE ones, beforehand. They probably could've turned out better without all the dirt and crust.
Yep. Just normal dish soap mixed with water works great. If it's bad a toothbrush and rubbing alcohol works great.
I've actually brought a few electronics back to life by going over the PCB with a toothbrush and iso alcohol.
@@nojuanatall3281 The alcohol has the added benefit of dissolving old rosin flux from the soldering process, which can cause problems when it starts to break down, and of course it looks a lot better with that off of there! It also makes it easier to see cracked solder joints.
I was thinking the same thing. that pc engine shell could've used a soapy bath first.
I killed a commodore 1084 bezel with alcohol :(
Use it carefully!
Yep 100%. Starting with a non-abrasive household surface cleaner (as they also have de-greasing chemicals) then finishing with lots of soapy water and rinsing well to remove any residue! Then going over the cleaning with a dry magic eraser sponge will remove any porous scuffs or dirt. That's the reason the edges of the transparent GBA case stayed yellow: Dirt and grease. I would never use alcohol on plastics unless I am sure it is absolutely safe! PCB's yes, PCE plastic cases: No!
One thing to recommend, always clean the shell well to make sure it is clean as possible, and I think a completely transparent shell would benefit.
Totally agree!
what the frick
One thing that might be worth checking is whether or not the clear container is transparent to UV light. Even though the container is clear (transparent to visible light), that may not necessarily mean that it is transparent to UV light. Polycarbonate, for example, can look clear or transparent to a degree, but it can appear very opaque from the perspective of UV light since it can act as a filter for most of that part of the spectrum.
I think a glass container would be better, but often those are smaller/shallow than we actually need.
I had an idea for a good container for this, but would have to be manufactured:
i.ibb.co/SxhkZMx/retro.png
-The lid is longer enough to cover around half of the container.
-Insert the peroxyde up until you find it good enough, since the lid is big enough to act as a bowl.
-Put the yellowed plastic inside it (I still prefer it submerged)
-Put the container on top
-Insert a rubber-like seal that you can insert after closing the container
And if you have any UV light bulb around, make use of it or leave it at the sun.
Super interesting! I wonder how much actual uv light goes through the container? That would be a good study
My understanding from Simon's tweets about this is that UV isn't needed for this at all. UV is simply being used as a heat source to accelerate the process. You can literally do this indoors with no UV, it'll just take way longer.
As an alternative to the sun, buy a small heater from Amazon or an aquarium store and use that to heat the peroxide.
@@MachoNachoProductions I think using glass like an aquarium would maybe be a better choice. Not sure what glass properties would deflect Uv light
@@You-gk1el maybe glass under direct sunlight may cause some damage if the light gets amplified, it sure is interesting, but it may be better to try that when it's cloud or during summer heat.
Just tried this method today on an old Macintosh and it worked extremely well. The color is so even and not overdone at all. Think looks almost brand new.
Wow, it definitely looks more manageable than previous methods, this I might try on my GBA shell and SNES controller
It’s great! Totally agree on how manageable the process is
OddTinkering and other channels have a method where they use a plastic box, hydrogen peroxide, UV light strips, and some heating clamps to retrobright things in. It seems to give the best, most consistent results without leaving streaks. They just weigh everything down with large steel screws, set it and forget it till the next day. It seems like it might take some more setup time having to assemble everything but if you really do care about getting rid of all the yellow and looking as nice as possible, it seems like the best method and it's not even close.
I can’t remember, do you know if Odd uses plain steel screws or stainless steel? I remember hearing one of them leaves marks on the plastic.
With liquid peroxide you need longer session though, unless you use a quite powerful source of UV light. But you seems to get more even result, even if depends on the original state of the shell.
I personally prefer the cream because when wrapped, it keeps temperature and vapors that makes the whole process faster.
I normally do 12h sessions and 24h sessions for more extreme cases.
With the liquid sometimes you need days.
The nice thing with this method is there’s no need to weight things down.
@@Sacren365 They need be stainless because the peroxide will remove most platings and the screws will flash rust. UV doesn't reverse the yellowing (it's just a heat source) so it doesn't matter if you throw the screws on top.
Came to mention OddTinkering as well, the one channel I’ve ever seen this done so good.
I saw 8 bit guy experimenting with this and I wasn't too convinced by the results he had. Saving some money on the amount of peroxide and most notably not having to submerge the shells is definitely a major plus. Now I have the urge to jump up and do it right now. Always interesting to see your takeaways, you get some extraordinary shots that really do these consoles justice!
Just want to share what has worked for me since this isnt a well documented topic. I got a large tub similar to the one in your video and lined it with aluminum foil. Used food grade hydrogen peroxide on the inside, it can be in contact or not (it won't damage the shell). Then cut a hole in the lid to fit a larger uv lamp. Leave it for a few days and it looks incredible. You can get a few USB UV strips as well but it is very very slow. Comes out even and much newer looking. I did it on a snes Jr and Japanese Saturn to great success.
Although UV helps in the process restore the color. I wonder if the UV will cause the plastic to be brittle eventually or if that is ok because it's not exposed for too long. I picked up some plastic that was outside for some time and it was all brittle and fell apart. But maybe it takes a long time for plastic to get to that point.
Oh no 8 bit guy is going to lose his mind
Why?
Haha, I think he’ll like this method!
He’s brought a lot of attention to the retrobriting
@@MachoNachoProductions you should inform him for that method. He will be very happy for that
I thought this was an 8bitguy video just based on the title
From my experience, the best was was dunking them in Hydrogen peroxide mixed with water and don't worry leaving in the sun or UV. But need to keep an eye after a day or so so it doesnt pass to the point that becomes too white. This way the results are more consistent and without marks.
Why t his method? If you rely on SUN or PLASTIC to try to put hair cream (40% vol) it can make streak marks or uneven whitening.
(when I did on my Super Nes with hair cream and plastic to try to keep it moist in the sun, it created several plastic marks, its pretty hard to keep mixing to try to get an even exposure to sun and cream). With some controllers shells I had better results by just sinking them and not using lights. But I left them too long so they became more white than I wanted, but no uneven whitening.
This is exactly what I did, except I used just hydrogen peroxide with no water, it worked brilliantly.
Exactly. For my past two projects, a Boss tuner cover from the 1980's and a Fender P Bass pick guard, I put them in water with a few healthy splashes of peroxide. I didn't measure the water nor the peroxide, and left them both in open containers for 2-3 days until I was satisfied with the results.
Yeah I’m pretty sure the method he shows is the old method as I’ve seen it a lot, I do the same thing as you but I put it in a box with uv lights and reflective foil and it works amazingly
Did you use regular grocery store peroxide or high concentration stuff?
@@infinity2z3r07 i got it from hairdressing accessory shop. I got mine in diluted form in 1l bottles.
Tried our this technique today on my PAL SNES console. This technique is genius it worked flawlessly on mine. No hint or any yellowing after 9-10 hours today using 12% peroxide. Beauty part as the day was hot here too. Perfect day for it.
Thanks for this method. 👌🏻👍🏻
This video comes in a perfect time. I received my first SNES four days ago and it is a little yellowed. Thanks for this new method!
No problem! Hope you get amazing results!
dose the stickers come off the back?
I've been using a similar method for a couple years now. I put liquid in a tupperware container (or an empty lunch meat container), submerge the plastic face down, and leave the container sitting by a sunny window. I've had incredible results. Granted it's all been small devices so far and nothing as big as a console, but for those I'd just use extra liquid and something to weigh down the shell.
I like the 8 bit Guy, you used his footage and even mentioned him in the description. Now I like you too.
Did this with a bottle of 35% I had laying around. In a much smaller container. It worked great and it's especially great for things that are hard to take apart but still contain electronics, since you don't have to submerge them in liquid.
I did this with a second hand Lego Mindstorms NXT I bought a few years ago and was very yellowed. Now looks like new. It even made the orange parts look more vibrant
Hey Tito big fan, love all of your videos brother, I recently tried this method over the weekend with my snes and wow!!!!! The results were fantastic, thank you for showing this method. I did 2 passes, so 2 days, one day was for about 4hrs, second day was about 10hrs. I highly recommend this method, as long as you have the right products, some time and patience and a hot day does help you get some fanatstic results. Thanks again brother!!!!
Hi there, i tried this method on my grail vintage keyboard and it worked amazing!!! The result was far better than i could ever dream of. Thank you so much for bringing this method to light
Awesome!!
I made my own box based on this concept with UV led lights and seedling heat pads that works super well for my needs.
That's great. I was hesitant to retrobrite my Dreamcast but now I will give it a try, all I need is to find a similar Peroxide in my country.
Yep, same situation for me. My poor Dreamcast has also yellowed.
Two men walk into a bar, the first said "I'll have a glass of H2O", the second guy said, "I'll have a glass of H2O too". the second man didn't leave alive.
🤣
UV light is a falsehood. It was ALWAYS heat that initiated peroxide brightening. I took keyboard keys off a mac keyboard, placed them in a mason jar with store bought H2O2 filled to the top, put on the lid and heated the jar in an electric double boiler until the contents reached 150F and kept it at that temp for 6 hours before turning it off and leaving it over night. The next morning I was greeted with pristine perfectly retrobrighted keys. No UV light was used and no sunlight exposure occurred. This was done with just 3% H2O2 and precise temp of between 150F and 160F. I tried lower temps and it resulted in non activation. I tried higher temps and the color became blotchy. This also applied to dry heating, coating the plastic in H2O2 and Glycerine mixture and saran wrapping to seal it and placing in an oven at 160F for several hours then leaving overnight resulted in an even clean retrobrightening. Neither used UV. And with this vapor method I tried it with store bought H2O2, in a fish tank, with a heating pad beneath it. I heated the H2O2 up to 150F first then poured it in the bottom of the tank. I also heated the item in the over to 150F FIRST, then placed it in the tank and sealed the tank. Covered it with blankets to insulate it and left it for 6 hours then turned it off. Next morning... it was evenly brightened. UV is not needed, it never was. special H2O2 is not needed, the reason previous attempts with UV seemed to work for people was because they were using high strength H2O2 (12%-30%) which needed less heat to achieve similar results. Does no one understand the UV is what CAUSED yellowing in the first place? It's a reaction between UV and the fire retardants that cause discoloring in modern plastics. In what universe did anyone think the thing that caused discoloring would reverse it? Its like saying if your pool is to acidic the solution is to add more acid! Jeeze. Its simple chemistry.
True. But, it's free heat tho. So, why not?
I legit was about to retrobrite this next week the old way but decided to RUclips it one last time. Definitely going to try this way
did you end up trying it? curious about the results!
How did it turn out?
@@celestialstar6450 @ScissorKickPro I did but I don't think I did everything correct. It brightened up a bit but I don't think it was hot enough. Also the plastic tub wasnt the best I think for the UV rays. Lastly I didn't have the best "sun" spot. Under ideal conditions I bet it does work but didn't work well when I did. But I will try again once summer comes around again
It s maybe a dumb question but does it release toxic gaz ? Should I wear a mask or something ?
It seems to be universal that many people doing this process haven't bothered too look into the various elements involved in the process, especially the actual chemical reactions that are occur and how to stop some of these from happening while taking advantage of the process of "reversing" the "yellowing" of the plastic.
A few people on RUclips have created their own specialised containers to improve their efficiencies in the "RetroBrite" process and to help speed up the rate at which the chemical reactions occur.
Here's what you should take note of:
1.) Artificial UV Lighting is more reliable than natural daylight.
2.) A purpose built container made from the right type of material with the correct modifications applied to improve thermal efficiency and light refraction & reflection within the container.
3.) The correct type of Hydrogen Peroxide with NO ADDITIVES !!!
4.) Sufficient protection of the hands, face, &, skin.
Adequate ventilation is also critical!
5.) Genuine UV LED's and not faux-UV LED's which are VERY COMMON and often mis-sold as being genuine UV LED's.
6.) Heat IS REQUIRED! But you MUST BE CAREFUL!
If you mess this up you could have more than just minor chemical skin burns to deal with, so a properly maintained heating element with highly precise temperature control & regulation is a MUST.
Adding heat can massively improve the effectiveness of the process as well as obviously aid in speeding it up which means you may only require a single 24-Hour cycle in your DIY RetroBrite chamber for the process to be sufficiently effective.
7.) Give the chemical reaction ample time to occur, a minimum of 24-Hours should be your baseline, although you may sometimes need to give the target material another coating/submersion of the Hydrogen Peroxide and leave it in the container for another 24-Hours.
Remember that researching into this process will be your best friend to getting the best outcome possible, and, if the idea of using harmful & hazardous chemicals scares you then my advice is to either seek the assistance of a genuinely qualified chemical expert, OR, don't do any RetroBriting and instead just buy a replacement shell and sell your current shell on eBay or similar with a note attached to mention that it needs to be processed via RetroBriting.
Chemicals are dangerous, handle them with respect and use them responsibly!
You can only have one opportunity too see with your eyes, you can numerous opportunities to replace the plastic shell on a games console!
Safety First!
I would love a follow up video where you run it thru this method 2 to 3 times to see if the process works even more and brightens and brings back the original color more than just one time.
I’m planning to do that 👍. Perhaps not a dedicated video but post some pictures to Twitter
@@MachoNachoProductions I did find you on Twitter separately, but your link in the description leads to what seems to be an old account? Just might wanna update that! Thanks for the video!
@@redmage08 thank you for the heads up! Which link is bad? Is it the one to my Twitter?
@@MachoNachoProductions yeah the Twitter one
Updated! Thank you!
Is “outside - in nature” the first time Tito’s gone out of his way to make a visual joke?
I am here for it 🙌
😁
I’ve actually ruined a few retro console shells using the old methods (streaking or over bleaching), so I like this method better.
Reducing the headspace in the container is for sure a good idea, at the very least it'll be a more efficient use of peroxide. I'd also consider glass containers if you can swing it since they're less occlusive. In a perfect world I imagine you'd do this in a big ol' vacuum bell jar so you could evacuate some air and really get the peroxide vapor concentration high in the vessel.
Yes, the small the container you can use the more efficient it will be.
Possibly add a curved plastic sheet to the bottom (used on top) to prevent condensation from collecting on top and potentially dropping droplets on the shells. That could result with polka dots on the shell if they’re left to sit for hours.
I have a dedicated H2O2 bath in my workroom that's covered in LED UV strips and then covered in aluminum foil. H2O2 cream or straight H2O2 mixed with water and I just submerge the plastic, weighted down with either stainless steel bolts or glass cups. Takes a bit longer, a day or so depending on the plastic, but I've never had a problem with streaking because of it or noticed the plastic being weaker. All I do is flip the lights on, submerge, cover, and forget it for a couple days.
Looks interesting. I've never tried brighting an old shell before. I usually get a new shell for whatever I'm fixing
For handhelds if you aren't a crazy originalist it's the way to go. I can pick up new shells with a glass screen lens, new buttons, new pads, and they throw in screwdrivers and new labels for under $10. Crazy.
The 8-bit guy who you showed the footage of streaking figured out this "new" method years ago. He has a comprehensive video where he goes over a bunch of potential methods.
However he never did it in a crafty way like this with a large container, so thanks.
Yes, i was hoping for something really new, but after two minutes i thought, jeez this was just in several rmc channel videos.
Please link me the video where this method is shown. I thought I looked carefully but I may have missed it. Thank you 🙏
@@MachoNachoProductions titled "adventures in retrobright" from 5 years ago. Your video is still quite helpful thanks.
Did this to a beige desktop pc from 20 years back and it works great if you let it sit for long enough. Thanks for sharing!
I've got a dogbone famicom controller in dire need of some restoration so looking forward to this.
This should work well for it!
i use to put paper towel onto the plastic and soak/sprayed with Oxyclean. Results weren't bad. But will definitely try this method.
Thanks to your Mum for the great camera work!
Haha will do 😁
WOW 100K! Thats awesome Tito. Remember all us little people when youre at 1 Million ;)
Wow ! that is the cleanest drive I have ever seen! I did wonder if vapour may have been a better option, this answers my question. Good job :)
Little update, so i've learned that despite leaving it out for 24 hours it only works to a certain point. Submerging still remains the best result at a higher cost due to needing 1-2 gallons of peroxide per run. However this method is the best for pieces that have laser printing on it such as snes power buttons.
This is strikes me as pretty similar to deposition and etching techniques in nanofab facilities. I bet the closer you get your setup to that kind of equipment the better your results will be. If you've got a couple hundred bucks to spend you might get a vacuum chamber to allow the hydrogen peroxide to diffuse more readily. Also if we're talking purely hypothetical, you could use a high power UV laser instead of the sun. And you cloud fill the container with argon when it's not in use so reactive gasses are less likely to interfere with the chemistry.
Great video as always Tito!
This method seems to be basically the same as an acetone bath for 3d print smoothing, so the theory is sound!
Sound like yo’ mama, bruh
This is great. Looks manageable and the results were reasonable for only 6 hours exposure. Easy cleanup and even color is plus.
Absolutely! I think it may be the simplest method.
Game changer! So glad you shared Simon’s method with us. Thanks Tito, can’t wait to give it a spin on a few DMG’s I have.
It's not new. You can do this indoor with since hear and UV light. Other channels have shown this before.
You’re most welcome buddy! I hope you get amazing results! Please share your results when you’re done 😁
Simon Lock did an awesome job restoring and modding my Sega Saturn a few years back at a reasonable price. Took a hell of a long time, but I think it was reasonable. Life happens.
Wow, you did great, i used to do just like that, but i would bag each piece and leave for at least 12h, and if its still very yellow it can have another 12 hour of sun bath. i just find your channel and im loving it! you rock, keep doing your thing mate !
I did this method on a Final Fantasy XIII console the white and pink it did a great job
I like the vapor method. In my opinion it restores my vintage Macintosh computer cases back to the original color. Other methods in which the H2O2 comes in direct contact with the plastic results in over-bleaching to a platinum look. That fine if that's your desire, but over-bleaching doesn't last. After a couple of year the bromine in the plastic works its way back to the surface of the plastic returning it to a beige/yellow color. A platinum colored 68K vintage Mac is a sure sign that the case has been retrObrighted.
Not trying to be picky, but most of the items looked like they had streaking, but I don't think it was the procedure, simply the fact that I could see actual dirt on at least 3 of the items. Items must be given a real good clean before any of these forms of retrobrighting, if a patch of the plastic is dirty, then it will lighten compared to the patch, so allows for a gradient type look. Totally agree that longer would have yielded better results, the fact that it's not immersed or have cream on would slow the reaction down.
This was what I was thinking. Other youtubers (even 8bitguy) do a good cleaning before attempting to retrobright. His results would be better if he had cleaned up the pieces.
You just made up my mind. I’m using this method on my Sega Mark 3 and Famicom.
Howd the famicom come out?
If you clean the shells thoroughly, like in an ultrasonic cleaner I think you'll get better results. The oils from handling probably held back some of the bleaching. I use simple green for about 30 minutes in an ultrasonic cleaner and it takes all the dirt and oil off first.
One way to retrobright consoles is actually to leave them out in the sun. it is slower, but it still works.
i feel like another major pro is that is way cheaper to do for how well it works
Indeed! It uses a lot less hydrogen peroxide
Interesting new method for applying hydrogen peroxide. Never actually retro-brightened before but noticed my dreamcasts yellowing like crazy in just a few months when tucked away in boxes with foam packaging material, cables and stuff. Weird thing is, they do de-yellow when put out and placed on a shelf in a bright living room (no direct sunlight to console though). It takes a few months but the result is quite noticable. One of them looked like cheese when I bought it four years ago and it looks just as good as new today. Once i used chlorine on some non-console plastics though, with great success, but i do avoid bringing my consoles in contact with chemicals, using only wet towels for cleaning for the most part.
This is how I whiten G1 Transformers and the results are dazzling! The best part is there's no need to remove stickers and rubsigns, and you don't have to repaint.
im going to give this a shot with my purple Gamecube.
for reference, the top is almost brown :(
How you have amazing results. Please share the results when you’re done!
I was nervous to do this to my Panasonic cube controller!! But it worked and it looks like new
Nice!
I like the variation in the videos. It's funny the 8 bit guy was the first to come to mind.
Gotta change it up every now and then 👍
THIS METHOD CAN BE USED WITH REGULAR 3% HYDROGEN PEROXIDE! You just need the best conditions possible, an enclosed warm space, a glass air-tight container, and direct sunlight for 6 hours (I think). It worked wonders for my white gba shell and my yellowed clear gameboy pocket shell.
What do you mean an enclosed warm space could you elaborate?
3% is much easier to find, you're goated for this
"I'll actually be going outside, in nature."
*sees cloud
"Hmm looks like rain. Fuck it!."
Very happy you did this one, so much better this way. What I would like to know is does it need to be outside or is there a way to do it indoors?
Edit after reading comments below............ So from I see, this can be done indoors and just requires a heat source.... building off your method in the video, I am thinking a heat blanket under the lid base (with maybe a lightly deeper lid), use a shallow container for less head space and better gas containment and concentration at item level.
holy snot...... I already have a device on order that would do this...... heat and vaporize a liquid to gas and vacuum sealed? Yup, just checked, it also has a Nebulizer and is designed for polishing 3D PLA & ABS Prints with gas.
TOPPOSH...... as long as it is not a scam campaign
My method to alleviate the uneven and streaking using the HP creams, is to give them a rub down with the plastic wrap still on the parts, every few hours. This ensures the cream isn't concentrated to any one spot for too long. I've done it this way a number of times and have never had uneven whitening. The downside as you mentioned is the decals sometimes get bleached and it takes significantly longer to reach the desired results. Usually about a week depending on the severity of the yellowing.
That said I'm excited to try this new method out.
Clever! I'll be trying this on my NES Advantage stick. I've been lucky enough that none of my retro consoles have been affected by yellowing so the joystick is the only thing I have that would be worth doing this process on. Excited to try it! I'll send the results on twitter whenever I get to it.
I think I'll still go with the submersion method with uv led but this might be nice for a sunny day
You could also use the uv light with this. Another nice thing about this method is that it uses less hydrogen peroxide.
@@MachoNachoProductions This combined with UV Leds would be the ultimate way to retro-bright on my opinion, no need to rely on good weather (And a safe place to put the devices outdoors if you don't have a backyard) and less liquid used. But I wonder how could you achieve the condensation indoors, maybe a water heater would be enough?
I’ve used lemon juice and sunlight before with some success. I’ll have to give this a shot
Sounds like an interesting method
Definitely want to see another video where you go more in depth and try again longer
were the shells even cleaned first? they all look pretty gnarly.
This is one of the reason I preferred the cream with cling film rather than liquid peroxide: the cling film traps the vapor from the chemical reaction. Definitely heat has an important role in the process, and that's why at direct sunlight it always works better.
Probably with vapor you get better distribution but dunno if would work as well without direct sunlight.
enjoy the streaks!
@@JohnZombi88 you'll still have streaks. Spray or evap....those are your only options
Will this be the British variant to brighten your retro plastic?
Oh wow, I've seen this method used with Acetone for smoothing out 3D prints, nice to see it can be used to clean up my old consoles!!
Acetone WILL damage plastic. Plastics dissolve quite well in acetone.
I think you would’ve got better results on the PCE stuff with just an ultrasonic cleaner
For over a decade now all I do is literally leave the shells out in the sun. That's it. No peroxide. No containers. Works.
This method relies heavily on natural UV light. I find the submerging method(with water heater, UV led strip and alu foil wrap around the container) much easier and never had any issue with the result.
This is the method I use as well.
Congrats on making it to 100k!! WELL DESERVED
I have a backyard finally as of two weeks ago (hurray! lol), so when things settle down around here I was just going to try the old "submerge everything in hydrogen peroxide and leave it in the sun forever" type of this, but good to know if that doesn't work very well there's this option! Great video Tito!
Nice! The one good thing about this method is that it uses a lot less hydrogen peroxide. I should have mentioned that in the pros and cons 😅
I use the sumerge method....never had a issue with it....Like this method for small items....
Questions:
1. Can you over-brighten these devices? What is the max limit to leave these in? Will it damage the parts rebrightening many times?
2. Does hotter temperatures make faster brightening?
3. Is this animal safe?
4. Does this change texture / feel of certain buttons or mattes.
5. Would pressurizing the bin increase results?
6. Does this work for any other materials? Are there consoles/ devices that SHOULD NOT be brightened?
I think that's all I got rn.
1. No limits
2. Yes
3. Probably not
4. No
5. Not sure
6. Mainly plastic. As long as it's plastic it should be fine.
Finally a use for the Florida Sun
Haha, nice!
>"Absolutely wear gloves"
>proceeds to not wear gloves
>Later wears gloves "that's what I should have done from the get go"
>Doesn't wear safety glasses
Nice one haha
Haha, I learned my lesson and wanted to warn everyone. I did wear sunglasses at one point 😅
So you could probably get a more reliable setup by, like some commenters have stated, cleaning the shells first in dish soap. But you could also buy a small heat pad and some UV lights to be able to control the results better.
This method is not new. I saw it in Spanish forums in early 2000s. Recently I talked about it in some forums and nobody knew it. It seems that went forgotten. I used it in some Game Boy cartridges and consoles with good results. In my case I left then several days. Thanks for the video, I hope this time the method don't be forgotten again.
This method would have been good to know before I used peroxide on my Super Nintendo a couple months ago.
Wow, that's awesome.
Hey that "vapor" fills up your container with fumes. The peroxide collects on the wall and top of your container. Then it falls back down onto your parts. Therefore your parts are still in DIRECT contact with the peroxide 🤔🤔🤔 just saying.
Great addition to restorations. I may have to try it in the future. Here's what I do for mine.
Clear shoebox and the sun for 4-7 days on both sides (if needed). Incredibly long wait time, but the results have all been consistent. No chemicals added so they are good to go.
So just a clear closed box?
@@MarkFrankJPNYes. Just a box, system shell, sunlight and a week or 2. It's just basically a waiting game to notice the difference. As long as your area has constant exposure to the sun it should work.
The box is to prevent any outside weather - rain, dirt and debris. The method itself is based on bone bleaching from the sun.
Two things:
1) You could cobble together a vacuum chamber, a fuel injector, and an array of UV LEDs to radically optimize this approach.
2) I reckon the method used by Odd Tinkering is probably the best overall in terms of efficiency. I don't know why you're squeamish about immersion methods, since everything you objected to had to do with the creams.
The only issue I had with immersion method is the larger quantity of hydrogen peroxide needed. The vapor method uses quite a bit less.
Cool idea, and looks fairly effective as well. Several years ago, I lined a large cardboard box with foil, with an LED UV grow lamp mounted in it. Works very well with the HO2 hair products, and can be done in my garage, so I'm not beholden to the weather.
Love this method and will try it over the other methods if I need to restore the colors of old consoles. Well done!
I have my original 1985 NES that really needs some work. This looks like just the ticket I"ve been waiting for.
It appears this works by condensation on the plastic surface. What is the surface tension profile like for the solution? Do droplets form as it condenses? From the video, the case definitely forms droplets. I would be concerned with a droplet pattern forming as it condenses.
I've probably said this before on a video of yours, but that background music is really good! It reminds me of Purity Ring!
Hm. H2O2 doesn't usually really evaporate: the extra oxygen molecule is really easily lost ( hence why it's stored in light resistant, usually brown, containers ) then the left over normal water is left behind. Which suggests to me that most of the work is being done by pure oxygen. So I wonder if it wouldn't be more effective to skip the peroxide altogether and just use water and DC current to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen, capturing said oxygen inside a sealed container.
I'm going to have to try this method out, looks like it'll save on peroxide.
This looks way better than the submersion method!
I like this method because it uses much less peroxide. You don't need gallons to completely submerge the item(s).
I wonder if the H2O2 is actually evaporating and condensing on the parts, or if that's just water vapor. H2O2 breaks down into H2O and O, leaving a free oxygen atom that usually quickly combines with another free oxygen atom to form the more stable O2.
Most theories believe is those free oxygen atoms that do most of the work, so this method does make sense to trap the oxygen in the container and allow it time to break down the chromophores.
Even if the container is opaque to UV, the inside will heat up from just from solar heating and the heat will break down the peroxide.
patience is a virtue
Here is my experience with RetroBrighting: AVOID CREAMS. Just clean your stuff for good, then submerge it with peroxide in a very hot and very sunny summer day and you’ll be fine. Remember to move the container (no cover) during the day according to the shadow, if necessary.
Does this process affect the colored parts? I'm trying to restore a Lugia figure from Pokemon, which is light gray and has some blue parts also, should I do this?
@@dantealexander9863 I wouldn’t know for sure; but it didn’t discolored the PCE logo.
Do you use regular peroxide or the instable one he uses?
@@robertramirez3038 Just a generic 5lt bottle found on eBay. It was listed as “for pool cleaning”
I really like the Intro of your channel
Thank you!
You can also leave them just out exposed to direct bright sunlight for a couple of days without anything else.. Works on most console cases. Second best methode: Just dunk them in a bin with diluted h2o2 and hit it with uv light (sun or artificial). No need for such a fuzz with airtight containers and vapors.
> You can also leave them just out exposed to direct bright sunlight for a couple of days without anything else.
Considering that repeated exposure to sunlight is a major contributing factor to plastic yellowing and becoming brittle that doesn't sound like a great idea.
"By popular demand, I'll be touching grass"
Good method, but I still prefer a MDF wooden box, with 2 15w lamps, so I don't need to depend on the daytime sun... (on my channel I made a recent video showing this) and I can simply let the UV light bath act at night, until dawn, all the time, even if it's sunny outside or the moon... inside the box, I have the whitening production all the time, even if it's dark outside LOL... congratulations on your video!