This episode has it all. Strange chemical reactions melting plastic cases, the printing of replacement parts, a side mission solving the driveway-spot mystery, high power UV experiments, and the classic of classics: Commodore 64.
maybe it works like this: 1 lamp = cancer; 2 lamps = ok (the 2nd cures the cancer), 3 lamps = cancer again, 4 lamps = cured; hint: use an even number of lamps :p
ik its from a digital camera he made an episode about. my theory is is that it was his first high quality video camera and just wanted to record anything and everything like i did when i got my first ipod touch when i was a teen. as for why he was recording himself washing his car? thats probably just his inner DAD energy coming out
That’s kind of what I’m doing right now. Discovered this channel a few weeks ago and then went back to the beginning, watching every single video in order. Quite the marathon!
Wait.. so is there a ratio of water to hydrogen peroxide? I feel like I've missed that step as it usually looks like you fill the container with only hydrogen peroxide.
The 'bobble-head' effect is likely due to the uneven weight of the keycap swaying the inner column of the plunger at its peak where it is no longer supported by the outer column. 3D printed components (even with 100% infill) lack density and can be very light when compared to resin cast pieces. Since tolerances are not sufficient, we get bobble! As the concern is a dwindling supply of replacement parts, molds could be printed using inverse infills of those same files. Properly weighted plungers could be recreated after some trial and error with mixing ratios :)
Me, 1982: In the future we will live on the Moon! You can't imagine all the amazing things in the future! Me, 2020: Watching how to clean a computer from 1982.
@@davidgannon5388 ... and yet phones are going backwards and regressing in innovation. removing physical keypads, Blackberry is out of business, removing the Headphone jack on the latest iPhone. a lot of devices even remove the SD card storage slot, or put it in a weird place like underneath a removable backplate. also hardwiring the battery so its not removable. in China nobody buy's iPhones because they can't remove the battery and SIM Card, which prevents the government from spying listening in on conversations.
Seems we've gone so far into corporatism that companies don't ask what people want anymore, they TELL people what they want. I blame apple for this, since they started the trend of 'removing' things constantly, and still getting people to buy it anyway...
"Hi, and welcome to 'The 64-Bit Guy'! Today, we'll be restoring this classic 2007 generic Core2Duo PC that some dang kid put together in a fly-by-night PC shop! This is a super-rare item, as most of them were thrown in the trash around 2010-2015, because nobody thought they were at all interesting. Now, they're worth more than your car!" Later in the show: "Be sure to use the most toxic heavy metals you can find when re-capping or otherwise replacing any components, for that authentic original feel..." Joking but not joking... also, I'd totally watch that and INSIST on 63/37 solder for recapping.
This man is so proficient that he 3-D printed new plungers even though he didn’t intend on using them and also the fact that he’s giving it away is very cool and it’s very thoughtful that he included the original plungers and even told everyone at the end of his video that he would for the person that he’s giving it to! What an honest man
Hey 8bitGuy, I've been watching your videos since I was a sophomore in college and you started my passion for old computers. I remember the night I scrounged up enough money to buy an old 512K Macintosh and it was the first old computer I purchased- after binging hours of your stuff. Thanks man!
The thoroughness and care you put into restoring this is just amazing. The part where you go to your brother's house and he has even more stuff to fix these machines just blew my mind :D.
The first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the 'bobble-key' effect was "stretch the springs a little bit and that'll make them stable", then, as I typed this comment: a little bit heavier spring, too". But the best solution to bobble-key is to fine-fine-tune the 3-D printing a tiny bit. That was awesome when that 3-D printing of those pieces scenes came up in your video, 8-Bit Guy, and nice work on the overall retro-brighting and circuit repairs, too. That UV setup with a bit more fine tuning is definitely a awesome thing, too. :-) Thanks for sharing.
It's like David is building his own Binford Macrowave. "3 convenient power settings: High, Really high, and Split your own atoms." -- _Home Improvement,_ s3e21
My driveway has those exact same marks just like yours and I never figured out why. I can't believe it was the black magic, thank you so much for figuring this out!
Great project! I’d like to make a recommendation, though: when lubricating disk drive rails, never stick the spray can straw right on them and spray. That makes it very likely you’ll get grease in the head which can ruin floppies. Always apply the spray to a Q-tip and use that to wipe grease on the rails. Anyway, in the summer of 2018 when I was off work I cleaned probably a dozen C64 keyboards and cases from my collection. I can’t remember if I used dish soap or laundry soap, but each one got a scrub on all sides. On the ones I had to disassemble to clean board contacts, instead of resoldering the shift lock, I installed wires with a plug for easier future removal. And on those disassembled ones, all the key contacts got dumped out and the entire frame got a scrub too. A few C64 and disk drive cases got retrobrited as well. I got a lot of C64 projects done that year.
Regarding the UV light going through the plastic tub, you could try wrapping the sides with aluminum tape. Not only will the UV light not go through it, but it will also reflect it back and possibly speed up the process even more.
Great video. I just got two of these from my oldest brother and I intend to follow the same cleaning as you. I was the master of the C64 back in the early 80's. I was the only guy to even have an SX-64...portable. I am looking forward to reliving my past. Thank again.
I’m interested to hear if you notice any UV light bleed on other stuff in your studio over time - if you use this method regularly. Will it affect the stuff you have lying around? :)
Oh yeah, good point! David has this one episode where he shows how he installs a UV filter in front of his windows, but that was in the museum and not the studio if I remember correctly.
yes, I am worried about this too. I plan to modify this technique for next time for several reasons, but one of the things I'll be doing is trying to contain some of the UV light from escaping into my room. I had originally planned to do this in the garage but the floor is slanted in there, which made it harder to deal with the water level.
@OBG70 You do need to account for the heat output of those lamps as well. The back of each lamp is a big heat sink, which means the heat will build up quickly if you enclose it. As for the process, perhaps adding some kind of mechanical agitation would help cut down on the amount of bubbles collecting on the surface of the pieces. Something like a small motor with an unbalanced weight on it (like they use in some massage devices and in force-feedback game controllers) or a fluid pump of some sort creating a current in the tank. Edit: I can never seem to get the line spacing right on these comments.
This may sound odd but I find your videos and your narrative extremely relaxing, I find myself watching your videos mainly to have a very good time and forget about work and all other stuff. The fact that I happen to learn things while in the process is just an added bonus. Please keep it up Note: Sorry, I had to add to the comment that I'm like crazy over Synthwave and your background music adds great to the mix
Thanks for this video. I was going to take a dremel to a case mod I'm working on this week, and completely forgot that lung protection is a thing. Now I've got a respirator in the mail. My lungs also thank you.
I follow you channel regularly and I want to compliment for your clear explanations and nice communication style. You made me like retro computing and in fact I’m buying a C64 myself since I hadn’t the chance to convince my parents when I was a kid ;) thanks and keep up the good work!
3D-printed key-plungers?! And here I'm thinking, "I wonder what kind of glue David is going to use to fix those key plungers." Man -- 3D printing is amazing!
I believe the printed plungers could be tweaked to fit better, in the settings for his bro's slicer. I've done a lot of 3d printing and I see some places to improve.
i dont think glue is necessairy here, i would add micropatch in 2-3 layers of double sided tape on top of the plunger to help the key being more stable on it, shimming can also be a good idea or just make a compensation into 3d plans to take account of where its loose
i usually only watch your restauration videos with retrobright action. they're so satisfying. loved the 3d printer replacement test on this video... that was fascinating to see.
When I was 8, my grandfather bought a new computer and gave me his Commodore 64. It was my first computer, and I loved playing games on it. Glad to find your channel. Such nostalgia.
10:49 i feel like i just walked in on him trying to hide the corpse of his brother's cat that he accidentally killed, so he threw it into the corner and tried his best to look casual
My first thought when he said "You might be wondering, why a Commodore 64?", who ever asks that question doesn't watch this channel much. But also, never realized he's never restored one till now.
My favourite vids are definitely the two part restoration of that really nasty looking VIC 20. As it was the very first computer I owned as a kid, those vids spoke directly to my inner childhood geek.
Nice video, impressed with the results from the Clark Griswold / Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor lighting system. You've finally restored a Commodore 64, something to mark off on your bucket list. (That's a bucket of retro-brite solution, of course!)
"I've never actually restored a commodore 64" *[Spends the next two minutes listing a load of restoration projects]* Me: Okay now you're just showing off
The weirdest part was that a couple of times he mentioned things he does from experience (eg: removing the spacebar last, replacing the Commodore key last) that seemed pretty C64 specific. Ok, maybe the past experience he's calling back to is with other Commodore 8-bits with the same or similar keyboards (eg: VIC-20 and C128), but still made me wonder if by "never restored a C64" he really meant ""never restored a C64 on this show". (I was going to say "on camera", but the 13-year-old carwash vid suggests that everything he does is on camera. :-) )
Thanks, 8-Bit Guy! 10:12 in your video is exactly what I needed when re-assembling my own C64 keyboard! I'd been trying to get the spacebar back on for hours!
Review of Black Magic: "I used this product on all four of my tires and now have white half circles on my blacktop driveway. Apparently forever unless I reseal it. They've been there for months and won't wash away. If you let any of the product drip from your tires onto the blacktop, it will be irreparably stained. I tried contacting the company and got no response. There is a warning in small print on the back label to "wipe off excess to avoid spin off" but who would ever think it would stain and ruin your driveway. Stick to Armor All."
I've used a similar product (actually thought it was Armor All but may be mistaken) and had the same marks on my driveway. So, next time I did the tire dressing in the street but realized now people will see those marks on the asphalt. I scrubbed the hell out of it and eventually didn't notice any more. In the future, I used old cardboard to do this job. You'd think that someone could invent a dressing that doesn't leave just obvious marks on the concrete/asphalt.
Stupid question but... Who need shiny tires (well except for car seller companies I guess) and why? Spending good money on probably toxic chemicals just for tires that will be dirty again just next time you use your car... I don't really get the point. :-/
I'd think doing that would assist in retrobrighting the sides of the plastic too. Though getting a bin with smooth ends would help side-light eflection. (I'd put the foil outside to prevent reaction, though less effective).
Lowen Evvan, Ot would work better than without. A loss of some light isn’t a loss of all light. Any amount of UV light refraction from the foil would aid in the process.
That thing about cables reacting with plastics is true, it happened to my old gameboy when it was wrapped in its link cable for the past 20 years and in storage.
So Perifractic discovered that a lego "cross axle" fits into the commodore keys...I wonder if there might be a way to use those to repair the broken plungers?
I suspect the lego part wasn't the issue. I suspect the round part that goes though the case was. Also you'd have to get the plunger flat before gluing it on. It might work.
@@tonyman1106 what's actually the problem though. I suspect it's not the "lego" part. I suspect it's the round part isn't tight. But I could be wrong. If it was the "lego" part the key wouldn't stick on.
@@awilliams1701 You just need to re-print the part with correct settings. Calibration of the printer or scale of the object were incorrect. Parts like that take what? 30 minutes. Silly to use a substandard part.
I use a Dremel Flex-Shaft myself. Great for when the Dremel is too bulky for the project, or you need finer control. I have a 2-speed Dremel, but with the Flex-Shaft attached, it sometimes slows down to the point of stopping.
@@Christopher-N I don't have a dremel but a Proxxon FBS 115/e. It has continually variable speed and is considered by many hobbyists as better quality than dremel...
@Lassi Kinnunen: Interesting. While I've never heard of a Dremel Flex melting, I have given mine some strenuous work at times, and was concerned about the shaft breaking. It never has, but it is something I think about with every use. Keeping it straight as possible definitely helps prolong its life.
The segment at 11:10 was a big help with replacing a broken plunger on my C64. Someone managed to break the 2 key off with mine before I bought it. Fortunately, the person kept the key and spring, so I just needed to buy a new plunger. When struggling on how to get the broken plunger out of the key, I remembered this video, and with a hand drill, some small bits, and a screw, I was able to fix my keyboard to make my C64 fully working again. So big thanks to you and your brother for showing me this technique.
I really enjoy your channel. Brings back so much nostalgia. My first computer was a CoCo 2. So amazing how far computers have come in even just my iPhone. Thank you for the stuff you do and show.
my god i am an avid fan of the Commodore 64. i had 6 of them with 2 disk drive units and 4 cassette decks, 2 Kempston joysticks over 700 games! and raid over moscow. Brilliant. this is THE best video I have ever seen!... so much detail. so much passion. wow wow wow. you've really brought a tear to my eyes.
Hi Dave I am Gustavo from Argentina and I had one C64C when I was 12 years old. The computer was assembled in Argentina under the Brand of Drean Commodore, and (I guess you like this) Drean is a washing machine brand and something very hillarious happens... my computer run for 10 minutes in color later that in B&W, and I had problem with my restore key, (the qualit of the components manufactured here was awfull). We went to the service to delivery my loved C64C and the guys there were just a service for washing machines not idea of computers) and when I got the computer again in my hands his behavior was exactly the same, not color not restore key... just I want to share this with you I a big fun of your channel and I see all the videos. Thank you for your passion. Regards from Argentina
I don't know why but Everytime I watch some video of 8bit guy I must to have to watch a second time too. I love his script on the videos, it's have something so enjoyable that I have to watch again. Amazing work.
I hesitate to comment because I have a Commodore 64 that I acquired a couple years ago to restore. The fact which may cause a few people to laugh is that I am about to turn 70 so I predate most of these early computers! I originally wrote programs in Basic for the TRS-80 computer which came out in 1977. That computer had no data storage on board but stored data on a cassette recorder. It also had no monitor but used a TV screen. And of course no mouse as that had not been invented yet. And no hard drive. Everything ran off a floppy disk. The Commodore 64 was a nice step forward in technology and definitely was a great machine in its day. I have no idea if my Commodore will still run, or if it has any problems but I have all the accessory components with this system. I'll be posting a video series of my own restoration efforts once I tackle it. Thanks for sharing some useful knowledge in your video as I didn't know the location of the specific chip that reads the keyboard inputs. Great video! Thanks for sharing it.
Retrobrite is very satisfying to actually see take effect while discoloration just goes away and the comparison just makes this so much more satisfying than it initially sounds
At around 5:00 when the side with the power and the joystick connectors is shown, I realized that this one has a square hole around the power connector. A first sign for a nowadays very, very rare early production mainboard. And around 9:00, when you open up the machine it was confirmed that it was indeed a very early mainboard. What a great find! Great restoration! Thank you for explaining the details here.
My brain heard that phrase, didn't like it, and discarded it! It wasn't until your comment that I was reminded of the phrase, and I could look back and see my mind self-editing!
First off, excellent job here. You are a master of retro-bright and restoration of retro hardware. I always love the music during cleaning, very calming and satisfying 4:26 Would love to know more on the next steps to make a non-bobble head 3d printed keyboard plunger. Peace!
Watching these always brings back so many memories of banging away on one of these as a little kid, laboriously typing in basic programs from books and magazines. Or playing my umpteenth game of MULE or Lemonade stand. Trying to figure out what I wasn't finding in Legacy of the Ancients, which like any good old rpg was quite complex given the disc space availible.
The attention to detail, all the time you put into these repairs... it was exhausting to even watch you do it. 😅 Glad my own C64 is still looking pristine and running nicely after all these years. 🍀
4:35 This footage isn't actually sped up, he'd just cleaned so many machines that he's become powerful enough to go at such fast speeds.
He's maxed out his cleaning stats, just like in the sims
IM DYING :DD
u MAde Me Laugh so hard lol
Echang Wang : That is the kind of comments I really like. Thanks for a good laugh.
@@paragonmuffin among other things
David's neighbor: "It's been a long since i've seen him outside. I wonder what happened..."
David: [Indoor Retrobite]
David: Cooked from his 6 UV LED lights
David: Come out a day later whiter and milkier than ever before.
retrobRite my dear
@Zenny TH So true! I could see them coming over and knocking on the door to ask if everyone is okay.
6 months later: "Texas police enter house of suspected pot farmer to find a room filled with plastic tubs holding submerged computer parts."
This episode has it all. Strange chemical reactions melting plastic cases, the printing of replacement parts, a side mission solving the driveway-spot mystery, high power UV experiments, and the classic of classics: Commodore 64.
The Atari 2600 or NES is probably the classic of all classics
The Nuclear Blast™ - The BEST! retrobriting technique for not sunny days!
Y E S !
He said it’s better even when it is sunny tho
"Probably gona give me cancer"
I didn’t see that coming! LOL
sunnynt days
"It's probably gonna give me cancer." 3 seconds later: "So I rigged up 3 of these." LOL
That man has balls of steel
Yeh but he has a wicked Tan now.
"I actually have *six*"
maybe it works like this: 1 lamp = cancer; 2 lamps = ok (the 2nd cures the cancer), 3 lamps = cancer again, 4 lamps = cured; hint: use an even number of lamps :p
It's such an 8-Bit Guy solution: "I saw someone do this with UV strip lights, so I bought six of these big 60 W mofos..."
I love it.
I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for why you have a video of you washing your car from 13 years ago.
devojane it is the last time the car was washed lol
@Liberalism is a Cult maybe it is from his security camera, and keeps all that footage.
@@KilliK69 that's a pretty strange angle for a security camera tho
Lol yeah..... We need answers David.
ik its from a digital camera he made an episode about. my theory is is that it was his first high quality video camera and just wanted to record anything and everything like i did when i got my first ipod touch when i was a teen. as for why he was recording himself washing his car? thats probably just his inner DAD energy coming out
When the 80s synthwave music kicks-in, you know it just got real.
Just started watching 2 days ago. Ive watched like 20 videos now
Same!
10 a day,
Yeah. I started watching about the same time as you. Really fascinating watching these movies coming alive
Same.
That’s kind of what I’m doing right now. Discovered this channel a few weeks ago and then went back to the beginning, watching every single video in order. Quite the marathon!
"Probably going to give me cancer.........ok, let's get started!"
This made me LOL
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hahahahahaha! RIP David. Gave up his life in the eternal quest for the best retrobrite technique.
Committed to the cause 👍
The Slurm will protect him.
6:08 the video isn't sped up, this is 8-bit guy speed after years of cleaning old computers
If Data from StarTrek did cleaning, this is what it would look like.
If you run him using compiler mode, you can get him scrubbing at 1.19mhz
@@originalbadboy32 Or Lindsay Wagner.
yes that was a Bionic Woman reference.
Great job!
Well hello there
What are you doing here? 🤔
Wait.. so is there a ratio of water to hydrogen peroxide? I feel like I've missed that step as it usually looks like you fill the container with only hydrogen peroxide.
Hey
Johnny S. odd tinkering has a video on how to do it on his channel
The 'bobble-head' effect is likely due to the uneven weight of the keycap swaying the inner column of the plunger at its peak where it is no longer supported by the outer column. 3D printed components (even with 100% infill) lack density and can be very light when compared to resin cast pieces. Since tolerances are not sufficient, we get bobble!
As the concern is a dwindling supply of replacement parts, molds could be printed using inverse infills of those same files. Properly weighted plungers could be recreated after some trial and error with mixing ratios :)
Me, 1982: In the future we will live on the Moon! You can't imagine all the amazing things in the future!
Me, 2020: Watching how to clean a computer from 1982.
On phones with magnitudes more processing power and storage space than 1982 us could fathom!
@@davidgannon5388 ... and yet phones are going backwards and regressing in innovation. removing physical keypads, Blackberry is out of business, removing the Headphone jack on the latest iPhone. a lot of devices even remove the SD card storage slot, or put it in a weird place like underneath a removable backplate. also hardwiring the battery so its not removable. in China nobody buy's iPhones because they can't remove the battery and SIM Card, which prevents the government from spying listening in on conversations.
Seems we've gone so far into corporatism that companies don't ask what people want anymore, they TELL people what they want.
I blame apple for this, since they started the trend of 'removing' things constantly, and still getting people to buy it anyway...
Don't get me started. I'm still waiting for my jetpack.
The Moon has plenty of UV.. perfect for retro-brighting.. brilliant!
My friend: "Do you want to go to a bar tonight?"
Me: "Nah. I'm gonna watch a guy pour hydrogen peroxide on an old computer"
Valerie Macias 😂
:'D
Randy Mulder it’s all fake these days. I totally would have joined you for a gaming session on the amiga 500
@@randymulder9105 Seriously - the future was so much better in the past :(
Exactly my case hahah.
2020: Commodore 64 Restoration
3011: Acer Predator Restoration
I actually want to see the day people will be nostalgic about a Ryzen 7 or 9 or a NVidia 3080. It would be interesting
@c6amp GPU's!? that's like a baby's toy Grampa! Games are streamed into the nanites in our brains now.
"Hi, and welcome to 'The 64-Bit Guy'! Today, we'll be restoring this classic 2007 generic Core2Duo PC that some dang kid put together in a fly-by-night PC shop! This is a super-rare item, as most of them were thrown in the trash around 2010-2015, because nobody thought they were at all interesting. Now, they're worth more than your car!" Later in the show: "Be sure to use the most toxic heavy metals you can find when re-capping or otherwise replacing any components, for that authentic original feel..."
Joking but not joking... also, I'd totally watch that and INSIST on 63/37 solder for recapping.
The little solved mystery about your driveway was indeed interesting and despite not being related was worth putting in the video
so that is what I do on saturday, watching a guy clean old plastic.
ikr. My geeky sense is tingling.
Wheeeeeee
Youre not the only one. We are a Cult.... ^_^
I'm having so much fun with my new THE C64 that right now all YT recommends me is C64 video's.
The night is still young here :)
@@Pieter_Auper I've still yet to get one of the C64 remakes, it'll go nicely with my ZX Spectrum Next
10:52 “I also get to visit my PET” that name is so confusing.
This man is so proficient that he 3-D printed new plungers even though he didn’t intend on using them and also the fact that he’s giving it away is very cool and it’s very thoughtful that he included the original plungers and even told everyone at the end of his video that he would for the person that he’s giving it to! What an honest man
Hey 8bitGuy, I've been watching your videos since I was a sophomore in college and you started my passion for old computers. I remember the night I scrounged up enough money to buy an old 512K Macintosh and it was the first old computer I purchased- after binging hours of your stuff. Thanks man!
18:00 0 lumens... well, close enough, anyway. Lumens are the amount of *visible* light. The right unit to measure UV flux really is watts.
Everyone LOVES the "actually" guy!
GenericEric Me too
@@KnickKnack07 _ACKCHUALLYYY..._
While watching David clean the computer I realized how dirty my laptop screen is as some of the stains weren't going away while he was scrubbing.
Same
The thoroughness and care you put into restoring this is just amazing. The part where you go to your brother's house and he has even more stuff to fix these machines just blew my mind :D.
His little museum!
I like to imagine Dave doing all that cleaning in real time. He's just become a speed demon when he's cleaning his computers now.
I chuckled at this
2020 - Raid Shadow Legends
1984 - Raid over Moscow
Wait...what about the original Raid....
RIVER RAID that is
I haven't heard that name in years
Well, Moscow DOES enter the Hymen store, where two men are scorched and burned, so kite me a sign!
RSL is never going to rise.
Sunday morning drinking coffee, David restoring a C64 and Anders' gentle music in the background -> pure relaxation.
You and me both
What more can a man of culture wish for
The first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the 'bobble-key' effect was "stretch the springs a little bit and that'll make them stable", then, as I typed this comment: a little bit heavier spring, too". But the best solution to bobble-key is to fine-fine-tune the 3-D printing a tiny bit. That was awesome when that 3-D printing of those pieces scenes came up in your video, 8-Bit Guy, and nice work on the overall retro-brighting and circuit repairs, too. That UV setup with a bit more fine tuning is definitely a awesome thing, too. :-)
Thanks for sharing.
It’s so soothing and relaxing to see you fix this C64 with such care.
16:25 "So, I thought I'd try something a little different…"
[drives to tanning salon]
I wonder if you could talk a salon into letting you use a bed to retrobrite lol
That's what I thought he was going to do!!
It's like David is building his own Binford Macrowave. "3 convenient power settings: High, Really high, and Split your own atoms." -- _Home Improvement,_ s3e21
My driveway has those exact same marks just like yours and I never figured out why. I can't believe it was the black magic, thank you so much for figuring this out!
Great project! I’d like to make a recommendation, though: when lubricating disk drive rails, never stick the spray can straw right on them and spray. That makes it very likely you’ll get grease in the head which can ruin floppies. Always apply the spray to a Q-tip and use that to wipe grease on the rails. Anyway, in the summer of 2018 when I was off work I cleaned probably a dozen C64 keyboards and cases from my collection. I can’t remember if I used dish soap or laundry soap, but each one got a scrub on all sides. On the ones I had to disassemble to clean board contacts, instead of resoldering the shift lock, I installed wires with a plug for easier future removal. And on those disassembled ones, all the key contacts got dumped out and the entire frame got a scrub too. A few C64 and disk drive cases got retrobrited as well. I got a lot of C64 projects done that year.
All people should work less and do more usefull things instead.
Good tip, I'll keep that in mind. Nice to see the C64 love. By the way, nice profile pic. Adorbs. :3
@@Bandrik Thanks! I like your sergal profile pic, too :D
@@00Skyfox why thank you! And nice to be recognized as a Sergal. Always fun to run into a furry here. :D
@@Bandrik amogus
Regarding the UV light going through the plastic tub, you could try wrapping the sides with aluminum tape. Not only will the UV light not go through it, but it will also reflect it back and possibly speed up the process even more.
"People think I have a stockpile of spare parts, but I don't"
8 minutes earlier: grabs a key spring from their spare C64 keyboard "just lying around"
Yeah we watched it
But one spare C64 in such state is hardly a stockpile of spare parts, there are many springs that can be used, but thats where multiplicity ends.
Most people into old computers have a bunch of junk lying around. I could theoretically build a working pc from the stuff in my garage
@@nanaskalski3663 That C64 also had a replacement chip he could use. That C64 alone is a stockpile of spare C64 parts.
It's funny how the thing you've probably talked the most about on this channel is the thing that you've never actually restored yet :D
that kinda doesn’t make sense for a channel that relies on that computer for most of the videos
@@vertz1515 u don't make sense
One day in the future, one of his grandchildren will restore the original 8-bit Guy!
Ikr
EpicLPer I know that’s what I’ve been wondering
Great video. I just got two of these from my oldest brother and I intend to follow the same cleaning as you. I was the master of the C64 back in the early 80's. I was the only guy to even have an SX-64...portable. I am looking forward to reliving my past. Thank again.
When I saw the "Raid over Moscow" game, my mind immediately said "Do you want to play a game?".
"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?"
@@jenniferhart559 When you want to play chess but the human selects thermonuclear war:
*angry WOPR noises*
"Nuclear blast" he says, and due to the camera auto-adjusting it really does look like a Cherenkov radiation burst.
ruclips.net/video/mgNwtepP-6M/видео.html
@@SoloNit Username checks out.
Its a Glow in the Dark System LOL
I’m interested to hear if you notice any UV light bleed on other stuff in your studio over time - if you use this method regularly. Will it affect the stuff you have lying around? :)
Oh yeah, good point! David has this one episode where he shows how he installs a UV filter in front of his windows, but that was in the museum and not the studio if I remember correctly.
yes, I am worried about this too. I plan to modify this technique for next time for several reasons, but one of the things I'll be doing is trying to contain some of the UV light from escaping into my room. I had originally planned to do this in the garage but the floor is slanted in there, which made it harder to deal with the water level.
@OBG70 yeah it may even work faster and better on the sides
@@The8BitGuy Just put a box over the entire thing, problem solved
@OBG70 You do need to account for the heat output of those lamps as well. The back of each lamp is a big heat sink, which means the heat will build up quickly if you enclose it.
As for the process, perhaps adding some kind of mechanical agitation would help cut down on the amount of bubbles collecting on the surface of the pieces. Something like a small motor with an unbalanced weight on it (like they use in some massage devices and in force-feedback game controllers) or a fluid pump of some sort creating a current in the tank.
Edit: I can never seem to get the line spacing right on these comments.
This may sound odd but I find your videos and your narrative extremely relaxing, I find myself watching your videos mainly to have a very good time and forget about work and all other stuff. The fact that I happen to learn things while in the process is just an added bonus.
Please keep it up
Note: Sorry, I had to add to the comment that I'm like crazy over Synthwave and your background music adds great to the mix
Thanks for this video. I was going to take a dremel to a case mod I'm working on this week, and completely forgot that lung protection is a thing. Now I've got a respirator in the mail. My lungs also thank you.
7:38 The Commodore 64 scratches at level 6 with deeper grooves at level 7.
I see someone watches JerryRigEverything…
@@kbhasi lmao
More like scratches at a level 3 and deeper grooves at a level 4
"Glass is glass, and glass breaks."
Plastic is plastic, and plastic never breals
I like to imagine there's no speedup on these videos. Dave actually brushes and cleans that fast.
David: "It's probably gonna get me cancer. Ok, so let's get started!"
I follow you channel regularly and I want to compliment for your clear explanations and nice communication style. You made me like retro computing and in fact I’m buying a C64 myself since I hadn’t the chance to convince my parents when I was a kid ;) thanks and keep up the good work!
18:58 - It’s probably going to give me cancer. OK! So let’s get started! 😂
With 3 lights!
@@LDSRaichu "THERE ARE SIX! LIGHTS!"
@PARALLAX No, I think that was 5 lights.
3D-printed key-plungers?! And here I'm thinking, "I wonder what kind of glue David is going to use to fix those key plungers." Man -- 3D printing is amazing!
I believe the printed plungers could be tweaked to fit better, in the settings for his bro's slicer. I've done a lot of 3d printing and I see some places to improve.
Yeah! 3D printing is really great, we have plenty of printers in school, and they’re so impressive! I actually 3D printed 40cm space plane on it
i dont think glue is necessairy here, i would add micropatch in 2-3 layers of double sided tape on top of the plunger to help the key being more stable on it, shimming can also be a good idea or just make a compensation into 3d plans to take account of where its loose
I'd have used something like jbweld.
And it's getting cheap. For less than the price of a Nintendo Switch I got a resin printer to print tiny detailed parts
I really like this kind of videos: Very interesting, educational, and we get to see some good antique tech.
For a second I was like- hey you missed a couple spots- then I realized, my phone screen is disgusting
The 8-bit Guy next video spoiler alert:
Retrobriting the driveway
After that, the house.
After that, his wife
With Gasoline!
His driveway sparkles. It overloads the cameras on Earth monitoring satellites.
Pressure washing would probably fix it right up and take off any spots from rubber and whatnot.
"I get to visit my pet"
Me: huh, wonder what it is..oh, they cut away to the 3d printing.
*three minutes later *
Me: OH HIS PET
At least he doesn't have to worry about feeding
Commodore PET. It’s a computer
It's not the 3d printer, it's the commodore pet. When he says that there is a shot of him patting a computer with the word PET in bold letters.
@@ToomanyFrancis yes that was the point of my joke
Aidan Rodriguez shut up
i usually only watch your restauration videos with retrobright action. they're so satisfying. loved the 3d printer replacement test on this video... that was fascinating to see.
When I was 8, my grandfather bought a new computer and gave me his Commodore 64. It was my first computer, and I loved playing games on it. Glad to find your channel. Such nostalgia.
10:49 i feel like i just walked in on him trying to hide the corpse of his brother's cat that he accidentally killed, so he threw it into the corner and tried his best to look casual
My first thought when he said "You might be wondering, why a Commodore 64?", who ever asks that question doesn't watch this channel much. But also, never realized he's never restored one till now.
Matthew Holder alright alright relax we haven’t all been following his channel for the last 10 years
My favourite vids are definitely the two part restoration of that really nasty looking VIC 20. As it was the very first computer I owned as a kid, those vids spoke directly to my inner childhood geek.
@@Mochrie99 This is how I feel about this video. When I was 5, my parents got me a C64. But it makes me feel old too.
Nice video, impressed with the results from the Clark Griswold / Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor lighting system.
You've finally restored a Commodore 64, something to mark off on your bucket list. (That's a bucket of retro-brite solution, of course!)
The sound of you cleaning/scrubbing/spraying in high-speed was music to my ears. Thank you for including those sounds.
8 Bit Guy: "It's probably gonna give me cancer."
8 Bit Guy: *[STICKS HIS HAND RIGHT IN THE WAY OF THE UV LAMP]*
here comes the sun doo da oh shi-
People sit in front of UV lamps to get "sun tans". Calm down. :P
@@fido139 Don't give David any crazy ideas before we start Retrobrighting a mainframe next winter.
"Ok, so let's get started!"
@@fido139 I think this is the opposite of a sun tanning device. Although there's probably a market for that as well ;)
"I've never actually restored a commodore 64"
*[Spends the next two minutes listing a load of restoration projects]*
Me: Okay now you're just showing off
Agreed was a bit much
David store his spare computer parts in the attic where Dr. Crankenstein lives!
The weirdest part was that a couple of times he mentioned things he does from experience (eg: removing the spacebar last, replacing the Commodore key last) that seemed pretty C64 specific. Ok, maybe the past experience he's calling back to is with other Commodore 8-bits with the same or similar keyboards (eg: VIC-20 and C128), but still made me wonder if by "never restored a C64" he really meant ""never restored a C64 on this show". (I was going to say "on camera", but the 13-year-old carwash vid suggests that everything he does is on camera. :-) )
Another well put together video! Always a pleasure to watch these!
Thanks, 8-Bit Guy! 10:12 in your video is exactly what I needed when re-assembling my own C64 keyboard! I'd been trying to get the spacebar back on for hours!
"this is gonna give me cancer"
Proceeds to use three of them
said the same thing haha.
Imagine if he had all 6 hooked up.
"I can feel the tumors"
...yip, this might be the last video :-)
10:49 - 10:55 strikes me as prime material for the next 8-Bit Guy YTP.
Yesssss. I feel like I've waited a long time for this.
I love your restoration videos!
You restoration videos are pure therapy man. like retro tech ASMR. super satisfying.
Review of Black Magic: "I used this product on all four of my tires and now have white half circles on my blacktop driveway.
Apparently forever unless I reseal it. They've been there for months and won't wash away. If you let any of the product drip from your tires onto the blacktop, it will be irreparably stained. I tried contacting the company and got no response. There is a warning in small print on the back label to "wipe off excess to avoid spin off" but who would ever think it would stain and ruin your driveway. Stick to Armor All."
I wonder about shop floors, how good of a chemical repellent it is.
I've used a similar product (actually thought it was Armor All but may be mistaken) and had the same marks on my driveway. So, next time I did the tire dressing in the street but realized now people will see those marks on the asphalt. I scrubbed the hell out of it and eventually didn't notice any more. In the future, I used old cardboard to do this job. You'd think that someone could invent a dressing that doesn't leave just obvious marks on the concrete/asphalt.
Wait a minute. People want clean drive ways. Don't we want to do this on purpose?
Stupid question but... Who need shiny tires (well except for car seller companies I guess) and why?
Spending good money on probably toxic chemicals just for tires that will be dirty again just next time you use your car... I don't really get the point. :-/
🧐 Just Black Magic the whole drive way. Problem solved. 😎
Why don't put aluminum foil outside the container? As to protect your eye and strength the UV bounce back inside.
I'd think doing that would assist in retrobrighting the sides of the plastic too. Though getting a bin with smooth ends would help side-light eflection. (I'd put the foil outside to prevent reaction, though less effective).
That won't work quite as well. Like he said, glass and plastic absorbs a lot of the UV light going through it.
Lowen Evvan, Ot would work better than without. A loss of some light isn’t a loss of all light. Any amount of UV light refraction from the foil would aid in the process.
David, your channel is so much fun. Thank you for doing all you do.
That thing about cables reacting with plastics is true, it happened to my old gameboy when it was wrapped in its link cable for the past 20 years and in storage.
So Perifractic discovered that a lego "cross axle" fits into the commodore keys...I wonder if there might be a way to use those to repair the broken plungers?
Maybe with some super glue and baking soda 😄
I suspect the lego part wasn't the issue. I suspect the round part that goes though the case was. Also you'd have to get the plunger flat before gluing it on. It might work.
you could use in conjunction with a 3d print
@@tonyman1106 what's actually the problem though. I suspect it's not the "lego" part. I suspect it's the round part isn't tight. But I could be wrong. If it was the "lego" part the key wouldn't stick on.
@@awilliams1701 You just need to re-print the part with correct settings. Calibration of the printer or scale of the object were incorrect. Parts like that take what? 30 minutes. Silly to use a substandard part.
"i get to visit my pet"
Anyone else: dog? cat? reptile?
Nerds: "hello world"
I was like "his Cats are..." and then the punchline came in and I was like "oh, yeah... I see what you did there"...
Tools required..... Brother with 3d printer. Lol. Cool video as usual. Thanks
@@howesitgoin739 Brothers can be interesting: tinyurl.com/ShaneDawsonFE
commodore pet
lol
your videos are awesome, man. i cant help but look up to you & your attitude towards your projects. x
3d printing is the coolest invention of last decade
It is actually older than this, we just didn't get it because of patents.
For some reason I love when your Texas accent shows especially when saying words like “room.”
Get a dremel you can adjust the speed on, very important.
Yes, that thing is running way too fast, melting the plastic. He needs to slow it down.
I use a Dremel Flex-Shaft myself. Great for when the Dremel is too bulky for the project, or you need finer control. I have a 2-speed Dremel, but with the Flex-Shaft attached, it sometimes slows down to the point of stopping.
@@Christopher-N I don't have a dremel but a Proxxon FBS 115/e.
It has continually variable speed and is considered by many hobbyists as better quality than dremel...
@Lassi Kinnunen: Interesting. While I've never heard of a Dremel Flex melting, I have given mine some strenuous work at times, and was concerned about the shaft breaking. It never has, but it is something I think about with every use. Keeping it straight as possible definitely helps prolong its life.
The segment at 11:10 was a big help with replacing a broken plunger on my C64. Someone managed to break the 2 key off with mine before I bought it. Fortunately, the person kept the key and spring, so I just needed to buy a new plunger. When struggling on how to get the broken plunger out of the key, I remembered this video, and with a hand drill, some small bits, and a screw, I was able to fix my keyboard to make my C64 fully working again. So big thanks to you and your brother for showing me this technique.
I really enjoy your channel. Brings back so much nostalgia. My first computer was a CoCo 2. So amazing how far computers have come in even just my iPhone. Thank you for the stuff you do and show.
23:57 - I, too, am a fan of Techmoan.
Very interesting Retrobrite method! I've been planning an upgrade to my indoor setup, and i'll definitely consider those lights
my god i am an avid fan of the Commodore 64. i had 6 of them with 2 disk drive units and 4 cassette decks, 2 Kempston joysticks over 700 games! and raid over moscow. Brilliant. this is THE best video I have ever seen!... so much detail. so much passion. wow wow wow. you've really brought a tear to my eyes.
Hi Dave I am Gustavo from Argentina and I had one C64C when I was 12 years old. The computer was assembled in Argentina under the Brand of Drean Commodore, and (I guess you like this) Drean is a washing machine brand and something very hillarious happens... my computer run for 10 minutes in color later that in B&W, and I had problem with my restore key, (the qualit of the components manufactured here was awfull). We went to the service to delivery my loved C64C and the guys there were just a service for washing machines not idea of computers) and when I got the computer again in my hands his behavior was exactly the same, not color not restore key... just I want to share this with you I a big fun of your channel and I see all the videos. Thank you for your passion. Regards from Argentina
I really love these retrobrite vids.
The sped-up woosh noises from the cleaning are so hilarious. I hope they remain in future restoration videos.
I have such fond memories of my Commodore 64. It really was an important part of my childhood in the early 80s. Great work.
great video, clean crisp and to the point and also a pleasure to watch too
Last time I was this early, David hasn’t even set up his home network yet
Me: It's late, I'm not tired and I have nothing to watch
8 bit guy: Hold my peroxide
I don't know why but Everytime I watch some video of 8bit guy I must to have to watch a second time too. I love his script on the videos, it's have something so enjoyable that I have to watch again. Amazing work.
I hesitate to comment because I have a Commodore 64 that I acquired a couple years ago to restore. The fact which may cause a few people to laugh is that I am about to turn 70 so I predate most of these early computers! I originally wrote programs in Basic for the TRS-80 computer which came out in 1977. That computer had no data storage on board but stored data on a cassette recorder. It also had no monitor but used a TV screen. And of course no mouse as that had not been invented yet. And no hard drive. Everything ran off a floppy disk.
The Commodore 64 was a nice step forward in technology and definitely was a great machine in its day. I have no idea if my Commodore will still run, or if it has any problems but I have all the accessory components with this system. I'll be posting a video series of my own restoration efforts once I tackle it. Thanks for sharing some useful knowledge in your video as I didn't know the location of the specific chip that reads the keyboard inputs.
Great video! Thanks for sharing it.
Retrobrite is very satisfying to actually see take effect while discoloration just goes away and the comparison just makes this so much more satisfying than it initially sounds
I used to love playing Raid over Moscow on my C64 back in the day. You've brought back some good memories. Please keep up the good work.
One of my faves, alongside Fort Apocalypse!
I also loved seeing the old baseball-bat Wico joystick!
I get excited and nostalgic when I see an upload from your channel thanks!
I absolutely love watching the restorations. ❤
I love how much passion you have for this!
The speed he cleans at... reminds me of the SIx Million Dollar Man :-)
Imagine had her inserted the sound effects.
At around 5:00 when the side with the power and the joystick connectors is shown, I realized that this one has a square hole around the power connector. A first sign for a nowadays very, very rare early production mainboard. And around 9:00, when you open up the machine it was confirmed that it was indeed a very early mainboard. What a great find! Great restoration! Thank you for explaining the details here.
I think this guy might genuinely be one of my favorite RUclipsrs. No drama, no scandals, just retro tech restorations
I love getting super high and watching these they’re so good
David is the first & only person I've ever heard say "a used home", awesome.... Lol....
My brain heard that phrase, didn't like it, and discarded it! It wasn't until your comment that I was reminded of the phrase, and I could look back and see my mind self-editing!
Right?!
I didn't catch that at all, somehow I thought he'd said "an old house"
First off, excellent job here. You are a master of retro-bright and restoration of retro hardware.
I always love the music during cleaning, very calming and satisfying 4:26
Would love to know more on the next steps to make a non-bobble head 3d printed keyboard plunger.
Peace!
Watching these always brings back so many memories of banging away on one of these as a little kid, laboriously typing in basic programs from books and magazines. Or playing my umpteenth game of MULE or Lemonade stand. Trying to figure out what I wasn't finding in Legacy of the Ancients, which like any good old rpg was quite complex given the disc space availible.
The attention to detail, all the time you put into these repairs... it was exhausting to even watch you do it. 😅
Glad my own C64 is still looking pristine and running nicely after all these years. 🍀