Experience with RetroBright?

[LambdaMikel]

Anyone tried it on CPC 464 old-style german (grey) keys?
Does it work? Is it worth the effort? Are there better solutions?

[rpalmer]

I have found a little "windex" or just simple water + baking soda with a little effort can get the keys quite clean and also by cleaning the keyboard the keys travel a lot easier.
I have retrobrighted my Amiga keys (the white ones only) and they do look better, but as for grey keys I suspect they will go "whiter" since the process is just "bleeching" which they would likely go a lighter shade of grey.

rpalmer

[LambdaMikel]

since the process is just "bleeching"

... I think it must be a little bit more than just bleeching.
I had my CPC 464 old-style "high" keys in a bucket of bleech
over night, and they were clean after that, but still ivory-like
decolorized.

[pelrun]

It's explicitly *not* bleaching, which is a reaction with chlorine, and which attacks many coloured compounds. Additionally, chlorine is a smaller atom than the bromine it replaces, which would result in brittle plastic. Do not ever use bleach for this!


Retrobrite uses hydrogen peroxide, a catalyst, and UV light to react specifically with the bromine compounds that produce the yellow colour. Done properly it won't modify the original plastic pigment, and there are plenty of pictures around of it being used on grey and coloured plastics successfully.

[LambdaMikel]

and there are plenty of pictures around of it being used on grey and coloured plastics successfully.

yes, saw lots of pictures. i know it works well on abs. however, my question was more specific - has anybody here actually done it on old-style high cpc 464 keys? (i am not sure it even is abs)


also - do i have to mix it myself, or does anybody know a source for purchasing it?

[HAL6128]

Retrobrite uses hydrogen peroxide, a catalyst, and UV light to react specifically with the bromine compounds that produce the yellow colour. Done properly it won't modify the original plastic pigment, and there are plenty of pictures around of it being used on grey and coloured plastics successfully.

Women uses hydrogen peroxide to "bleech" their hairs. Or you can also clean or destroy bacterias in air conditions of cars with it. Nice, isn't it?!

[Shining]

I used hydrogen peroxide and xanthan gum on the housing of my plus and put it into the summer sun for some hours. It worked. But I did not try the keys....

[Duke]

also - do i have to mix it myself, or does anybody know a source for purchasing it?

Try searching for "B Blonde" on ebay or the like, many use that instead with similar results.
"JEROME RUSSELL B BLONDE MAXIMUM LIFT CREAM PEROXIDE 40 VOL 12%"

Fwiw. I did try it on a CPC664 keyboard, the grey coloured keys turned out fine, however the blue keys, do look bleached and lost some of the blue intensity.
It probably should have had another run (ie. space has marks), but I was out of bblonde.

[Chinnery]

yes, saw lots of pictures. i know it works well on abs. however, my question was more specific - has anybody here actually done it on old-style high cpc 464 keys? (i am not sure it even is abs)


also - do i have to mix it myself, or does anybody know a source for purchasing it?

I did restore a set of particularly manky CPC6128 keys a few years back. I put them all in a plastic jar and filled it with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide 40v (from ebay), distilled water (I think 25% peroxide and 75% distilled water) and a spoon Vanish (laundry detergent). I put the lid on and left it in the sun, shaking every so often to make sure all keys got an even dose of sunlight. If anything it worked too well, leaving a very faint speckled effect, but I am sure this is because I left it far too long. It was, however, a vast improvement on what they were like originally.

[VincentGR]

Yellowing returns after 3 years from my experience and in a month if a device is getting hot.

[Chinnery]

Yellowing returns after 3 years from my experience and in a month if a device is getting hot.

Spraying with a clear lacquer which has UV-Protection is supposed to prevent this... or has that changed since I last brewed up a batch?

[LambdaMikel]

Try searching for "B Blonde" on ebay or the like, many use that instead with similar results.

Cool, will do that. I have a rather ugly 464 keyboard which is good for experimenting with that kind of stuff. I won't be sad if it gets damaged. Good thing with 464 keyboard is, only a couple of keys are grey / white anyway.

[pelrun]

Spraying with a clear lacquer which has UV-Protection is supposed to prevent this... or has that changed since I last brewed up a batch?

I don't recommend doing this. It's not that the UV is yellowing the plastic again; it's because retrobrite can only treat the surface, and the yellow bromine compounds may be diffused deep into the plastic. After a while they migrate back out to the surface, which is accelerated if the plastic is warm.


The solution is to retrobrite it again - which you can't do if you've varnished them.

[VincentGR]

Exactly!
Heat is the problem.
There was an A500+ in a cupboard for two years in total darkness... guess what.

[Bryce]

Putting lacquer on keys is a really bad idea anyway, you'd end up with keys jamming all over the place.

Bryce.