CPC464 key restoration

[balford]

Hello folks,

First post here - woohoo!

It's been 25 years since I lay hands on a CPC, so the other day I redressed that with the purchase of a nice condition CPC 464

One minor issue that affects it is that the coloured keys are somewhat discoloured, especially the Enter keys:


Is there anything I can do to reverse this? I assume that it may be a similar issue to the (cough)Commodore case yellowing, and if so, would Retrobriting be a safe avenue?

Cheers,
B

[chinnyhill10]

Yep, UV damage.


Anyone tried retrobriting them? I know Future Was 8 But tried it with some black BBC Micro keys and damaged them. Wonder how it works on the Blue, green and red keys on the 464?

[||C|-|E||]

Sounds dangerous, Retr0bright is quite an aggressive product. It could easily affect the paint (although I am not saying that it will necessary cause a problem). You could try applying it in the internal part of the key to check what happens... (but, it you try this, protect the non treated areas very well, you really don't want the UV irradiating the whole key).

[balford]

Hmm, I'm quite a noob when it comes to retrobrite, I've just conducted a couple of tests with the off-the-shelf BBlonde stuff so far.


Sounds like I'd need to try and obtain a scrap cap for some sacrificial testing.


B

[chinnyhill10]

Sounds dangerous, Retr0bright is quite an aggressive product. It could easily affect the paint

It's not paint. It's a different colour of plastic.

[chinnyhill10]

Hmm, I'm quite a noob when it comes to retrobrite, I've just conducted a couple of tests with the off-the-shelf BBlonde stuff so far.


Sounds like I'd need to try and obtain a scrap cap for some sacrificial testing.


B

What I found when I did the ST the other week was adding a little bit of extra water to the BeBlonde helps it stop drying out (which is the killer).


Can't test on my 464 as the key caps are minty. Looks like its never been near daylight.

[Dizrythmia]

I wonder, these days people are remoulding cases of classic computers & consoles. Has anyone thought about recreating keys? I know I'd buy a 6128 & 6128+ set if they were available!

[dodogildo]

I wonder, these days people are remoulding cases of classic computers & consoles. Has anyone thought about recreating keys? I know I'd buy a 6128 & 6128+ set if they were available!

I'd buy one for 464 and 6128 each, if anyone figure out how to produce new sets. But I'm not optimistic about this happening in near future [emoji53]

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

[Bryce]

Unfortunately Retrobrite won't fix this. My 464 suffers from the same discolouration, so I tested Retrobrite on an old piece of coloured plastic (not from the 464) and you end up with a weird washed-out pail colour that is worse than the plastic was before. I don't think anyone has come up with a solution to fix this yet.

Bryce.

Sun damage... in Ireland! Still makes me laugh every time!

[AMSDOS]

That's rather interesting how far down the key the UV damage has occurred.

[balford]

Sun damage... in Ireland! Still makes me laugh every time!

The machine came from the UK, but your point is equally valid

B

[Bryce]

The damage to my 464 occurred in Dublin.

Maybe the summers really were better back when we were kids?

Bryce.

[||C|-|E||]

It's not paint. It's a different colour of plastic.

It still has a die, that is what I was calling "paint" although you are right, strictly talking it is not painted but moulded like that  On the other hand, I found that in many many cases, the UV light emitted by normal fluorescent tubes is more that enough to cause the yellowing. Temperature has a role as well 

[Bryce]

To get all pedantic about it... It's actually not dis-colouring as in UV bleaching, it's called "Bromine migration" where the Fire retardant in the plastic "floats" to the top. This is accellerated by UV light and heat. The plastic is just as blue as it always was, it's just that the concentration of bromine has increased.

Bryce.

[balford]

Having just built myself a indoor Retr0bright 'tanning booth', if the tall key caps are obtainable at all I think I'll give this a go anyway (i.e. would anyone have a spare tall Enter key should I screw this up  )

B

[balford]

Just came across this post which suggests that it's doable. I'll proceed on that basis

B

[||C|-|E||]

Repairing keys is definitely "possible" but only in some machines whose dies are compatible. I seems that the CPC464 is one of them . In the past I managed to repair the keys of some calculators with the same method and they look brilliant, but not all the machines behave the same. Good to know that the Amstrad is well behaved  .

[Bryce]

Yes, he got great results. However, I also used BBlonde and didn't get the great results that he got I must have done something wrong (not the first time)! Would be interesting to see how it turns out for you though.

Bryce.

[1024MAK]

Hello folks,

First post here - woohoo!

It's been 25 years since I lay hands on a CPC, so the other day I redressed that with the purchase of a nice condition CPC 464

Hello, now where have I seen you before 


Welcome to the world of CPC 


Mark

[balford]

Hello, now where have I seen you before 

Tee hee hee

I didn't have much success restoring the keys under UVB light as it turns out, so I'm going to wait until spring to give them a good run under proper sunlight.

B