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druuna333

Posted Sun May 28, 2023 7:44 am

Hello all,
I'm tempted to try to retrobright the case of my A500, I see full of promising videos on youtube but seems there're some risks also? What's your experience? Would you recommend it?
What's the recommended solution? 9%?
And then covered in a plastic bag in the sun for 4 hours?
Also I'm worried about the sun as I live in Ireland and the sun is not always very reliable :D
Or better to invest money in a new case?

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Sun May 28, 2023 7:56 am

Everyone's mileage seems to vary drastically on this topic. I think there are a few "golden truths", however.
  • The brightening color change is never permanent; it is temporary.
  • The process will make the plastic more brittle.
Some have decided to simply use bright hot sunlight and skip the bleaching chemicals entirely - I'm talking extreme sun, like in Arizona. Perhaps this is why you're considering bleaching since the sunlight and temps in Ireland are more subdued.

Even the use of plastic wrap can be tricky. Some people have great results, while others may produce marbling.

A friend of mine had severe marbling occur on his C128D keyboard shell. After that it was utterly ruined. So, you have to ask yourself if it is really worth it. If your computer parts look like English tea with milk that's one thing. If the yellowing is really minor that would actually make me second guess myself more, and probably just live with it.

Probably best to do a test run on something you're not attached to as you experiment with your environmental variables before going all-in on a precious piece. That's my advice anyway.

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McTrinsic

Posted Sun May 28, 2023 11:14 am

Check out some of the blog entries at retrohax.net

But, yes, YMMV.

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obitus1990
USA

Posted Sun May 28, 2023 9:02 pm

Using the liquid stuff, versus a gel, and totally submerging the case, while weighting it down from its underside will reduce the risk of marbling. You can also spray paint the case with Krylon fusion, after finding a shade which matches the original closely.

User avatar
Signman

Posted Wed May 31, 2023 5:48 am

Just tried retrobright for the first time with this method, worked well for my A500 case.

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A1-X1000
Toronto, Canada

Posted Wed May 31, 2023 11:40 am

In my experience I've had stuff that was good for 3-4 years then the yellowing slowly came back but I noticed that the things that were kept always in my basement kept the yellowing away until today so according to my experiments as long as you keep all sunlight away then there's a good chance the yellowing will stay away.

User avatar
druuna333

Posted Thu Jun 01, 2023 9:00 am

results are impressive here (see video), looks like it worked even on transparent plastics.

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Signman

Posted Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:47 am

Hey druuna, that’s eerily like the link I shared. ;)

User avatar
druuna333

Posted Mon Jun 12, 2023 3:42 am

Yes, thanks for sharing it Signman. Looks like an easy enough technique.





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