RetroBright Formula Trial

[massagemiracle]

After hearing from everyone that the color of that Decade 80 was wrong, I pulled it from the sale , got up this morning mixed the Peroxide, oxyclean together, dipped in paper towels and wrapped the cover of the vacuum with the towels. But I took it one step further and wrapped it in plastic wrap so the solution wouldn't dry out fast and maybe amplify the sun's rays. Well you judge.


 


 


 


                 Before picture.....

 

[massagemiracle]

The after picture, I will do it again next sunny day to finish the process.

 

[henry200]

That's amazing!

 

[james]

Amazing stuff isn't it!
Looks great, and I'm glad others do know about this stuff! Good idea wrapping it with kling film to stop it drying!
I posted a thread about it a few weeks ago, and my experiences of it, but had no replies.
Keep up the good work, I can't retrObright for a while, as there is poor sunlight this time of year in the UK

 

[kirbymodel2c]

Hi

Hi James,
You could buy a UV lamp)
I've been wanting to do this for month but have been to busy sorting other stuff out.
But it's still on my "todo" list.
When you pop up sometime we ort to give it ago.

James)

 

[james]

Hi James,
It had been on my to-do list for years!
I did originally use a UV lamp, just a bayonent, incadessant bulb 75W style one,
left it overnight, getting up at 3am to re-apply the paste, and it didn't make any difference!
The lamp wasn't emitting enough UV
Tried it in the sunlight and worked within the hour
I must come and visit at some point, its been to long.

I did the electrolux 615, you gave me, made a massive difference

 

[massagemiracle]

I had tested it on Eureka white tools that had yellowed, and it did a fantastic job! But I had full sunlight that day and its a major


 


factor in the process to have UV Light. I might buy one myself since I have determined that it works well!

 

[james]

Couldn't agreee more! I had to keep moving my parts around the garden to get the most intence sunlight as the day went on.
I left my tester all night under the UV lamp with no results,
then did my vacuum the next day in sunlight with instant results!
I would like to invest in a better UV lamp, for all year [and night!] retrObrighting,
But am unsure what lamp to buy and try out, don't want to waste my money on something that won't workout again.
At least the sunlight is free, if a little rare over here!

 

[kirbymodel2c]

Hi

Hi James, Where did you buy your peroxide and the gelatin product from??

James)

 

[twocvbloke]

The bog standard UVBL bulbs aren't going to put out the right UV light, you need something like what they use in the PCB etching process or UV sterilising-filtration which puts out a crap tonne of UV light to cure PCB stuff or kill bacteria, of course it's a pretty strong light and can blind you, so do be careful when messing about with UV lights, especially pure-UV bulbs which have no diffusing compound within the tube/bulb...

You could try an old sunbed though, after all, people can get sunburn on one of those things, so could work for Retrobrighting...

 

[hoovercelebrity]

I wonder why it yellowed so much..? The only reasons I have heard of which could cause plastics to yellow are: if they're from a smoker's house -- nicotine and tar and all of that yummy stuff; or being subjected to lots of direct fluorescent light.

Cool that your process is working. Where did you hear about it?

Fred

 

[massagemiracle]

There was a posting to a link to RETROBRITE which told of the process of how to create the mixture. The yellowing is bromide coming out of the plastic, its a fire retardent that works its way out and turns yellow. The Peroxide and Oxyclean mixed together, then dipping paper towels into it and wrapping up what ever it is that is yellow. Put it into the sun and the UV rays activate the chemical and it takes 2 or more hours to work on eliminating the yellow.


The reason mine didn't work so well is that I didn't have enough sunlight that day. But tomorrow is to be nice but cold and I am putinng it out again.

 

[aeoliandave]

Good luck to all Justice League of Boy Inventors and Experim

"The ABS styrene used for these old machines (computer cases) was rendered flame-retardant with chemical treatments. These chemicals are the ones which cause this unsightly yellowing and until now the only fix was an equally ugly coat of paint."

This is worth investigating more. I'm impressed with the results being reported and pictured.

I know I have a favorite vacuum that has half a lid yellowed exactly this way. I just tucked it away saying 'oh well, it's the nicotine atmosphere'.
It's the Eureka 442 'hatbox' of palest blue with the tucked-around hose. Evenly coloured yellowish blue on the exterior, the yellowing shows clearly with the tool rack removed. The discolouration is only on the exposed exterior surfaces of the plastic case - it is clean blue inside and where the hose wraps around. I'll be doing a test patch on it.

I like the idea of a prepared paste or gel that can be painted on:



I think Ben's use of sandwich wrapping is a real innovation.

I've searched for that Forum thread and can't find it. So I googled.

http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&sugexp=....,cf.osb&fp=4d1f2a8a77d1bd1d&biw=1920&bih=952

Bingo, the RetrOBrite site:


http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/

 

[massagemiracle]

Today is a cold day, but an incredibly sunny day! So I have taken the decade 80 hood, covered it in the solution, paper towels, plastic wrap. I had an extra big mirror and took it out to the patio, placed it on the ground, put the hood on it, and placed a glass window insert over the hood to amplify the suns rays, and the mirror will help in reaching the sides that are usually darker than the top. Its 10:22 am here and I will leave it out for a minimum of 2 hours but will probably leave it out for 4 rewetting it with solution if needed.


 


We shall see how it does today in ending the yellow!!!!

 

[massagemiracle]

I hope that today will be the end of all the yellow on that hood. But I do have to say that the solution is one hell of a cleaner.


 


Picture is of a buckle that I found on Ebay, just showing it to everyone!

 

[normvac]

Awesome INformation

Thanks Ben
For sharing the info, as well as the neat buckel. By the looks of the vacuums
that would have been back in the era of when I was out in the territory.
In the late 70's early 80's. Eureka was pushing the wide track upright. Plus
the Canned Ham w/ power nozzle. Price on it was fairly hi, running about 259 or
289. Which was high for a power team. They were trying to bite into Lux, Rainbow
compact, filter Queen quality and power with a high end Retail Power Team. Hoover at the time was still not so much into a high end Power Nozzle cleaner. Until later when they introduced the nice Celebrity Quiet Series, with the great new power nozzle and headlight, on board tools. To compete with the Canned Ham Eureka.
Norm

 

[james]

In responce to James, I used Xantham Gum [ebay], and Glycerine [ebay/ or a chemist] for thickening, and the peroxide came from a hair and beuty wholesalers.
It was in a 5 litre bottle.

I used "merlin's original recipe", which can be found in the following link, just click on "making retrObright" on the left hand side

http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/

 

[vacuumfreak]

I really like that belt buckle!!

Daniel

 

[massagemiracle]

This is after today's treatment, still some yellow because of the clouds that appeared after one hour!!