retrOBrighting some sun yellowed Electrolux 600's

[james]

I decided this was the best forum to post this in, as the vacs are over 20 years of age.
Some time last year, in a thread about an Electrolux 612, I posted a picture of my 600's. I receieved a few comments asking about the colour of the 615, as it was very badly sun yellowed.
This led me to want to restore the machine back to its original cream colour.
I had not long before discovered, via a Commodore Amiga forum, that there was indeed a way to remove the sun yellowing from white plastics.

Its taken me a while to actually get around to doing this experiment, but I made some "retrOBright" following a recipe last month or so.
Simply made from hydrogen peroxide [12%ish], some thickening agent [xanthan gum], a little glycerine, and then some "oxi" washing powder just before applying the paste [this acts as a catalyst].
The past is spread over the affected area, and the piece placed under UV light for a few hours. I, ironicly, used sunlight, which caused the yellowing in the first place! It needs to be intense sunlight, daylight and shadey areas will not do.
Within an hour I could tell the difference!
Constant supervision and re-application is needed so not to let it dry out.
It is then thoroughly washed off with water at the end/ after a few hours.
Therefoes its best if the machine be completely stripped and all electronics and electrics removed.

I took my 615 to bits, [naughtily left the motor in, and just carefully washed the paste off after] and had a go, below are some pics of before and after
If anyone would like to know more please ask, I'm sure there are many yellowed vacs and other white/ whitish plastic appliances out there that the owners thought could never be restored!

Please be warned though, DO NOT get this on your skin! it will turn as white as a piece of paper! It does however soon scrub off! Also starts to irritate skin...
It can also have bad effects on the text on the vacuum, or keyboard buttons etcc where it starts to blur. It can also cause patching effects on the plastic if it is over exposed or left to dry out.
I constantly checked my machine every 10 mins or so and STILL had a few little bits of text blur, and a few pactchy bits you cant really notice.
I believe this may work on other coloured plastics, but it can leave bleaching marks.
I don't believe it will work on plastics that have lost there colour, ie a CREAM henry bucket that has been bleached WHITE by the sun. Only items that have YELLOWED it will work on

 

[james]

615 before

 

[james]

615 back, you can see the actual colour it should be!

 

[james]

!

 

[james]

In bits, see that tan line...

 

[james]

after the first few hours! An amazing difference

 

[james]

was so pleased I then started on this 614 the next day to

 

[james]

the 615 hood after 2 days [8 hours], and the 614 after 1 day [4hours]
In the UK at the time 4 hours outside had about 2 hours of intence sunlight

 

[james]

The 614 once done [think it had 2 days]
I only did the hood, filter grill and very lower part of the main body.
bag door and handle were fine

 

[james]

615, after about 3 days.
Its still not perfect, but I couldn't really notice it getting any less yellowed.
The bag door was done after a few hours pretty much, but the handle is still not the right shade!
With more treatment I'm sure it would be 100% the original colour again.
Please note, this pic has bad lighting making it look different shades of colour!

 

[james]

All the 600's, sorry it was getting late and there wasn't great light
I've another, better condition 612 since this picture, need another 610 as mine is not great

 

[james]

Andddd finally the last picture [I missed a few out too!]
Slightly brighter here

 

[Jakesvacs]

James you have done a fantastic job restoring the Electrolux's!
The 615 really came up nice, Perhaps you could do a few vacuums for me ;P

 

[james]

Thank you very much Jake
If we ever get some sunlight bring the vacs around and we can do a bit of retrobrighting!

 

[kirbymodel2c]

Great work Mr James...

Great work mr James. When you come up here you can help me do one or two of mine...)

James)

 

[dysondestijl]

I have a 612. It's in bad condition tho and buried under loads of hoses!

 

[alexhoovers94]

Oh I would absolutely love...

To get my hands on an Electrolux 612 they look awsome

Oh by the way since we are talking about electrolux - check out this Airstream advert.

 

[dysondestijl]

James please come and give my Electrolux 185 that treatment!!! Lol!
George

 

[james]

Thanks James, yes I need to give you a hand with a few machines, we need a strong UV light.
That 185 doesn't look to bad George

 

[ultimatevacman]

Wow, they look really nice James, great job! I might give this a go on my friend's 614 that's badly yellowed.

- Joe

 

[dysondestijl]

Well James, if I put it next to my white 156 then it looks really yellow!

 

[tolivac]

You can get strong,powerful UV lights from Raytech and UVP products-these are marketed to Gemologists and lapidary-they are more intense than what comes from the sun.Mainly-the artifical UV light is closer to the item than the sun.Another powerful source of artificial UV light is a suntan light or tanning machine.To sum up the most powerful manmade shortwave UV lights are from quartz glass flourescent bulbs without the phospors and short arc quartz lamps-but be careful with these-don't expose skin to them and do not expose your eyes to them.They can blind you or damage your corneas-sunlight can do that,too.LEDS just cannot generate strong SW UV energy.They are LW only.

 

[james]

Thank you Joe, it's well worth a try!

In that case George it best be retrobrighted

Thanks for the information tolivac, very useful!
Hope something cheapish comes up, I don't want to spend to much on a UV light source. A sunbed was my initial idea for the source of something a bit more powerful

The yellowing does eventually start to come back, the 615 is yellowing up again, and I keep it locked away in a dark loft, although its not as bad as it once was. The 614 hood has also turned yellow again.
However if you laquer the plastic after retrobrighting then apparently it will be fine.
I have noticed that some bits such as the bag door, which took about 30mins to de-yellow, is taking longer to re-yellow.

 

[tolivac]

Another low cost UV light is a germicidal lamp-its a quartz T8 36" or 48" flourscent bulb without the phospors to give white light.You can use them in a fixture that uses the 3 ft or 4 ft T8 bulb.You will have to take the lens or diffuser off the fixture-otherwise that will block the UV rays-again be very careful with these UV sources-they are powerful enough to burn your skin or eyes even being in the same room with it.So if you use it to "expose" something to the radiation-don't stay in the same room.Wear glasses over your eyes to protect them.And the area should be ventilated-shortwave UV lamps generate ozone-toxic form of oxygen.Germicidial lamps are used in sterile cleanrooms,goggle and mask cabinets(the door on the cabinet is connected to a switch that turns the UV lamp off when the door is open)Thought of another UV source---an EPROM erasor light.These are available from electronic parts suppliers.They are handheld or a small cabinet that has the UV light and a timer and door switch-you put the EPROM IC's in it and their programming is erased by the UV light so they can be reprogrammed with a new program.Sometimes these show up at surplus sales.The good thing about EPROM erasors is you can put the item to be radiated in it-if its small enough-and the case prevents stray radiation.