| Posted By
Chicken
on 2009-09-19
09:51:37
 |  Cleaning... before - after
It's amazing what Photoshop can do 
Before:
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m299/c116/1541IIPSU/1541IIPSUbefore.jpg
After:
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m299/c116/1541IIPSU/1541IIPSUafter.jpg
It's the very same PSU. First pic was taken with flash (because it was still dark outisde). Second without (that's why it looks a bit darker). No photoshopping other than cropping and scaling.
Why am I posting this? Because I'm curious if you clean stuff that you buy at Ebay. Or if you don't mind a little hacker gunk?
80% of the retro gear I bought (which was said to be in good condition - I'm not trusting photos anyway) was so dirty that I didn't want to have it in my place until I cleaned it. I know, Germans have a reputation for being neat freaks Then why the sellers are not like that 
Especially cables look almost like new after some intense cleaning (you can tell from the pic, I think).
A real problem is yellowing... I tried bleaching yellowish keys. No success at all. I heard about "Purple Stuff" (?) some cockpit cleaner but it's not available here. Has anyone tried that?
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2009-09-19
11:58:24
| Re: Cleaning... before - after
Nice job! I haven't sold anything on eBay, so I can't comment on that. But the yellowing is a problem for me too, both for my disk drive and my Plussy's keys. Never heard of Purple Stuff (except in Sunny Delight commercials... but that's another story.) If anyone has successfully used something to remove the yellowing, I'd also be interested in hearing the details.
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Posted By
MMS
on 2009-09-19
12:50:49
 | Re: Cleaning... before - after
Yeah once I bought within Hungary a pair of Macintosh LC475 sets, and they were dirty by alcohol pens, but the guy warned me in advance, and I wanted to paint them...
I have only one really bad experience, at it was German ebay.
I bought a Kodak digicam half year ago (the same type I lost that last summer), and the German guy told in the ebay, that it is in perfect condition (he had a lot of positive feedbacks). So I bougth it.
I do not want to spend too much word on the case, that he chose a box 5x bigger than necessary (and certainly DHL requested to bay by cubicmeter). Just how customer oriented he was... German post is VERY expensive. I think I can get the same stuff almost for the same price from USA, and I am not kidding.
The digicam was in a SO bas condition, full of scratches, some screws were loose, the titles on the optics almost rub down. I have to mention, this camera has a FULL metal housing, just to understand how hard it could be to make it happen. I was really pissed off.
Surely I gave a lower than positive ranking, and the guy did not understand...
OK, it was still cheaper, than in Hungary, but I think that time is passed, when every crap was OK, just because it was called as Digicam. Anyhow, nowadays I always aska real photo about the stuff, and I always to the same.
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2009-09-19
13:51:10
 | Re: Cleaning... before - after
its an interesting topic for me too.. i tried a lot of things to remove "yellowing" but with no success (i have a very old c64 and a big 1541-1 too and both of them totally yellow.) if i use a sponge with a scratch surface it removes the dirt so it scratches the plastic too make it ugly, but silicone spray helped me to bring back the shine. the other stuff was mr. proper bath spray it also removes the dust and adds a cool smell but do nothing with the yellowing.. we need to investigate it and maybe some expert help us!  (..TLC, you know everything about around computers please, please.. )
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2009-09-19
13:53:37
| Re: Cleaning... before - after
as i find in another forum topic: "you can't undue yellowing. It's a chemical process where the plastic has turned a different color because of reactions within the plastic. Generally it could be thought of cooked meat (yellowed plastic) turned back into uncooked meat (original white plastic). Good luck making that work. "
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Posted By
RobertB
on 2009-09-20
02:22:34
| Re: Cleaning... before - after
Yes, the Retr0Brite solution is supposed to work wonders on yellowed equipment.
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org
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Posted By
RobertB
on 2009-09-20
02:24:28
| Re: Cleaning... before - after
Oops, Retr0Bright.
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org
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Posted By
TLC
on 2009-09-20
03:16:26
| Re: Cleaning... before - after
Chronos:  Well, I've never succeeded doing it either . Someone suggested giving Vanish a try (another pretty agressive material); yet the problem is a chemical change, not some dust.
I'm not that sure that it's impossible, though... Well, it's a chemical change, and I'm not sure that it could be "removed" (unless you, say, shaved the keys or something like that  ), but it's also not exactly like un-cooking meat. You don't really want the original material back; any other would do, as long as it's white (...let alone the fact that "un-doing" some chemical change is generally not at all that impossible like it is with meat). If you check how bleach mixtures work (in general), you'd see they won't remove contamination, they'd just oxidate it. Similarly, if some particular material could initiate a chemical reaction that brightens this yellow surface, then it's solved (...as long as it causes no otherwise serious side-effects...). So it might be possible to do -- I just haven't seen one... (if some of you did, I'm certainly interested, too ).
BTW, the yellowing seems to be initiated by light and/or chemicals. On some of my computers received from here and there, I can clearly notice the shape of yellowing which looks very much like the shadow of light (...the computer might have been located near a window ). Some others were evenly yellow-ish... these were also invariably stinky (...cigarette smoke :-/ ). Even the keyboard of my old C-16 looks yellow-ish around the top of the keys... some effect of dust and fat I'd guess...
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Posted By
Chicken
on 2009-09-20
03:30:19
| Re: Cleaning... before - after
TLC,
have a look at the link I posted above. It's interesting and it seems to be working. Honestly, I was quite skeptical at first but there are quite a few positive feedbacks out there.
http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com
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Posted By
TLC
on 2009-09-20
03:44:53
| Re: Cleaning... before - after
Yeah, I was just reading pages found by Google(retr0bright)... It's impressive indeed... I've never thought it's actually caused by the dissolution of some additive, not the plastic material itself... Will have to give it a try myself someday...
Chronos, if you don't mind getting your hand dirty (dabbling in hydrogen-peroxide ), this one might worth a read, I guess...
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2009-09-20
12:55:14
| Re: Cleaning... before - after
i got some hydrogen peroxide!! my mother gave me today (she used as hair blonder) tomorrow i trying to get an uv lamp and do some experiments!!
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Posted By
MMS
on 2009-09-21
12:07:50
| Re: Cleaning... before - after
I think it should be clearly the sunlight. And the linked homepage seems very conviencing.
A1200 users , who used keyboard protector, typically has much less yellowing, than people did not have any. Also, ppl always used box, has less yellowing.
Under a keyboard protector you still have almost same climate as out.
The bromide is used in all the plastics used for set housing till today, as this material prevents plastic to burn. Valid for PCs, TV sets, Hifi, etc. Greenpeace is actually pushing companies to remove it, as (told) to be not good for the environment and for the health.
Some companies are working on the issue, but I am not aware of any company completely free of that. Some will be soon free, as it will be a key selling factor.
Nowadays much smaller effect could be seen, as all sets are black or (painted) silver, you will not notice this effect so much. But the material is there.
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