Retrobright keyboard disaster and fix

[Imperious]

I really wish I had done more research before trying this on my PET Style keyboard and computer case. The case turned out fine, no
streaking whatsoever, and at some point I may give it another shot to whiten it a bit more. For now though it's a major improvement,
not that my VIC was terrible or anything.
The keyboard though did not fare well as can be seen on the four keys at in the bottom pic. Most of that nice dark brown colour
washed out and turned grey
I set about trying to find a way to get the colour back and tried numerous products on the keys. I tried car polish, cutting compound,
spray and wipe, methylated spirits, various oils, iso prop, even Suntan Lotion. It was the Suntan lotion that wiped off the GRN keys from the
front of the 6 key.
In amongst this disaster though I found I could get the colour back with Creme Cleanser (used for cleaning bathroom and kitchen benchtops).
The writing on the top of the keys appears to be extremely resilient in that all are ok. The printing on the front is hard to keep when polishing the
colour back. The good news there is I have a solution, not perfect but more than acceptable. What I used is a Brother P-Touch Labeler and
White on clear tape. I have used snipping tool to copy the characters from a petscii pdf, then imported them into p-touch editor.
The M. N, 6 keys have stick on labels on the front.
I still have a fair way to go with this.

[Imperious]

I finally finished this laborious task. I would suggest these retrobrighting instructions for instances where the tops of the keys are
yellowed. Use 12% (40 vol) Salon Creme Peroxide on the tops only. Cover with cling wrap and leave in the sun for no more than
90 minutes at a time, then thoroughly wash off. If still yellowed then repeat the next day or when possible. I did this with the < key and
it has worked perfectly with no damage done.
The case is still slightly yellowed, more so than the photos indicate, but a major improvement than at the start. I think I'll just leave
it as it is for now.
Hopefully this information will help anyone who wants to de-yellow the writing on the tops of the keys. This also applies to c64 keyboards.

[Bobbi]

Nice job!

[skerit]

In amongst this disaster though I found I could get the colour back with Creme Cleanser (used for cleaning bathroom and kitchen benchtops).

Good to hear this issue can be resolved, because I messed up 1 key this way.

Could you be more specific as to what "Creme Cleanser" is? A brand, a picture, a... chemical ingredients list?
And maybe how you applied it (scrubbing it, soaking it for a few hours, ...) I've tried several things, but nothing seems to help.

(I only noticed that submerging the key into some 75°C liquid will turn it back into the correct colour, but once it cools down it's white-ish again.)

[Imperious]

I just saw your post by chance, so a bit lucky there. I noticed the same thing, if You put them in water they look great until they dry out again.
Here's a photo of what I used, it could also be called scouring creme elsewhere.
I just put some of this onto a clean rag and polished the colour back in. It is a fair amount of work, but 1 key only won't take long.

[Floopy]

I don't even do Retro-Brighting anymore. Because every time I try I get horrendous results . It also weakens the plastic, I'm hoping that time and heat will change it back.

[Floopy]

Also the case will yellow back with time and heat.

[joshuadenmark]

Just paint it white

[Imperious]

The only way to retrobright and stop the horrendous results like streaking, etc, is to put the plastic fully immersed in a water/hydrogen peroxide mixture, so that none of it can dry out whilst the process is underway.
Retrobrighting non white plastic is asking for trouble though, so limiting the exposure time to 2 or 3 hours at a time then see what it looks like.
"The 8 bit Guy" has done some testing as far as this goes, successfully too.

I too found it softens the plastic, but it is ok again after a day or so.

[cbmeeks]

The only way to retrobright and stop the horrendous results like streaking, etc, is to put the plastic fully immersed in a water/hydrogen peroxide mixture, so that none of it can dry out whilst the process is underway.
Retrobrighting non white plastic is asking for trouble though, so limiting the exposure time to 2 or 3 hours at a time then see what it looks like.
"The 8 bit Guy" has done some testing as far as this goes, successfully too.

I subscribe to this logic 100%. I have nearly 80 computers in my collection and retrobrighting is a part of many of them. I don't like the method the 8-bit guy does. He really messed up that Osborne-1. However, I must admit, I probably would have done the same thing.

I never retrobright brown plastics that was meant to be brown. Like C64 keys. I just don't see the point. I don't care that it's 2% off the original brown or whatever.

When I retrobright, I go for plastics that were meant to be near-white or beige. Like Amiga, Mac, IIc, etc.

I have an Apple IIe that is very yellowed. The entire case (and those are big cases). However, the yellowing is SO uniform that it actually looks good! I know it isn't the original color because it's way too far from beige/tan. So I'm not going to retrobright that one at all.

I just recently bought a Macintosh 512K that is severely yellowed and "browned". The external floppy looks like someone took a brown spray can and painted the top. So I will retrobright that. But I'm going for the 100% submersion method.

I have a clean plastic container that will just barely hold the Mac case. I'm going to fill it with water and the strong hair H202. The clear liquid kind...not the cream.

I'm going to do that as soon as I get some sun.

I think the 8-bit Guy gets away with the cream method because he's in Texas and probably gets so much sun and UV that an hour out there would be like 2-3 hours where other people live. However, I live in SE Tennessee so we get lots of sun and UV too.

Finally, I think people overlook good old-fashioned painting. Painting keys would not be recommended (unless you are VERY good and artistic) but painting cases can really bring those vintage computers back to life (cosmetically). However, painting can be a disaster if you don't know how to do it. I've painted a few things and I'm not happy with any of them. But they "LOOK" almost perfect. I was even able to match the paint almost perfectly. But I'm going to sand them back down and try again. Of course, you don't want to paint textured plastic if you don't have to.

[jdryyz]

Glad I found this.

I was doing a breadbin keyboard brightening today and believe I got a little over zealous with the bleaching cream.

I too ended up with some discoloration on the brown parts. The sad part is I was already aware of this possibility beforehand and have already done this type of whitening successfully twice prior. I just applied too much and/or my exposure time was too long this time around.

So this cleanser that you posted looks like a lot like a product in the US under the name "Comet" shown here:

https://www.cometcleaner.com/household- ... nser-cream

But I'm a little worried about the inclusion of bleach in this one. Yours does not mention that.

I know this post is three years old but in you case you happen to catch it, can you post a photo of the back of your Creme Cleanser bottle? I want to be sure the ingredients are a close enough match.

[jdryyz]

Found something that seems to be a good match: "Soft Scrub" (lemon).

It does take some repetitious scrubbing but it does work.

Word of warning: if you're working with the more common breadbin keys, this scrubbing will remove the subtle texture from the keys. You may not like the increased shiny appearance. For me, I would take that over the foggy grey discoloration any day.

Before

After

[Imperious]

Glad this has helped some people.

I have an even better method now for retrobrighting. I successfully retrobrighted an Apple 2e by using lightbrighting only.
Clean everything first, then place out in the Sun, on a day no hotter than 28 degrees C.
This can take quite a few days, so no good if You don't have the time.

I would suggest lightbrighting for keys, maybe normal retrobrighting for the case as it seems to get an even result
without streaks as long as it's properly applied and moved around and not left out too long.
I now have a CR Vic20 and put the keyboard in the Sun and that de-yellowed the key tops.