Another Retr0Bright Success Story (PCE no longer yellow)

[Necromancer]

Dang, those turned out nice.  Well done, blue. 

..... and soda-pop residue (what else could it be?).....

The previous owner spent lots of time 'playing' Strip Fighter II, Lady Sword, and Steam Hearts, so you probably don't want to know.

[henrycsc]

wow blue!  incredible restoration!

[henrycsc]

Ok guys... this is phase one of my experiment... nasty hucard sleeves.  I wanted to do a trial run first to make sure they didn't get damaged by the process.  I couldn't find the 6% or 12% hydrogen peroxide locally, so I just used 3% and the generic oxy (but I wanted a soupy bath), so I skipped the glycerine and xanthan....

Got a bunch of sleeves from Japan (will post pics of the pile when I do them) but here's the test...

Before treatment (photo doesn't do it justice... sleeves were sticky, grimy)




I placed the peroxide/oxy mixture in an old jar and stirred it until the oxy was dissolved, then placed the sleeves in.  The sleeves are so light that they kept floating due to the bubbles that form, so it would help to find something to weigh them down with.  I have some ideas and will post what I find.  Here's the soak bath... I ended up moving them outside later in the morning.



After about 8 hours in the sun and a simple rinse with the garden hose... here's the result... I put them next to untreated sleeves to give you an idea of the change...



Not nearly as impressive as everyone else's work, but really the hardest thing I did was drive to 4 drugstores and not find the higher strength peroxide.  This was with 3%!

I will post another update once I've done a 2nd soak and completed the whole batch.

[blueraven]

Dang, those turned out nice.  Well done, blue. 

..... and soda-pop residue (what else could it be?).....

The previous owner spent lots of time 'playing' Strip Fighter II, Lady Sword, and Steam Hearts, so you probably don't want to know.

  You're right Necro. Thanks for the encouragement guys.

Not nearly as impressive as everyone else's work, but really the hardest thing I did was drive to 4 drugstores and not find the higher strength peroxide.  This was with 3%!

I will post another update once I've done a 2nd soak and completed the whole batch.

I wouldn't say that, it was a kick@$$ Job henry! The results worked very well and now we know that teh huey sleeves can be restored with the same process. Thanks for your contribution!

[Arkhan]

nice results.  HOw did you enjoy working with that paste?

[henrycsc]

OK, here's my update on the hucard sleeves and jewel cases.  What a chore... 500+ sleeves and about 20 jewel cases.

Lesson #1 - If you do a lot, you will need a lot of ingredients.  I used over 2 gallons of peroxide.  I did find some stuff in a hair supply place... Sally's I think it was called.  But for the 2nd soak I just used ordinary 3% peroxide from the drug store - 5 big bottles = $5 and a few tablespoons full of generic Oxy Clean.

Lesson #2 - Use a glass container.  I think plastic takes part of the cleaning process - these photos were of my first round soak, many needed a 2nd bath.  I used an old fishtank to soak the 2nd bath.. much better job.

Lesson #3 - Hucard sleeves and jewel case inserts float when they have a bunch of bubbles on them.  You need to use something to weigh them down so they stay fully submerged.  Day 1, I just placed one tray on top of the other - see photos.  Day 2, I used a piece of glass on top of the hucards.

Lesson #4 - Rinsing wasn't too bad.  I placed the hucards in old potato sacks (mesh bags, whatever you have) then I just ran them in the washing machine on gentle with no detergent.

Lesson #5 - Doing a bunch at one time is a pain in the butt.  Biggest problem is drying them.  The sleeves want to stick together when they are wet (they stick closed too).  Not a big deal for 10 - 20, but with 500, hand drying takes a lot of time!  I didn't want them to get moldy because I didn't finish the job.

Here is the link to all the photos:
http://s1032.photobucket.com/albums/a409/henrycsc70/retr0bright

These were the nastiest (note that the retr0bright didn't take any of the marker off, only the grime)








Soak bath:




Rinsing 8 hours later:




Drying... 327 hours later.... 
Here is the nastiest batch again... these puppies are clean except for the silly writing on them...   Anybody care to translate the one for me?

... it probably says "You dumb American. You buy dirty hucard sleeve... Special RAER edition!"

Stacks and stacks of clean huey sleeves.


Now I can put them back on my games to keep them cozy! 

Here are the cleaned jewel case inserts:

[Necromancer]

Nicely done, Henry. 

[SignOfZeta]

Awesome!

So the next step is de-yellowing an actual HuCard, or has anyone done that yet?

For the record, if you use this process on something more large and expensive (a yellow Famicom or something) you will really want to get the thing as close to %100 conventionally clean (ie: with soap and scrubbing) before you Retr0Bright it. The RB process may clean that other stuff off by accident, but its only real function is to reverse the yellowing. If you RB something that still has normal filth all over it, the plastic under it won't have good exposure to UV so you might end up with the video game equivalent to writing "I love sausage" on a guy in suntan lotion when at the beach.

[SuperPlay]

Great idea of using this process on hucard sleeves henrycsc :-) I may give this a go as I also have a number of grubby sleeves.

[henrycsc]

So the next step is de-yellowing an actual HuCard, or has anyone done that yet?

I woud suggest only trying it on really cheap cards, and then only with the gel that's been carefully applied...  Not sure it's worth the risk on anything rare...

Great idea of using this process on hucard sleeves henrycsc :-) I may give this a go as I also have a number of grubby sleeves.

Good luck with it SuperPlay... If you have an old fishtank, that worked better than the plastic bins... you might even be able to find a cheap one at a flea market.

By the way... the tootbrush was one of those vibrating kind... I just placed it in the bath to agitate it a bit.... figured keeping the fluid moving would help it along....  I didn't do a control group to really compare if it worked or not.

[Necromancer]

Any spares you'd like to sell to a good home?  O:)

[henrycsc]

Necro, I got the extras to make up for the ones I was missing.  I think most of my trade games will now have clean sleeves too.  I will have to go through everything to see if I actually have any extras.

Any spares you'd like to sell to a good home?  O:)

[blueraven]

nice results.  HOw did you enjoy working with that paste?

Thanks, Ark. I really didn't mind, It helped stretch the peroxide out over the course of three sessions, and the added step of the Xanthan gum wasn't that much of a pain. It's just a thickening agent.

I can see where playing "bathroom chemist" as you put it could be a pain in the @$$, but once the mix is made, its actually kinda easy to work with, and in a foil-lined box you can really take advantage of a sunny day, the foil will help deflect the heat from the console as well. If you cut the batch in 1/4, you can stretch the peroxide to do, say, a controller and a tap. I don't mind working with the "foaming gel" or paste as you put it.   

[Frank_fjs]

Just finished a major (3-day) retr0bright session

Your photos look great! Did you use the original recipe as per the wiki or something different? Any tips?

[Duo_R]

I got brand new spares, any manuals you can trade me?

   

Any spares you'd like to sell to a good home?  O:)