Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: Marc17 on September 10, 2003, 09:56:17 PM
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Hi
I was just wondering, with the damned defect with the crappy plastic Commodore decided to use for the Amigas, is there a way to cure the yellowing ? Or do people not bother.
Im most bothered about the yellowing to keys, as hte case can be spray painted but ts teh keys. I could spray tehm but then i would have no letters :-x unless i got some sort of magic letter-putter-back-oner ........
Bleach, alcohol agents ?? Or would some damage.
Im not completly bothered, but it would be nice to get it back to a nice colour :)
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Hmm. I have an old yellowed pc keyboard, might practive on that before touching my precious.
So, bring on your ideas and solutions !
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Funny, I got one of the first A1200's in North America, and I've never had any yellowing problems. In fact, even my A1000 and 1840 monitor are still in perfect condition. Do you keep your machine in the sunlight? I think it's a chemical change in the plastic and the only thing you can do is paint it.
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Well , the yellowing is caused by UV reacting with the polymers used in the plastic i think. There is only one answer. Paint it hackers style! I advise to leave the keyboard, live with it. I tried everything to clean up an old a500, its was radioactive yellow. You cant. It just makes it worse as you scrub at the plasic more gets exposed to the UV light and gets worse.
Kevin
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Well. Fook.
No i kept mine in pristine white condition.
But i just got a new one which is abit yellow (i couldnt care less, for the price i paid and the stuff it came with, i cant fall over!)
Shame mind. I might well do customise it. Or...i could buy a new amiga keyboard matrix. As Alan Patridge *once* said. "Ahaaaaa"
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There is a way! I will tell you in a few minutes when I finish walking my dogs! Ill be bakc in about an hour. keep reading here
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Fare does mate.
Do tell ;)
Im quite happy. After a month of searching and let downs on ebay, i finally pulled through, and found a local seller on ebay who agreed to a private sale. And i got the bargain of the century.
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So many amigans have tried - and failed. If you find something, im sure me and the whole classic miggy community would like to know.
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What about some sort of industrial grade cleanser ?
When my dad worked at the Enron Power Plant he brought home loads of hte stuff, and it cleaned alsorts. Its got a sandy type texture to it, it would clean vandal grase off your hands like it was standard dirt (i know, after abit of climbing on the local school my hands were abit black with vandal grase. Nothing brought it off at all, tried everything, and i mean everything. Then my dad got this ...this stuff out and it just brought it off with such ease.
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Use a fine-grade sandpaper to remove the top layer of plastic (or a dremel with one of those buffing attachments) - brings it up like new.
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If you smoke, give it up. It makes the thing yellow about 100 times faster.
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Yeh but thats actually removing the plastic haha. Imgine jsut going all the way down. no more amiga :(
I might give it a try. Really want a dremmel, i liked the adverts.
And i dont smoke. My dad does but he aint allowed in the house.
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I have the ultime cure for yellowing!!!
A new Amiga!! (http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=redrumloa&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=50)
I'm sorry, I'm sorry!! Sometimes I can't help myself!! :-D
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Teeheehaahaa
If only you had a brand new 1200...
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Eyetech has some new Amiga International A1200's for sale - they're a little on the expensive side (I paid £109 for mine including HD) but they are brand spanking new so I snapped one up when my A4000 died on me...
Here's the link: http://www.eyetech.co.uk/search.php?SearchStr=&SearchCat=AMSY
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I've had good luck with some abrasive cleaning stuff, such as SoftScrub. Some brands have bleach included to help with getting the yellow color out, but is harder on the skin. Sometimes you might have to dig out a fine grain sandpaper as well. For keyboards I even pull the keycaps off and clean them individually this way. It's brought back an A1000 from discoloration for me. No, it's not easy, yes it takes a while, and yes it's a good bit of work, but I've been happy with the results, and I'm one of them obsessed loonies out there that has to have it perfect...
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Im Back!
I am an Obssessed Loony as well, but anyway, here is how you get a fully Matching keyboard and case with the same colors, First clean it as much as possible, By this I mean dirt NOT the yellowing..................Then completely take your Amiga Apart and put the MotherBoard away............Seperate the Circuit board from the Keyboard (Of Course!) Now remove every single Key off the Keyboard Marking what Letter or Character it is on the bottom of it with a Dark marker! within the inside wall on the bottom (This way you know what key it is after you paint it...Yes, you are going to paint it!) Now by this time Im sure you have already purchased the Spray Paint! ( I would suggest a Dark Grey exactly like the CD32 or a pearl color that shimmers so that it will look like a regular Amiga 1200 but sparkled like those Lexus Cars! If you choose Grey.....then also get a smaller can of Black Paint....This is for the Shift Keys and Fkeys and any keys that were that Khaki color.......if You select the Pearl....then also get a smaller can of a Khaki like color but that compliments the pearl such as a Shimmering Khaki kinda Goldish............and Last but not least...get a can of Clear Coat Spray paint.......with a Matte Finish! .............I repeat......a MATTE finish!...........Now you are alomost reay to star..............But What About the Letters on the Keys? I hear someone say-------well here is what you have to do also before you start anything at all..................You have to go to a special art store that sells the special letters that you Rub on with a coin, but they look very professional....make sure it has many of the same letters incase you mess up, and you can also choose the font style ( dont get too crazy here)......if you chose to paint Grey......then get Off-White letters...................If you chose the Pearl..........Get Blakc letters but thin.......................Now once you have all these....you are ready to start..............Lay out all the stuff you are going to paint on a large card board outside in the Yard.............make sure there is no Wind or dirt around........the case is easy to paint so paint it once.....then let it dry until completely dry.........(maybe a whole day) then give it another coat......and let dry..........after dry put back inside and leave it in safe place..............now the Keys..........stick a piece of gum on the bottom of every key big enough to stick to the cardboard and and inch away from each other...............the gum should only touch the center on the bottom and not the bottom edges of the keys.................(but stick them well or else the air from the Spray can will make them tumble and smudge the paint (you will be angry hehe!) when done..................now paint all the keys at once with the can 12 inches away going side to side carefully.......................MAKE SURE YOU DONT PAINT the FKeys or the SHIFT or ENTER and all those dark keys yet...................when done with the fisrt coat........let dry until dry then paint again................when done.................let it dry for 2 days...................(you should have also painted you FKeys and Enter and Shift keys with the smaller darker paint you chose) when 2 days have passed...............start rubbing the letters onto each key with a smooth plastic similar to a coin or maybe a credit card.......DONT use metal...........you will know what Letter to write on it because you wrote it on the bottom of each key with a marker............you may also rub the symbols on the appropriate places if you have them ( I hope you chose the right size font)......................when done with all this...............now put the Amiga case outside again.............now spray paint it with a light coat of the Clear Coat Matte finish............do it very evenly................now do the same to the keys...............You may do this twice if the paint is not too thick...........You are doing this clear coat because it protects the color of your new Amiga and it insures the letters you just rubbed on will saty there even after typing many many times!.........
You are finished! now put back together your brand spankin New AmigA!!!!!
( I STRONGLY suggest you first practice painting on a cheap computer that you dont want, or on a damaged Amiga to insure you dont have chunks come out on your Amiga)
If you decide to do this, and completely mess up your Amiga...............well you made the choice of painting it, so don't blame me. (By the way..........I painted a CD32 Silver once......hehe.....I still have it) Good Luck!
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When I worked at a computer store that did a lot of Amiga business, used Formula 409 spray cleaner to clean the Amiga's. That stuff worked great! It takes a lot of it and I would spray it on thick, but you could actually see yellow in the liquid that would drip down the side of a monitor case or A500/2000. There would be areas of clean almost new looking plastic left when it was wiped off, and it was even more noticable on systems that were owned by smokers. (Once has an A2000 come in that had a thick yellow sludge over everything on its insides....I honestly didn't know how it was running it was so completely covered)
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yup F409 helps , and so does a dremmel...sandpaper...but 10.000 paper or soemthng...ie u will have to rub it for a long time but it works and looks dandy.
anyway i have forgot now if my 1084s was grey or yellow... but my a1200 case looks brand new..
cheers
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Hey i just might try that when i got some spare time. Will have to see what colours i might like :)
Will have to have a look around for these letters. But they wont do the Amiga key symbol ! How do i get that back ? An uppercase italic A ?
Also, might try this cleaning solution first. Whats the English equivalent of Formula 409 ?
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Just out of interest (as my amiga 4000 is being sold as we speak), is there any explanation why some parts of the front cover might yellow more than others, isn't it all supposed to be the same plastic ?
On my (ex) amiga the front cover is still sparkly white (well, as white as it ever was, more like a light creamy colour) only the cover plate of the floppy is more yellowish, same is true for the keyboard. All parts of the amiga have always been in the same spot.
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Hi tintin,
I think it's due to the electro magnetic fields attracting and repelling dust and particulates in the air around the monitor.
Care should be taken when turning on and off your monitor.Keeping your face away from the front, as dust can be ejected into your eyes and lungs when the screen automatically degausses. I believe this is what happens as I myself got it in the eyes once as I turned the monitor on.
I maybe wrong but it seems that that is whats going on, it could also be due to heat convections around the monitor.
Also just thought about the yellowing thing and wondered if anyone's tried whitening toothpaste ?
Might come out pearly white and smell minty fresh when it all heats up. ;-)
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Hey Jetfire, this is far too spooky!
I have an original Jetfire (Pic here (http://www.phatrepublic.freeserve.co.uk/transformers/)) that is yellowing (as well as my A4000 and A1200). will the Formula 409 work on that too do you think?
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By the way, as far as the transfer graphics/letters go, try letraset (http://www.letraset.com).
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Speaking of yellowing.
How's this site:
http://www.digibarn.com/collections/systems/amiga1000-proto/ (http://www.digibarn.com/collections/systems/amiga1000-proto/)
:-o
Wow!!
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tintin wrote:
Just out of interest (as my amiga 4000 is being sold as we speak), is there any explanation why some parts of the front cover might yellow more than others, isn't it all supposed to be the same plastic ?
On my (ex) amiga the front cover is still sparkly white (well, as white as it ever was, more like a light creamy colour) only the cover plate of the floppy is more yellowish, same is true for the keyboard. All parts of the amiga have always been in the same spot.
Contact with compounds that can oxidize the plastic and/or oxidize themselves (skin oils, etc)... Airflow from the fan pulling crap in through the floppy drive... Differences in heat at various portions of the unit...
Dunno about the Amiga plastic, but yellowing in general can be caused by all sorts of things. On this era of stuff, I imagine we can also count outgassing of PCB/component resins (and solder rosin/flux) as part of the problem; that, with the electrostatic effects, probably accounts for the 'monitor-shaped-footprint.'
Smoking is another great culprit, of course - somewhat oily particulate in the air, loves to condense on plastic. I had a monitor I thought was just nasty and old, until I realized I'd been parking my ashtray half-beneath it; a bit of regular Windex, and I realized I was just getting a view of what I've been doing to my lungs.
My favorite technique involves good ol' Borax, though I haven't tried it on an Amiga. Obviously, you want to do this on only the plastic - don't try it while there're components inside. Take a small amount (tablespoon or two?) of borax, and a sponge soaked in hot water. Dump the borax on the dripping sponge, so enough of it dissolves, but some remains as a particulate for scrubbing (probably still gentler than sandpaper!). Give the plastic a good going-over, being careful not to pick up anything in the sponge that'll gouge it (use judgement), and if you're lucky, the dinge will just disappear before your eyes. (Particulates will scrape off, and otherwise, the borax has a bleaching action that, hopefully, shouldn't yellow or degrade the plastic too much.)
Rinse the whole thing with plenty of hot water when you're done.
After that.. I'm not sure what you can use to protect it. A long time back, someone discovered the same PABA used in sunblock could be added to deck stain and the like, and that's where cheap UV-protective wood finishes came from. But sunblock is going to be, well, gooey, and plastic-protectants may or may not be what you want. (*Maybe* something like Armor All works; I've noticed it seems to dry out automotive vinyl *faster* once it wears off. Other things contain urethanes and other weird stuff that might turn out to yellow on their own anyway, no matter how 'UV-protecting' they claim.)
I've tried a little UV-protective furniture polish (in other words, light mineral oil, hint of lemon, PABA) on the fax machine here; can't tell if it's an improvement or not. The sunblock should help, but the oil seems likely to yellow anyway. I think the best you can hope for is 'trying whatever you think will work' as a protectant, and using the borax technique again if/when that fails.
Assuming the borax technique works on whatever's happened here, anyway. Someone mind trying it on the Amiga plastic and providing some evidence one way or the other?
(Oh, and I wouldn't use it on the Transformer - or, at best, I'd go with a Q-Tip on the white portions - because I'd fear it'd degrade the red/painted bits.)
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billt wrote:
I've had good luck with some abrasive cleaning stuff, such as SoftScrub. Some brands have bleach included to help with getting the yellow color out, but is harder on the skin.
On a related note... I prefer the borax to bleach, because bleach itself seems to have a yellowing effect on certain compounds. (I've noticed this with my socks.) Borax doesn't seem to have that problem.
For keycaps... I'd be afraid to scrub - the labeling might come off - but I'd risk an hour's soak in laundry-grade dilution. (Hot water, something like... quarter of a cup of borax to the gallon?) Maybe leave one cap out of solution, as a 'control' group.
Again, just theory. I've used it in practice on a Dell, and some other crud lying around, but never an Amiga.
There are also some abrasive polishes out there specifically meant for plastics, though I've never had much luck with them. (Got a can of surplus military stuff... Always seemed to dull things, even if it was supposedly meant for polishing scratches out of LCD faceplates.)
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I had one A1200 out on my desk uncovered for 2 years or more and it still looked pristine, but when I put it away in a drawer for 8 months it was yellow when it came back out... :-?
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I bet Paul Gadd's got the answer to what will wash away the yellowing... :)
[ed.]
Anyway, yellowing can also mean that the computer has been used by a cultured, refined and civilized individual: a fellow smoker! ;) A certificate of quality.
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Im currently doing a test with a substance known as OxyClean (youve probably heard of it) its like crystal stuff which your dissolve into hot water.
I put some of int in a bowl and let it do its job, and i put a key in from the rather yellowed pc keyboard. The bottom part of they key is pure white, but from half way up all way round it is pure yellow. Its strange, i had the computer for 4 years since 97 till 01 and it was perfect condition. I got new computer and the old one moved into my brothers room. Within months it turned yellow. Its because his natural environment is dirty. Doesnt polish or dust or anything. So obviously, thats hte nvironment in which compys go yellow, with dust and dirt. It cant be all about sunlight, i mean when i had it it was in a corner where the sunlight always shon on it. Was still pure white. Went into bros room in a corner where it doesnt get light, and about half a year later after the dirt and stuff, its yellow.
Anyway, ill let you know how the oxyclean test came on. If this stuff can make a black copper coin become shiny copper again, it should get the yellow off hopefully. Anyway, lets go see how it did, its been sitting for 10 mins now in a hot bowl of the stuff. Back in a few
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Nope. Didnt work. If you have the OxyClean stuff, chuck it out. It sux.
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I recently de-yellowed my apple mac monitor, there is no easy soloution. I used medium grade scotch-brite to take the surface plastic off the casing, voila nice and white.
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medium grade scoth-brite.........wwhats that ? and where can i find it ?
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If you're going to paint, I'd follow this guy's lead, and use a 'clear' enamel (or perhaps spray lacquer -- that usually goes on real thin and transparent, and could be topped with clearcoat, see below.)
http://applefritter.com/hacks/mercury/index.html (http://applefritter.com/hacks/mercury/index.html)
The 'below:' IIRC, I had some neon orange and green Krylon lacquer that went on like that, which I was intending to use on a computer - didn't, in the end, but I can say that it went on very 'flat' and would've needed some clearcoat on top.
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yeah... i find it annoying myself... my miggy is yellow as he*l now :-( I still wonder, what if cleaned it very often since it was new? Would that have a made a difference?
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I say it again... Why the heck did they not make the amiga black or something, this would remove this problem totally.
Same thing with pcs also, usually keyboard, chase, monitor is white, :-(
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If it were black it would go grey and dull with time, so same problem :) I used a light rubbing compound on my A500 and it worked great. Get one without silicone, though. Silicone goes yellow.
Auto Glym comes recommended for both cars and computers :)
-edit: Auto Glym paint renovator is the product. It leaves a wax in there as well, so if you spill anything on it, it's easier to clean.
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Scotch brite is a kind of abrasive pad kind of thing. Here. (http://www.3m.com/us/home_leisure/scotchbrite/products/scrubbing_scouring.jhtml)
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Marc17 wrote:
Hi
I was just wondering, with the damned defect with the crappy plastic Commodore decided to use for the Amigas, is there a way to cure the yellowing ? Or do people not bother.
I just saw a tomato red Amiga in the "Image-o-Matic" to the left.
A plan? :-)
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I always use this gem cleaning kit I have on my key boards keys... doesn't really kill the yellow, but makes em look ao world better, such shiny keys on my '2000.
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I got a purple a500 at home... looks pretty awful :-(
Dunno why the previous owner painted it with purple color...
So got one yellow a500 and one purple :-D
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Im afraid all of these top tips come to late for some folks
(http://www.thefineartauctiongroup.com/images/David.jpg)
Poor old Davey's gone waay past yellow :-)
Cheap as chips...:lol:
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Don't any of you people watch "The Antiques Roadshow"?
Removal of the original patina and refinishing will sharply devalue your antiques!
DoodooHead