Cleaning and de-yellowing my VIC!! (pics!)

[wood_jl]

I know this may be old hat for you, but I have recently been disassembling, cleaning and de-yellowing, and reassembling 8-bit computers.....because it's too hot outside and I can do this under the air conditioner!!!

I did 3 Atari 800XLs, and one Vic-20. The 800XLs were not really noticably yellowed, until AFTER the cleaning and they were snow-white again. You forget how things looked 25 years ago unless they're really bad.

However, my recently-acquired Vic-20 was what I might say "not so good." In the tiny Ebay picture, it was difficult to see so well. I definitely did NOT want my first Vic-20 to be a yellowed turd, so I thought I was getting a nice one. It was the newer model with C64-style power, complete with box, guaranteed (or at least assured) to work, and reasonably priced! What's not to like??

So it gets here.....box isn't like new, but that's ok, it's not bad. It's what's inside that counts. Many times, when I've ordered old computers complete with box, there's a good chance that (1) they've spent a good deal of their life in the box, or (2) they were owned by someone anal enough to keep the box, which means they're inclined to take care of things!

Well, surprise!! It was filthy and yellowed!!! I had been avoiding yellowed computers for a long time, even after I heard about the "Retr0brite" (peroxide) stuff because I didn't know anything about it. (I even bought a non-yellowed case bottom for my Super Nintendo from Ebay because I didn't know about the peroxide stuff). I was horrified! Not only that, it was missing the foam inserts for the box!! AAARGH!!
[anybody have a couple foam inserts and power supply box for sale??]

It worked, and was pretty much how the seller described it (although not what I was expecting) so I left positive feedback. Nothing left to do now but try and de-yellow it!

Well, I'll be damned if the process doesn't work!!!! I got what I wanted - a SNOW WHITE Vic-20!!! I am so thrilled! I don't have space to keep all the computers (C64, Ataris, Vic, etc) all hooked up, and I'm waiting on a Mega-Cart, so I put it back in its box - sans foam inserts, of course. But I keep taking it out of the box to admire!! It looks so great!!! I encourage everyone here who's been thinking about it to DO IT because I'm as amateur as it gets, and I did it!!

I sent in these pics to the Retr0brite wiki, and I'll post them here!

Here is my Vic-20 before:


Here is after:


I can post pics of all the stuff I used - which is readily available. I used thickened "developer" for bleaching hair, rather than what the Wiki says.

You should read THE RETR0BRITE WIKI if you are even remotely curious about this.

Be sure to click on "the gallery" on the left - and scroll towards the bottom to see my Vic! However, there are far more impressive before and after pics than mine - including an awful-looking Vic and many Commodore computers.

Note: I know this info may be old to some and is available from many sources, but I just want to encourage people, as it was other people's similar testimony, pictures, and discussion that got me to try, and I'm glad!!

My Vic is now Mega-Cart worthy. [fingers crossed in anticipation of Mega-Cart]

[English Invader]

I have a few VICs in need of this treatment. Do you know where I can find detailed guidance on the process?

[carlsson]

I think the Retr0brite Wiki as he linked to, will help you get going. The process has also in great length been discussed on a number of other forums, so in case you get stuck it will only be a matter to join either of those (mainly English Amiga Board and Vintage Computer Forum, I think) and post your queries.

Yesterday I did pick up a rather yellowed and ugly looking VIC-20 with one of those lesser common keyboard caps. Not quite PET-style, but the other variant that resembles it a bit. Given the amount of direct sunlight in Sweden the past week, it would've been an excellent time to try the Retr0brite process, but I'm sure once I get onto it, it will get cloudy and rainy for weeks, forcing me to invest in a UV lamp.

[d0c]

the f keys have turned gray????

[wood_jl]

I am pretty confused about the color of the F-keys, on both the Vic-20 and the C-64.

The box for my Vic-20 has a picture of the system with dark yellow/tan F-keys, but those grey F-keys look exactly like both of my Commodore 64s.

I like to browse at systems on Ebay (sick from of entertainment) and I have seen both C64 and Vic with different combinations of old and new (colorful) nameplates and F-keys. If these are all original, then C= made a lot of changes!

But I didn't see evidence that this Vic had been apart before, when I was disassembling it. This could be a regional thing; perhaps Yankee systems go the grey F-keys??

[wood_jl]

I just want to give a little more amateur advice on this process; refer to the Retr0brite Wiki for actual reliable information.....

The formula calls for mixing peroxide with Xanthan gum to thicken it and make it cling to parts. The stupid rednecks around here had no idea what Xanthan gum is, and looked at me like I was speaking Chinese when I asked for it at the "health food" store.

Fortunately, I read (somewhere) that people were using pre-thickened hair treatments instead. The beauty shops refer to the peroxide hair stuff as "developer" and the thickened stuff was called "creme developer." In the beauty shop, they measure the strength (peroxide concentration??) as "how may vol." Obviously, this is some ratio of peroxide to total volume, but I don't know the terminology. They had "30 vol, 40 vol, and 50 vol." I took 50 vol.

This is handy, as you don't need to mix thickeners. However, according to those truly in the know, there may be "terpines" in the hair stuff, and when de-yellowing colored computers, these could potentially cause discoloring or overbleaching....something like that.....just want to raise potential red flag before you do this on a beige or grey computer. I have also heard mention of this harming the name badge on an Atari ST, but I'm not sure what product they were using. I used this hair stuff on Atari 800XL and Vic-20. I tried to keep if off the name badge, but I did get it on there. The 800XL has aluminum name badge with some black lettering, and I just covered it with this stuff and no harm. My Vic badge seemed to survive unaffected, as well. I'd be careful on other computers, or ask "Merlin" of the English Amiga forums as he knows all about terpines. Just saying on a white computer, it's not possible to over-treat and lighten - an effect they call "blooming" on the Wiki.

"Sally Beauty" franchise is evidently a chain established in the U.K. as well as here in redneckville, because that's where I found the stuff. It was $5.49 for a 32-oz bottle.

Glycerin was $3 for 6-oz bottle at Walmart.

Oxyclean was $3.86 at Wamart for 1.5-pounds (enough to last a lifetime in this application).

I used a fluorescent lamp for mine; some people use the sun. I figured the sun would dry up the paste, and I want to be able to do this at any time, so I opted for a light. I bought 18-inch at Walmart for $6.97. It came with a standard bulb which I replaced with a UV one. This was barely adequate, but effective. I would likely get the 24-inch light if I was starting over.

The UV tube was purchased at Petsmart for $17.99. I thought this was expensive at the time. I was looking for the one that another user on another forum posted the picture of, the UVB reptile tube. They did not have it at my local Petsmart. I checked the Petsmart website and it was $50 (!!!!!) for the 18-inch (and 24-inch, same price) of the Reptile UVB tube. And I thought the one I got was expensive. Howver, my local Petsmart had about 5 varieties of fluroescent aquarium tubes on hand, all with different advertised spectrums. The one I picked was (obviously) the "most" UV I could get, and it had the following graphic representative of its spectrum, which convinced me to try it (and it did work). I think the 24-inch was either the same price, or close enough for me to recommend it.


I moved either the light or rotated the computer every 2-3 hours. I bent the aluminum foil up all around the computer to try to make a reflector to increase exposure. As I only de-yellowed white computers, I did not worry about overdoing it, and I was not consistant with my treatment times. Suffice it to say that I left that stuff for hours, probably averaged around 8 hours each time. Sometimes I got busy with other things and forgot to turn the computer, other times I remembered. It all seemed to work out. Sometimes I left it for 12 hours because I wasn't home. Obviously, no 15-watt tube is going to compete with the sun, but it was effective, just took a while. When I try a beige or gray computer, I will excercise extreme vigilance. Maybe the "weak" light will work in my favor as a safety measure (from overdoing it).

This pic was an 800XL, but the VIC was the same.


I also did not mix the stuff "scientifically" as the Wiki says. They call for large batches. As I am only doing a case half or bottom at a time, I don't want that much. Also, as I am using the thickened hair stuff, I don't need to worry about Xanthan gum (etc). So I just took a short drinking glass, poured about 8oz of "creme developer", then gave it a "little squirt" of glycerin, and "sprinked a couple of pinches" of oxyclean and mixed it up really well in the glass and brushed it on with a paintbrush. It worked great!!! But before you do this with a beige computer, do some research on this and read about other people's problems.

A white computer like the Vic is an ideal starting point. On computers like the 800XL, the white is the same but have to keep it off the dark parts. If I do this to a C64, old beige 800, or XE I will go back to the drawing board and really play it carefully. But man, this was fun! My Vic lightened up like Michael Jackson! (terrible, and terrible timing, I know....I'm sorry)

Here's a pic of all the stuff I needed to do this:

[gklinger]

The short story is that Commodore first made keyboards with beige function keys and used them in VIC-20s and early 64s. Later they started making the keyboards with gray functions keys which you'll find in late model VIC-20s and the majority of 64s. It's similar to the monochromatic/colour label differences seen in North America (the labels differed in other regions). These pictures illustrate the progression (your VIC-20 would have fallen between #2 and #3).





If you want to know more about this subject browse about as it has been covered before.