Retrobright by EMMADOG+

[Lt Teddy]

When I first got my Dallas machine the first two things I saw was the broken glass and yellow skirt on the machine. I thought someone had broken the original and replaced it with another. But after scoping it out I contacted Emmadog and ask him if he would use his process on my skirt. Below you will see the first of the pictures of how he is doing. Quite remarkable if I do not say so myself. I will print some pictures when it gets back to the machine, but could not wait to show how he is doing. Picture number one is the machine with the skirt in it and two is the skirt out of the machine. Picture number three is with the retrobright about half done. Quite remarkable.

[emmadog]

here's the pic of how it looked when i received Lt's part.

[emmadog]

Here'a a pic I took of Lt's part when I received it and the setup I use for the process and a pic of the process at this moment:
You can't tell from the pic but the numbered section has been masked off with clear tape and then aluminum foil is placed around the part to reflect as much of the light back onto the item. A simple but effective method.

[TilionMtl]

Emmadog, what is the light bulb you use? black light? watts? and how long did you put the object under this light?

[emmadog]

You need a light that puts out UVB rays. Those rays are of the right wavelength to reverse the process that yellows old ABS plastic. It's not a bleaching process.
A company called Repti Glo makes a UVB bulb for use in terrariums and you can get them in different output strengths. I paid about 20 dollars for the high output bulb from Petco. Blacklight bulbs will work but are not as effective as a dedicated UVB bulb.
About 35 hours or so had elapsed when the above pic was taken. There's no way to know how long a part may take since batches of plastic are all slightly different in ingredient ratio. I've had some parts come out snow white after 6 hours and some have taken about a hundred hours. The retr0bright mixture stays good for about 3 days. I always put the unused portion in the fridge to slow the reaction and extend the it's life. The formula is cheap and simple to make. For Lt's part I will let it go the rest of today and tomorrow and see how it looks then.
I'd say I've done about a dozen pieces so far and on most parts the results yield the factory white color. Some never got totally white but the likely would have had I kept them going longer. But even those items were a huge improvement over their former appearance and in fact made the rest if the machine seem even older. In my case that's fine since I refurbish all the cosmetic parts during my overall redo but it is something to think about if you don't plan on redoing the whole machine.

[dattia]

Wow...what a difference! Thanks for posting the additional pics. My eyes were having a hard time seeing the difference in the first post, but the difference is quite obvious with the second set! Awesome!

[Lt Teddy]

Well I thought everyone should see the finished product. Great job again Emmadog.

[FireAndIce]

wow...I really have to try this! looks amazing

[ACMech]

Looks Great, I need to give this a try on the front of my pachinko machine. I had not heard of retobright before, I was glad to read about it on the internet. Thanks

[Drunkenclam]

For information http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/
I still have my old commodore in the shed

[hanabi]

That Retrobright has made an absolutely fantastic difference!!



One of my WowWee robots, Robosapien V2 has badly discoloured / Yellowed on large areas of what was once white plastic, wonder if something similar to Retrobright could help with that??

[TilionMtl]

hehehe.. well, now it's my turn to say:

Hanabi... go go! and pics!!! we want pics