Couldn't find anything above 3% H2O2 for love nor money locally in California, not even the much vaunted Urine Rescue (!) at the pet shops. What I DID find though, was that if you have a hydroponic gardening shop around, you can get this stuff:

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/hy...-peroxide.html

I couldn't find an MSDS on it, but the product page claims it's 29% H2O2, and at about $9 a litre is comparatively inexpensive.

Questions about the bblonde type stuff: the "40" rated bottles of hair goop are in reality just 12% peroxide? And while this can be used straight out of the bottle in place of the retr0brite gel, I'm assuming it can be mixed with a little bit of water to make a bath? (At which point, does it still need a pinch of Oxy?)

The "40" rated creme developer is 12% peroxide and it works fine by itself, I've done about 10 Amigas so far and very happy with it.

Check the nearest Wikipedia about VOLUMES vs concentration. 40 volumes is around 12%.

30 Volumes are around 9%, but that's not a linear equation. 50% concentration is 200 volumes.

One thing I learned about doing the whole keyboard (without membrane of course) instead of the individual white keys is ... don't do it =)

While the springs are still fine, the buttons that are supposed to be grey look a bit .. dull. Not really noticeable unless you place an untreated one next to it, but still.

the A keys melt very easy like burned white.
that sucks

A question for experienced Retrobrighters please

I'm looking to buy some of the peroxide cream on eBay (since my BBlonde seems to have been "claimed" by one of the ladies in the house!!)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290731179359 & http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180798849682

1) If I leave these in the sun to "cook" on my patio. Do I need to wash them off with water down the sink or would rinsing them on the patio kill my garden with toxic washings?

2) What percentage would people recommend? Seems you can get 6%-9-12-15-18% mixes

3) Are keys best done individually? With cream or soaked in a bottle? If so, what solution best?

4) How much would I likely need? My list of stuff to do:

A complete A1200 inc keyboard keys, PSU, Mouse
A complete A500 & bits
Two spare Power Bricks
Plus probably an A600 and an Atari STE if I can find them cheap.

Thanks guys! Promise to do some pics!

No, you can rinse it off in the garden. From what I've read, H202 is excellent in not too high concentration since it contains lots of oxygen (duh). Its sold as fertilizer as well to give the roots a boost. I even washed my pre-gelled 12% cream in the roses and they are still doing well (dont tell my wife).
Edit: See post by ubermick a few above mine and you'll see a link where they sell it as fertilizer.

I've only ever used 12%, but the higher concentration, the faster it gets done, or at least as far I've seen in this thread.

I've read people using 3% and leaving it in the bathtub for a week to get the whiteness they needed.
I've read people using 40% and leaving it the bathtub for a 8 hours.

Basically, it does not matter what percentage you use. The UV light (from a bulb or sun) speeds the process up. Oxy powder speeds it up more.

I only ever did the whole keyboards. Remove all the screws in the bottom plate and remove the plate and membrane. For me, seemed like the easiest route. After a few weeks now though, I've changed my mind. There are two problems with doing the whole keyboard.
1: The springs will rust faster (since its metal). I've not noticed this on mine though and I've checked frequently.
2: The grey keys that are supposed to be gray are not so gray anymore compared to an untreated keyboard.

Whatever method you chose, remember to wipe the water from the keys when done since if you just leave them to dry, like I did, the keys are kind of discolored from the dried water. This goes for the case as well. Does not have to be perfectly dry, just dont leave any puddles of water in any visible parts.

Soaked in a bottle is not recommended since you'll have a hard time keeping them the right way up. They tend to flip over and retrobrighting the bottom of they keys, while cool, is pretty useless =)

I dont think you need to do anything with the two items you've listed as they are listed as "cream" already. You can kickstart the process with a little oxy powder (any cleaning detergent that says "Oxy Power !!!" on them basically.) I used about 1-2 dl of H202 (cream) and mixed in a tiny teaspoon of oxy powder before applying it to the plastics. If you use too much, it will start to foam quite a lot after about an hour in the sun (as you can see on my pictures earlier in this thread). Use too little and it has little effect. If you plan to mix it with Oxy, you'll have to mix it around for a few minutes with a spoon or something since they do not blend well. Someone also diluted the oxy in a bit of hot water first to make it blend better, but my cream is already on the edge of being "too runny" so I do not do that. You can also skip the oxy all together as it just speeds things up a bit.

Hard to say exactly. I used 12% gel. Bought 1 liter of it and i've done
2 complete Amiga 1200
1 Amiga 600
2 mice
2 external floppy drives
And I've got about 7 dl left.. Unless you plan to soak the parts in it, you do not need much.

Some general tips I've learned...
Wash all the plastics first. Dirt makes for a bad retrobright since the h202 does not reach the plastic. I wash everything in the washing machine set to "rinse" which is about 30c water. I forgot once and had the normal program on (40-55c) and nothing bad happened.

Wear gloves. Theres a reason the females are wearing gloves when they use this stuff in their hair. No worries if you get the 12% on your hands, just wash it off rather quickly. You do not want the 30-40% on you, or so I've told.

If you plan to soak it or need to mix a gel yourself, wear glasses. Get it in your eye and good bye vision.

If you leave it out in the sun and you do not live near the equator, rotate the parts a bit so all sides get an equal amount. I left my peices on a table for 6 hours and rotated the whole table about every hour. A bit excessive perhaps. UV penetrates clouds nicely, so do not fret if the sun hides for a while.


Hope that answers some questions from a semi-noob =)

+1 for all replies from Turran !

Thanks guys

Is there a consensus yet on varnishing to seal it all in again or not?

This satin looks quite suitable to me http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180881329592

Personally I prefer not to varnish.

As I said, retr0bright is reversible, so I will retr0bright any time it's needed. After all the first time I had to do it was 19 years after I bought my A600, so I can wait until next time.

What I noticed is well stored the Amigas don't yellow. But each time a storage company had to keep my stuff for many months between 2 of my moves, I found some of them very yellow...

I was also looking for locally available sealants, but could not find anything that was invisible and did not alter the feel of the plastic. Tried lots of car products and wax but .. no. I'm with seb132 on this one. Its fun to retr0bright, so why not do it again? Something to look forward to in another 20 years.

Maybe they take them out and use them for heavy gaming over the months they have them

just for info guys bblonde has changed bottle design

Your 75ml 12% is puny compared to the power and size of my 1000ml 18%.... Dissolves all known garden plants!!

its not the size its how you use it

and £1.53 from boots chemist

Yeah mate but FEEL that width of bottle!!

I think 18% works better with our lack of sun in the UK

yea proberly i need to give my 1200 another coat 2moz with all the patchy weather today

Use chemistry to remove the yellow from old plastic. [Not Retr0bright]

[ Show youtube player ]

A different way of doing it.

Interesting but not exactly user friendly (unfortunately) even if it is a lot faster. Not a great application for a whole computer case but if you were a dealer in old computers I'd imagine this would be the way to max your profits!

leave in too long and shatters like glass