I've stopped doing any Retrobriting at all. Everything I've retrobrited over the last 4 years has re-yellowed, no matter if the stuff was used or in storage. It seems to be just a big waste of time in the end.

derSammler wrote on 2020-02-25, 12:59:

I've stopped doing any Retrobriting at all. Everything I've retrobrited over the last 4 years has re-yellowed, no matter if the stuff was used or in storage. It seems to be just a big waste of time in the end.

My experience also.

Received my XT motherboard with 8087 co-processor

Dug through the 100's of expansion cards and found a compatible 8-bit VGA display and compatible 16-bit I/O card. Only took 3 graphics cards and 2 I/O cards. Ended up grabbing a Trident 8800CS and a UMC based 16-bit I/O card.

Powered it up and it works!

Now I should add a BIOS for high density floppies and maybe build another XT-IDE card for it. I've got an old 40meg IDE hard drive I could use it with. This motherboard has about 6 rom slots, so I might even plug in a ROM BASIC 😀

There is a way to prevent the yellowing from occurring again, but I cannot recall the process for that. I haven't retrobrighted anything a day in my life. My 486 needs it, but the weather is unpredictable in my state.

bjwil1991 wrote on 2020-02-25, 16:00:

There is a way to prevent the yellowing from occurring again

Unlikely, since to this day, no one really knows why the yellowing occurs at all. There are many theories, but almost all have been proven wrong, incl. that by the original Retr0Bright team.

Spray-painting is the only way to prevent yellowing. I now just clean my stuff and let it how it is otherwise.

last evening I fit a 1ghz p3 into my slot 1 system to replace the 750 using a sloket. The 750 was a 100mhz fsb cpu and the 1ghz a 133mhz fsb.

I swapped the FSB over to 133 and oddly the PC now beeps just before post and when post is done. It detects the cpu speed as :00EB Mhz and hangs before the mem is tested.
I put the multi down to 7 and the speed still says :00EB but it does now run. I need to install cpu-z or something to see what is actually going on. I thought these cpus had locked multis anyway? Odd that it made it post.

I did think I broke a trace on the slocket while fiddling but it seems ok.

I ran a couple of before and after 3dmark 99s (Should really move on to 2000 now but my previous benchmark data is from 1999 and I like to compare.

p3 750mhz gf2 mx 400 32mb 5059 11129
p3 750mhz gf3 ti 200 64mb 5602 11243

p3 1ghz gf3 ti 200 64mb 6870 15275

3dmark score and then cpu score.

Clearly the new cpu is working and giving a good boost but the double beep at post and :00EB mhz behaviour is odd. Perhaps I need a bios update?

edit: motherboard is a GA-BX2000+

derSammler wrote on 2020-02-25, 12:59:

I've stopped doing any Retrobriting at all. Everything I've retrobrited over the last 4 years has re-yellowed, no matter if the stuff was used or in storage. It seems to be just a big waste of time in the end.

Some of my stuff did re-yellow, some did not. I'm doing an experiment now where I retrobrited a drive bay cover and clearcoated half. Waiting on the results.

bjwil1991 wrote on 2020-02-25, 16:00:

There is a way to prevent the yellowing from occurring again, but I cannot recall the process for that. I haven't retrobrighted anything a day in my life. My 486 needs it, but the weather is unpredictable in my state.

I did mine inside. I took three P4 faces to the cottage with me last weekend and stuck them in the large south-facing windows for a couple days. It was -27c one day 😉 The sun and the heat in the house did the trick.

Also, it really takes 5 min to clean, 5 min to apply the paste and saran wrap, then 10 mins to clean it up. I don't mind doing it once every 4-5 years, for what, 30 minutes of work?

derSammler wrote on 2020-02-25, 12:59:

I've stopped doing any Retrobriting at all. Everything I've retrobrited over the last 4 years has re-yellowed, no matter if the stuff was used or in storage. It seems to be just a big waste of time in the end.

Only thing to do when it comes back that often, is to leave it alone or spray paint it. It all depends on your personal limit of "yellowness".
When my stuff becomes as yellow as an old mans pee, then I will spray paint my stuff.

EDIT:
I have taken notice, that using a melamine sponge, takes away some of the yellow color. You can see the difference in my blog.
It is regarding the Amiga500-Desktop machine that I have build, and you can find it in the link below my post's.
What happens (I think), is that it removes just the top layer. And if you go that route, make sure the plastic are thick.
On the case I cleaned, using this approach, the original printed text are only slightly visible now.
So my guess, is that it takes away only a paper thin layer or less. At least 90% of the yellow have gone away.

Just be careful on doing it on thin plastic.

EDIT (again)
It is a sponge, made of melamine foam. I suspect that it is the same material that are used in one of those magic eraser

As for me, I have begun looking into the HST-WB installer package for Amiga. Using AmigaOS 3.1.4 as the package supports that.
It should give me boot-menu, arcade game launcher (or what it is called) and some other neat stuff.
Basically. It is a bunch of installer scripts and software, that will transform the Amiga into an advanced WHD-Loader machine.

Once up and running, I will report back about it. If anyone are interested in what help I can provide.

brostenen wrote on 2020-02-26, 10:34:

derSammler wrote on 2020-02-25, 12:59:

I've stopped doing any Retrobriting at all. Everything I've retrobrited over the last 4 years has re-yellowed, no matter if the stuff was used or in storage. It seems to be just a big waste of time in the end.

Only thing to do when it comes back that often, is to leave it alone or spray paint it. It all depends on your personal limit of "yellowness".
When my stuff becomes as yellow as an old mans pee, then I will spray paint my stuff.

I would never paint my cases' plastic components - it takes much too long to do and will wear out. I only paint the metal parts if they're really scratched/rusted. Any prolonged contact with a 120-150 grit finger (mine are coarse, lots of car work - you should see how shiny my work keyboard and mouse are!) will cause the paint to fail, flake and peel. To properly paint a car, you have to do a lot of prep, and this is something I know quite a bit about. When I see a painted case on a Youtube video, I almost always just shake my head at the lack of prep that was done, insufficient sanding, and even the application of the paint itself.

IMO it is much easier to spend 30 mins retrobriting something than hours painting and prepping paint plastic.

Additionally, acetone will instantly retrobrite an item - just be careful as it will almost always smooth it out as well. I use a 50/50 mix with water when getting super-yellowed (oranged!) small components. The quick and even application is key. Any painted arrows/lettering will be lifted instantly though.

Jed118 wrote on 2020-02-26, 12:32:

I would never paint my cases' plastic components - it takes much too long to do and will wear out. I only paint the metal parts […]
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brostenen wrote on 2020-02-26, 10:34:

derSammler wrote on 2020-02-25, 12:59:

I've stopped doing any Retrobriting at all. Everything I've retrobrited over the last 4 years has re-yellowed, no matter if the stuff was used or in storage. It seems to be just a big waste of time in the end.

Only thing to do when it comes back that often, is to leave it alone or spray paint it. It all depends on your personal limit of "yellowness".
When my stuff becomes as yellow as an old mans pee, then I will spray paint my stuff.

I would never paint my cases' plastic components - it takes much too long to do and will wear out. I only paint the metal parts if they're really scratched/rusted. Any prolonged contact with a 120-150 grit finger (mine are coarse, lots of car work - you should see how shiny my work keyboard and mouse are!) will cause the paint to fail, flake and peel. To properly paint a car, you have to do a lot of prep, and this is something I know quite a bit about. When I see a painted case on a Youtube video, I almost always just shake my head at the lack of prep that was done, insufficient sanding, and even the application of the paint itself.

IMO it is much easier to spend 30 mins retrobriting something than hours painting and prepping paint plastic.

Additionally, acetone will instantly retrobrite an item - just be careful as it will almost always smooth it out as well. I use a 50/50 mix with water when getting super-yellowed (oranged!) small components. The quick and even application is key. Any painted arrows/lettering will be lifted instantly though.

I would never use acetone, unless I am gluing something together. For that I am using a cement made of desolved abs in pure acetone. Works wonders. Just go with the melamine sponge, if you do not wish to retrobright as the first thing. Or do retrobright and then the sponge if you do not want to retrobright a second time. Each one, his or hers choice.

canthearu wrote on 2020-02-25, 13:24:

Received my XT motherboard with 8087 co-processor […]
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Received my XT motherboard with 8087 co-processor

Dug through the 100's of expansion cards and found a compatible 8-bit VGA display and compatible 16-bit I/O card. Only took 3 graphics cards and 2 I/O cards. Ended up grabbing a Trident 8800CS and a UMC based 16-bit I/O card.

Powered it up and it works!

Now I should add a BIOS for high density floppies and maybe build another XT-IDE card for it. I've got an old 40meg IDE hard drive I could use it with. This motherboard has about 6 rom slots, so I might even plug in a ROM BASIC 😀

Continuing on with this, I stripped a couple of I/O cards out of my 286, as they were closer in vintage to this XT. Then I have played with a high density floppy drive BIOS, was able to get that working, but unfortunately, I need some more blank EEPROMs to make it a permanent addition.

Did some memory and expansion slot tests, everything seems to be working perfectly on this board!

brostenen wrote on 2020-02-26, 11:32:

As for me, I have begun looking into the HST-WB installer package for Amiga. Using AmigaOS 3.1.4 as the package supports that. I […]
Show full quote

As for me, I have begun looking into the HST-WB installer package for Amiga. Using AmigaOS 3.1.4 as the package supports that.
It should give me boot-menu, arcade game launcher (or what it is called) and some other neat stuff.
Basically. It is a bunch of installer scripts and software, that will transform the Amiga into an advanced WHD-Loader machine.

Once up and running, I will report back about it. If anyone are interested in what help I can provide.

I just dug my Amiga 1200 out of storage after over 20 years and I am in the process of tinkering with it again. I've got a bunch of parts on the way but I would be interested in hearing about the benefits of this package after you have a chance to test it. I don't know for sure what I want to do with my Amiga yet so all avenues are possible.

brostenen wrote on 2020-02-26, 12:47:

I would never use acetone, unless I am gluing something together. For that I am using a cement made of desolved abs in pure acetone. Works wonders. Just go with the melamine sponge, if you do not wish to retrobright as the first thing. Or do retrobright and then the sponge if you do not want to retrobright a second time. Each one, his or hers choice.

Melamine sponges are amazing!

Acetone works well for small pieces, but you do not immerse it in the liquid! It will, as you know, dissolve the part. Just pad it on to rub stubborn yellowing out and rinse it immediately afterwards. I have found brake fluid (DOT 3 or 4) works well to remove certain streaks, just don't leave it on any metal part as it will lift the paint right off to the metal.

I once used carburettor cleaner on a laptop to get super-stubborn melted plastic standoff juice off it - yeah, that required a lot of sanding and clearcoat to get looking good again.

Not making that mistake again!

brostenen wrote on 2020-02-26, 11:32:

As for me, I have begun looking into the HST-WB installer package for Amiga. Using AmigaOS 3.1.4 as the package supports that. I […]
Show full quote

As for me, I have begun looking into the HST-WB installer package for Amiga. Using AmigaOS 3.1.4 as the package supports that.
It should give me boot-menu, arcade game launcher (or what it is called) and some other neat stuff.
Basically. It is a bunch of installer scripts and software, that will transform the Amiga into an advanced WHD-Loader machine.

Once up and running, I will report back about it. If anyone are interested in what help I can provide.

That sounds interesting.

I haven't had my Amiga long and I hadn't heard of that package.

In the middle of fixing an Original Xbox 1.6 console. The system would power on, off, on, off, on, and back off. The fan sounds like a jet taking off and recapped the board (by the CPU). One thing I forgot to check was to see if thermal paste was on there. I swear, if that fixes the issue, I will kick myself in the rear.

I bought a set of 5 1/4 floppy disks on ebay, it's probably been the best part of 20 years since I've held one of them. They're for a drive that I've had for a few years and have never tested. Hopefully it works!

Shagittarius wrote on 2020-02-26, 15:00:

brostenen wrote on 2020-02-26, 11:32:

As for me, I have begun looking into the HST-WB installer package for Amiga. Using AmigaOS 3.1.4 as the package supports that. I […]
Show full quote

As for me, I have begun looking into the HST-WB installer package for Amiga. Using AmigaOS 3.1.4 as the package supports that.
It should give me boot-menu, arcade game launcher (or what it is called) and some other neat stuff.
Basically. It is a bunch of installer scripts and software, that will transform the Amiga into an advanced WHD-Loader machine.

Once up and running, I will report back about it. If anyone are interested in what help I can provide.

I just dug my Amiga 1200 out of storage after over 20 years and I am in the process of tinkering with it again. I've got a bunch of parts on the way but I would be interested in hearing about the benefits of this package after you have a chance to test it. I don't know for sure what I want to do with my Amiga yet so all avenues are possible.

I will make sure to write you something about the install procedure if you like.
As far as I can see and read, then the result will be something about this here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVbLaCue8Zs

(you can see the CF card setup from around 8 minutes)

Jed118 wrote on 2020-02-26, 16:03:

Melamine sponges are amazing! […]
Show full quote

brostenen wrote on 2020-02-26, 12:47:

I would never use acetone, unless I am gluing something together. For that I am using a cement made of desolved abs in pure acetone. Works wonders. Just go with the melamine sponge, if you do not wish to retrobright as the first thing. Or do retrobright and then the sponge if you do not want to retrobright a second time. Each one, his or hers choice.

Melamine sponges are amazing!

Acetone works well for small pieces, but you do not immerse it in the liquid! It will, as you know, dissolve the part. Just pad it on to rub stubborn yellowing out and rinse it immediately afterwards. I have found brake fluid (DOT 3 or 4) works well to remove certain streaks, just don't leave it on any metal part as it will lift the paint right off to the metal.

I once used carburettor cleaner on a laptop to get super-stubborn melted plastic standoff juice off it - yeah, that required a lot of sanding and clearcoat to get looking good again.

Not making that mistake again!

Nice.... It is always good to hear people's different aproaches to all this. 😀