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Deyellowing Plastic

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First post, by Oldskoolmaniac

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Ok so the case on my Dell Optiplex GS+ is in bad shape its very yellow im going to see how close to white I can get it.

Cause of yellowing:
Most plastic was mixed with bromine a flame retardant chemical, the chemical would rise to the surface when expose to high amounts of uv light.

The fix:
A strong amount of hydrogen peroxide and uv light to activate the bromine, let sit for few hours and rinse and repeat if still yellow.

Tools used:
Philips screw driver (to pull all the guts out of case)
40 Volume salon hair creme (developer kind)
Black light

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Motherboard Reviews The Motherboard Thread
Plastic parts looking nasty and yellow try this Deyellowing Plastic

Reply 3 of 22, by Oldskoolmaniac

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Yea ill get some after pic's, but its turning out really good.

I should also add, keep the room a little dark with just a black light hovered over top of the plastic and also wear gloves when applying the creme this stuff burns.

Motherboard Reviews The Motherboard Thread
Plastic parts looking nasty and yellow try this Deyellowing Plastic

Reply 4 of 22, by brostenen

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Oldskoolmaniac wrote:

this stuff burns.

I bet, that it would just rip all infection out of a wound, like it was max ripping the head off that crazy doctor. 🤣

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

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Reply 5 of 22, by oeuvre

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I cleaned up a GX110 a few months ago. used comet + hand soap and an old toothbrush. Afterwards, used fine sandpaper for scratches. Came out pretty nice but not perfect. http://imgur.com/a/8yaFC

HP Z420 Workstation Intel Xeon E5-1620, 32GB, RADEON HD7850 2GB, SSD + HD, XP/7
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Reply 8 of 22, by Oldskoolmaniac

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r.cade wrote:

Black light doesn't work, or if at all, incredibly slowly. All you are doing is bleaching it with that concentration.

It will work with good sunlight, or possibly heat only.

yea the black light is a little slower, but it works good my case is now bleach white. I use the black light cause it winter and overcast.

Motherboard Reviews The Motherboard Thread
Plastic parts looking nasty and yellow try this Deyellowing Plastic

Reply 10 of 22, by Oldskoolmaniac

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......And here are the final results. It turned out really well, very clean white Case.

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Motherboard Reviews The Motherboard Thread
Plastic parts looking nasty and yellow try this Deyellowing Plastic

Reply 11 of 22, by foey

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Great Job! Very interesting.

So what is the future state post this? i.e. will the yellowing come back again?

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Reply 12 of 22, by Oldskoolmaniac

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I will post in the future if it comes back, but I'm also going keep it out of direct sun light.

Motherboard Reviews The Motherboard Thread
Plastic parts looking nasty and yellow try this Deyellowing Plastic

Reply 14 of 22, by TheMobRules

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Errius wrote:

Has anyone tried this "retr0bright" stuff?

From what I've heard, what really matters in the de-yellowing process is the peroxide + UV light combination. retr0bright adds something called OxyClean on top of it, but I don't think it makes much of a difference.

The important thing is to be able to apply the peroxide in a way that it sticks and doesn't evaporate easily, that's why a creme-like substance such as that hair salon stuff is used instead of regular liquid peroxide.

If you're putting your case under direct sunlight, some people also recommend to cover it with film wrap to avoid evaporating.

I've even used a much less powerful creme in the past with a couple of cases and it worked quite well, no yellowing has returned so far.

Reply 15 of 22, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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Oldskoolmaniac wrote:

......And here are the final results. It turned out really well, very clean white Case.

...so it is doable. 😳

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 17 of 22, by Anonymous Freak

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The main thing that retr0bright adds is a more "gel like" texture that makes it easier to spread and stay on the plastic. But now more beauty supply stores are selling gel hydrogen peroxide directly, so retr0bright's big advantage is just that it's cheaper to mix than to buy pre-made gel H2O2.

The oxyclean addition is meant solely as a "clean it while you're brightening it".

Reply 18 of 22, by Oldskoolmaniac

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feipoa wrote:

If you don't add the UV light during treatment, does the yellowing come back a lot quicker?

Nope it wont make it worse, but u do have to use the uv to make the bromine react and then the peroxide cleans the bromine

Motherboard Reviews The Motherboard Thread
Plastic parts looking nasty and yellow try this Deyellowing Plastic