Retrobrite for eMac

[mac27]

The front portion of the case on the eMac commonly yellows, probably due to exposure to UV light like with the older ABS plastics on Macs from the '80s and '90s. It ends up looking something like this:

Interestingly it is just the front panel that does this, not the rear "shell" or the optical drive bezel.

There's very little discussion I can find online regarding the Retrobrite/Retr0brite process to these. They are obviously not ABS (I presume polycarbonate?) so it's not clear whether it would work. I have heard stories of others using Retrobrite on acrylics with good results, but I presume this is polycarbonate and I've seen stories of Retrobrite NOT working on machines like the Mac mini and the white plastic MacBooks which are also polycarbonate. So my guess is that the results would be similar with this.

Is there anyone out there who has actually tried this, or read about someone else who has? Maybe I'll just have to give it a try myself if I ever acquire one.

 

[phunguss]

I have not tried this, but I am assuming that the true reason is not the acrylic changing color but the underlying paint. I think this is the same design as the lamp iMacs/iBooks (snow), where the shell is painted white from the inside. So there is not an inconspicuous place to test that theory (other than the bottom of a snow iBook). I have seen similar yellowing on the inside frame of Cinema Displays, but it is the plastic/paint inside, not the shell itself.

 

[jeffburg]

Yeah, I suspect this is a different issue that ends in similar results because these panels are clear plastic that are painted on the inside to create this effect. I don't have any advice but I would like to know how any attempts go. But if I remember correctly, modification of these types of Macs (PowerMac G4, eMac, iBook, etc) back in the day basically meant using acetone to remove the paint on the inside and then repainting it to the color you want.

That said, I think this would be quit a difficult process with overspray onto the front very likely. As well, matching the white color to the door and the back seems almost impossible. But I suppose if you did remove the paint, you would at least have the opportunity to see if the plastic itself is yellow or it was indeed just the paint.

 

[jeffburg]

On this thread you can see what it looks like to remove the paint and repaint with custom color

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/power-mac-g4-rainbow-apple-build-repost.326902/

 

[mac27]

Thanks for sharing that, very useful to see it from the inside. Yeah, had a suspicion it might be painted. I would consider just literally taking the rear shell or the optical drive bezel into the paint store and having them color-match that, for the greatest degree of accuracy possible.

I'll report back to this thread in the future if I ever decide to try something like this.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Completely off topic (sorry op) but wouldn’t it be neat to strip all the white off to clear so you get to see all of the awesome electronic guts - like one of the crt cinema displays. A completely clear eMac sounds really cool to me

I’ll have to hunt one down.