The Brown SE

[joeventura]

I just bought a Macintosh SE off of Facebook marketplace Got for a great price it's surprised me and had a 68030 25 MHz upgrade inside of it that's all good news. It powers up and it seems to work. The bad news is it is so filthy it looks as brown as a Macintosh plus is there a foolproof way to get it back to platinum white? Is retro bright the only option?
Thanks

 

[akator]

Foolproof? No. Likely to work? Yes.

1. Hand wash the case well.
2. Remove badges and other things that don't need bleaching.
3. Buy peroxide hair developer cream, it's on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Salon-Care-Stabilized-Consistent-Predictable/dp/B0BZTKTFQC/
4. Apply the cream evenly, not too thickly.
5. Expose the treated case parts to UV light. Time depends on UV strength.
6. Fully wash the treated case parts. Check for areas that need another round of exposure. If needed, go to (4).

Some people prefer sunlight. Wrap the case in plastic wrap to prevent the cream from drying out.

I prefer using a UV box because I've had inconsistent results from sunlight. The UV box resolves this. I made one with a large tote lined with reflective material. LED UV lights are wrapped around the inside sides and on the top. With this I do not cover the parts with plastic wrap, I just leave them in the box for 24 hours then check. I wash all of the cream off, check everything, and if necessary treat again exactly the same way.

For items that are not badly yellowed, I try them in the UV box *without* peroxide developer, but this takes much longer — one item took a full month.

 

[scj312]

FWIW, everything I have retrobrited with the hair developer cream in the past has re-yellowed within a couple years, even when sitting in a dark closet. I am not sure there is a fool-proof method.

 

[akator]

I have had re-yellowing as well, but it isn't on all things I've treated.

The UV-only method is very slow and doesn't get things as close to original, but in my experience it has proved to be more stable than any of the peroxide methods.

 

[joeventura]

Thanks!

 

[S. Pupp]

Sticking the plastic case out in bright sunlight for a day or keeping it for a couple weeks in a UV box, both without hydrogen peroxide, were reported as being successful on this forum at some point over the past few years.

 

[Peter-Erik]

This is my setup.

- Box with some UV Led lights from all angels. (USB Lights from AliExpress - USB power)
- 5 Liter (Live in Europe) 12% Hydrogen Peroxide - Price €20 -> using Big Mac index -> $20 ;-)

(for the hole case I fill it with extra water so it is submerge (use a brick on the inside to keep it submerge)

This SE Front took some 24 hours for this result.

Greetings

 

[joeventura]

Halfway there!! Thanks all!

 

[joeventura]

With the assistance of sunlight it goes much quicker, the question is I get streaky results. Does that meean Im putting it on too thick or not thiick enough?>

 

[lfletche]

If you have access to some sunny days - my favourite way to do this (especially in the summer) is Vapor RetrObritting. I recently did a YT short on a SE/30 case:

 

[wottle]

With the assistance of sunlight it goes much quicker, the question is I get streaky results. Does that meean Im putting it on too thick or not thiick enough?>

I've stopped using sunlight and peroxide for retrobrighting after a couple of streaky results. My guess is that the sunlight can dry out the peroxide creme and it can affect the lightening process making it too strong in some areas and too weak in others. The sun's UV rays and heat simply make it happen too fast that differences in the plastic coloring appear.

I've switched to a box lined with aluminum foil to reflect everything back into the box, then covered with a couple UV light strips. I coat the case in peroxide cream and then wrap in plastic wrap, making sure it is air tight so the cream doesn't dry out. I leave it in overnight and have never had a marbled finish. It takes longer, but it also means it's a lot easier to avoid mistakes. I forgot about a part in there for an extra 12 hours or so one time and it was fine.

I haven't tried the submersion or vapor retrobrighting. Submersion simply takes too much peroxide for my liking. May have to try the vapor retrobrighting as @lfletche suggests above.

Alternately, the UV only method can be effective, and I used it on a large batch of ~40 or so computers I picked up a while back. The results were OK, but I didn't have the time or patience to do the cases individually in my UV light box.

 

[joeventura]

If you have access to some sunny days - my favourite way to do this (especially in the summer) is Vapor RetrObritting. I recently did a YT short on a SE/30 case:

Well done thanks