yellowed murky plastic

[Chris M]

most old puter plastic goes through this
metamorphosis. I had several old monitors that I
scrubbed with a scratchy pad and scouring powder I
think...but it all came back! I'm going to try soaking
the (Lisa) case parts in bleachy water and see what
happens. On second thought...mayhaps I'll practice on
something less, umm, valuable? I don't want to have to
live with it...it looks o so skanky. 

--- Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:

> > 
> > I would imagine this question has been asked
> hundreds
> > of times, but what to do about it? Im guessing
> soaking
> > it in bleachy water (50/50?). What say you?
> 
> It depends on what's casued it. If it's dirt/smoke
> residue/whatever on 
> the surface, then I would start with one of the
> anti-static foam cleaners 
> (both Electrolube and Servisol do good ones). If
> that doesn't help, I'd 
> try propan-2-ol (I haev found some marks that will
> come off with that and 
> not with the foam cleaner).
> 
> I've never found either of thos products to have an
> adverse effect on 
> casings, keytops, etc. You do want to take care if
> there are stuck-on 
> labels (particularly paper ones) that you want to
> preserve.
> 
> More often, though, particularly with DEC hardware,
> the yellowing is due 
> to a chemical change of the plastic. VT100s are well
> known for this. 
> AFAIK it can't be reversed. Maybe sanding off the
> surface would do 
> something, but it would also ruin any texturing of
> the surface too (and 
> therefore it's a bad idea!). Painting over it might
> help, it might also 
> make it look a lot worse. I'd just live with it, I
> think.
> 
> -tony
> 


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