I might try it on my Taxi dome soon!

If I can find something big enough to fit my F-14 beacon; I will try it.

At my BJ's Wholesale Club, they have clear jugs/barrels of animal crackers and pretzels, about 7" diameter. Would that fit?

FYI The active ingredient in Clorox 2 is Hydrogen peroxide. I am testing some parts from an old radio that has yellowed in a solution of this to see if it works.

I am not sure of their dimensions. I would have to measure one.

My buddy did this on a Playstation and it worked great. The trick is to go to a beauty supply store and get the 40%

Bingo, you can get up to 50% solution at the professional beauty store, use gloves people
I bought a liter bottle of 50% for $6 and two black light lamps at Lowes for $15 each. The lamps are great in the winter.

Very interesting, I wonder if this work with the yellowed white posts from EM's, getting the light to evenly hit them might be a problem, but it would be great if it worked!

Spinning disk for even light distro.
Mod an old microwave.

I have to try this on the yellowed shooter beehive I replaced on a classic stern...

Any reports on screened plastics?

Good thing I've saved all of those white (now yellowed) post nuts! I can't wait to put my nuts in this solution!

I can't wait to put my nuts in this solution!

Hahaha....

Took an old and very discolored IJ biplane. Soaked in in the sun for a week. One wing not included as seen. Did not seem to affect the red area or the decals.

image.jpg

Addendum. Wing was broken off if you can't tell that so I just left it untreated as a reference.

Is this one of those post you allowed to reply with "That's what she said"?

IJ biplane, old broken and very discolored. Soaked the plane without one wing (for reference) for 1 week. Did not seem to affect the decal or red color.

image.jpg

Sorry for the double post. Technical problem.

What percentage strength was the H2O2?

Turned out nice!

Whoa what? I didn't say that!

Regular off the pharmacy shelf h2o2. About 1/2 bottle in a zip lock bag. Did not dilute it.

So you are saying the 3 % stuff? Looks great. I imagine if you use higher percentage hyd peroxide it wouldn't take as long. But whats the hurry anyway! 3% at Wal-mart is 88 cents a quart!

Yes. 3%. I actually just sat it outside and left it for a week without monitoring it. It probably was ready earlier but I have been busy and forgot about it.

I just picked up a Firepower project whose plastics, needless to say, have seen better days. They've actually cleaned up OK but still have a bit of yellowing. Still, the target plastic is pretty basic and easy to reproduce if need be, so I decided to donate it to the cause.

Here's a before shot: the plastic after a quick rinse-wash, wipe, and buff with some plastic polish:

Before.jpg

Today I found the pharmacy-grade peroxide, poured some in a bag with a dash of powdered oxy-clean, and left it out in the sun for about 6 hours. Lots of clouds passing by so it wasn't full unrelenting exposure.

After.jpg

There's a definite lightening to the plastic itself... less yellow and more clear; and I'm not sure about the color, if it's faded or not. Perhaps more exposure would make it completely clear...

...but that said, I won't find out because there IS a full-stop problem to this.

Previously, the underside was pristine, even, bright white.

Now, for some reason where the red halftone dots were, portions of them have flaked off... and that halftoning is now clear. In fact I can still flake more of the ink off by hand if I try. So I would say it's damaged for sure.

On a piece like this, that's no big deal, I can refill the red and repaint the white layer pretty easily. But on a larger or more intricate plastic? Yeah, not thinkin' so.

Hope that helps others who were on the fence: best hold off for now. But I'd like to know if my peroxide solution was to blame, so if anyone else can lend a sacrifice to the cause, please do so for SCIENCE!

Thanks for trying.
The only result I would want for that plastic is for the edges to be crystal clear again. The art area still looks good.

I wonder if you could seal the back side of a screened plastic so that the peroxide wouldn't make contact with the artwork. It's really just the layer of plastic above that you want to clear up. Maybe some kind of tape could work as long as it doesn't pull the artwork off. Maybe a layer of triple thick. Maybe you could put a bead of hot glue or caulk around the plastic and temporarily glue it to something that could be submerged in the peroxide.

Is it possible those were going to go on their own. Red is one of the first colors to go light fast, so its possible its just that.

I have a broken plastic I'll have to replace on my Jokerz that I'll try on Monday once I get some high grade peroxide.

My entire upper playfield is amber yellow and looking forward to getting it entirely clear again. I'll share photos when I do.

I've wanted to tint some plastics and add some metal flake to make them sparkle (think shimering or pearl sprayed on the back of a ramp) and wondered if it would work. However I haven't yet because I figured that in the end, when it flaked off, it would become an abrasive and damage other areas in the end. Maybe less of an issue with LED's. The silk screens on the plastics are heat flexible and set with heat, so they can endure without degradation. Not sure about this other stuff, something to consider i guess.

They sell 40% peroxide at the beauty supply house that is paste.

I wonder if you mixed the oxy with it and just put the paste on the face of the plastic - keeping it away from the backside?

Or a shallow dish, face down. I'll work out a method to try to test both. Its a broken plastic so its already going to be replaced at some point, that is when I find one.

I was going to use a 60w UV Bulb in a clamp light and also check it over time, should be an interesting experiment. Now to finish up these cookies, so I can use the container for the experiment!

I'll snap pictures along the way so others can repeat easily. If I can find one open tomorrow, maybe we'll get a jump on it.

When I clear up my upper jokerz upper playfield, I'll try and either apply the paste in bands or dunk in liquid vertically to create a darkroom 'test strip' showing the progression over time. It should fit in a large plastic bag, so either is possible.

I'll apply over an inch or so, 4-6 hours later re-apply that first inch and a 2nd new inch, and continue up the ladder. If it clears up in the first band, I'll shorten the time frame between new levels to vet out those shorter durations.

The broken right sling shot cover I can cover the front and do the same over the back, to see if time exposure affects the screened areas. Its a lot lighter, so maybe I'll try over the counter 3% with longer durations for half and the commercial grade on the other half.

At least then we'll know what it does. I love pinball science!

I wonder if the type of plastic makes a difference.

You know how those old Bally plastics stink like cheese?

Hmm. Wonder if you could apply this to a playfield (sparingly) to whiten up yellowed areas? Maybe someone that has a unusable old playfield could test this.

The thing everyone has to remember about this is that it isn't bleaching anything. There's a fire retardant chemical added to plastics called bromine that leeches out over time and yellows in UV light.

Here's some details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retr0bright

Please share results. How far will you strip it before cleaning?

The process only works to remove bromine from plastic products. Since your playfield is extremely unlikely to have any bromine in it, it won't work.

Don't take the risk of damaging a playfield with a process that quite simply isn't going to work.

Michael

The upper playfield on Jokerz is just a big plastic

Yes it is. I used to have a Jokerz. Fun game and I hope it works. The yellowing of that top mini-pf used to drive me nuts.

My reply was specifically directed towards trying to use this method on a playfield.

Michael

The Frisket used to mask while painting is solvent resistant (it does not lift, wrinkle or allow paint to creep under it).

Maybe that could protect the screen printed side of the plastics while soaking?

Project F-14 Dome. I was going to use the big ziplock bag at first, but it leaked. I used a big plastic cheesball container cut off and used plastic wrap on top. It took about 1.5 gallons of 3% so thats around 6 bucks worth. I don't know if it will work or not, but I will update this in a few days with results. Good or bad.

If it does work, I will do the blue and red domes too in the same solution. You can't tell the yellowing as bad on them, but I am sure its there.

DSCF4908.JPG

DSCF4921.JPG

Lay it on a space blanket or shiny aluminum foil for maximum tanning!

We had some discussion last year in the F-14 Club thread about de-yellowing the domes. I tried it myself and it helped a little...but I didn't use the 40% solution so that's probably why. I ended up getting a new beacon dome anyway, since they are available.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/f14-tomcat-owners-club-fans-also-welcome/page/7#post-1675710

Use Iodine and lemon juice as well. You might want to play a jam box next to it.

I've got some Gottlieb Sys80 plastics that smell like puke

I have done this to my F-14 dome too. Was a cool project really.

Photos in my thread. (No longer have the originals.)

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/took-some-yellow-out-of-my-f-14-clear-beacon

Okay, so here's my test items with Clorox 2 (1/4 cup liquid to 1 gallon of water).

Old Radio Shack Shower / Beach radio with years of yellowing on the front and top:

Ugly radio.jpg
Ugly Radio 2.jpg
Here with one days worth of soaking in Clorox 2 solution and sunlight. There wasn't enough room in the container for the front and back, so I put the front part way in to make a comparison cleaning (also, I can't get the waterproof speaker out without damaging the case. I'm going to try the peroxide cream and Saran wrap method on this when I get the cream).
One day .jpg
Comparison.jpg
Even the foam rubber on the inside of the battery cover came out cleaner and brighter looking (although the interior of the panel wasn't yellowed, the foam had turned a dull brownish cover. Maybe this had something to do with the C cells).

It still needs some treating, but there is a definite difference.
Close up.jpg

Or possibly "Frog Tape". It claims to make a seal along the edge of the tape when you paint. ( I haven't tried it, but that's their claim.)

Silverball Mania screened plastic.
3%. 2 sunny days outside, 2 cloudy days outside. YMMV
AfterAfterBefore