(Topic ID: 128481)

Say Goodbye to Old Yellowed Plastics!

By Eddie

8 years ago


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  • 219 posts
  • 93 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 8 months ago by Sorokyl
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    There are 219 posts in this topic. You are on page 3 of 5.
    #101 8 years ago

    One more pic. Treated and untreated SBM plastics comparison. image.jpgimage.jpg

    #102 8 years ago

    I have a couple of sets of SBM plastics I was going to try with. Maybe get them clean enough to sell the two old sets and recover most of the cost of the new one I just put on.

    #103 8 years ago

    Hmm, interesting. I notice the plastics you used are all pretty smooth, with no halftone dots. I wonder if the halftoning is more what caused my issue; the subtle "dimpling" in the white surface is the source of the flakiness but it's worth noting that not all of mine flaked - just the dimpled parts that resulted from the red halftone dots. Interestingly enough, a day later it looked even clearer than before, but the flakiness was worse.

    #104 8 years ago

    Okay, so here's my final results on the radio:
    Before after.jpgBefore after.jpg

    Not perfect, but 95% better. The case front was done in the 40% salon Cream, wrapped in plastic, in the sun for one day.. The knobs were done in the Clorox 2 solution for a day and a half in the sun..
    There's still a little discoloration on the case, but it's a huge improvement.

    So has anyone tried some posts, or other white playfield parts yet?

    #105 8 years ago

    I tried this, using frisket to mask the paint on the back of the plastics.

    The plastics were cleaned with Novus2 to get any surface gunk off, so the peroxide could work and not get blocked by waxes or nicotine.

    I found 2 piss yellow plastics of the same year (1978). These are the plastics that smell like puke.

    I used 1/4 teaspoon of Oxy-Clean to 1/4 cup BRAND NEW 3% Hydrogen Peroxide. If your peroxide has been opened for a few weeks in the closet, it's not 3% anymore.

    I put the mix in a ziplock bag, then put the bag in a shiny aluminum pie pan on my hotel balcony in the morning.

    sbm-before.jpgsbm-before.jpg
    #106 8 years ago

    In the evening, I returned and found the Oxy/peroxide worked!

    Unfortunately, the stuff removed the frisket too, so some of the white paint got eaten off in the process.

    Here is a pic of the plastic, next to the control plastic that did not go in the mix.

    sbm-after.jpgsbm-after.jpg
    #107 8 years ago

    So we need some better stuff to protect the paint, but clearly it does work well.

    billy.jpgbilly.jpg
    #108 8 years ago

    Maybe a couple of layers of frisket?

    #109 8 years ago
    Quoted from jwilson:

    Maybe a couple of layers of frisket?

    No, the frisket glue did not hold at all.

    The frisket film turned white and was just floating around in the mix.

    #110 8 years ago

    So something that holds better but not too well that it might peel up the white ink layer. Painter's tape?

    #111 8 years ago

    Maybe, painter's tape.

    #112 8 years ago

    I might suggest trying wax/Paraffin. It will come off in hot water, but should be easy to coat.....

    #113 8 years ago
    Quoted from OLDPINGUY:

    I might suggest trying wax/Paraffin. It will come off in hot water, but should be easy to coat.....

    How hot of water?

    I wonder if the chemical reaction or the sunlight will make it too warm?

    #114 8 years ago

    What about just using the paste on the top layer only?

    Say goodbye to old yeller
    old-yeller-1957-09.pngold-yeller-1957-09.png

    -1
    #115 8 years ago

    Hehe so I guess it works for SBM plastics.

    I used no frisket. Simply submerged the plastic in a small dish. Plastic ends were supported on the sides of bowl. I'll keep checking the plastic for any flaking but no art was lost in my case at this point.

    #116 8 years ago
    Quoted from vid1900:

    How hot of water?

    Wax melts around 113 degrees, so I think an open source, or Northern sun should be OK.....UV, not heat needed.
    A petroleum based coating might work, but all I can see is a mess.

    Years ago for commercial plating, we used wax coatings, and it protected against many chemical reactions, on delicate
    surfaces.....certainly a candles worth of drips to test....

    It might work???

    #117 8 years ago

    What if one were to stick clear mylar on the bottom side, permanently? I've added mylar to plastics that can suffer damage from below (ball hits or mounting hardware). Not sure if the adhesive would last thru the bath.. Clear packing tape may be another alternative.

    #118 8 years ago

    Yeah, I was thinking of trying the clear tape too. I'm itching to give this another shot. I have some broken WW plastics I could try, but I don't think they're too yellowed, not are they as intricate as the FP plastics I have to deal with. Still, seems like the anti-yellowing property is affirmed, it's just ink preservation. I wonder what saved that original SBM plastic above?

    #119 8 years ago

    Why not skip the oxyclean altogether. If I remember the thread right all the plastics that had paint come off also had oxyclean as well. Does the peroxide by itself take the paint off?

    #120 8 years ago
    Quoted from ddebuss:

    Why not skip the oxyclean altogether. If I remember the thread right all the plastics that had paint come off also had oxyclean as well. Does the peroxide by itself take the paint off?

    Oxyclean has the necessary Tetra Acetyl Ethylene Diamine we need to start the reaction.

    #121 8 years ago

    I too figured out that Frisket adhesive is water soluble... I had tried, a year or more ago, to use it as a stencil material to cut out graphics and float the resulting frisket stencil over a play field to spray that area... and the glue dissolves in water. However, the GerberMask stencil material from 3M appears to hold up to water- I can float that and the adhesive holds up. I do not however know what would happen if it remained in water for an extended time... But one could easily test this.

    One could try this- but I don't know if it would work, maybe someone has some and could test it. Its says it cleans up with water and thats not sounding very good but perhaps with the paste peroxide solution it would hold up.

    this is an air brush sprayable liquid masking material- its used in painting RC car bodies (and probably a bunch of other stuff).
    Its Bob Dively liquid masking film.

    http://www.amazon.com/DIVELY-3000-Liquid-Masking-DIVR3000/dp/B000X4MV4Q

    throw down a few coats and give it a try- someone here must have some to try.

    #122 8 years ago

    What about good old rubber cement as a brush-on frisket? It would sure be easy enough to remove. I think it's solvent-based though, which might not be a good idea on the printing.

    #123 8 years ago

    I did not use oxyclean. Just hydrogen peroxide 3%

    #124 8 years ago

    Rubber cement would probably be too aggressive an adhesive for old screenprinted ink. Just think about how easily backglasses peel off.

    #125 8 years ago

    Here are some plastics from 1979, but from Williams this time.

    Same 1/4 teaspoon Oxy, 1/4 cup peroxide 3% formula.

    clear-before.jpgclear-before.jpg clear-after.jpgclear-after.jpg
    #126 8 years ago
    Quoted from vid1900:

    Here are some plastics from 1979, but from Williams this time.

    Same 1/4 teaspoon Oxy, 1/4 cup peroxide 3% formula.

    Is it outdoors? And if so for how long? They seem to still be a bit yellow.

    I picked up materials today along with two 75W UV bulbs to see how well it works controlled indoors.

    I did get the 40% beauty salon creme. They had a clear but thought the white cream would let me see coverage.

    Not sure if I'll have time to test until the weekend, but this seems to be an improvement. I just wonder if more time would help, or if you need to refresh the mixture to get more effect?

    #127 8 years ago
    Quoted from dozer1:

    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

    Some of the others are also using Oxyclean. How did yours work out?

    #128 8 years ago
    Quoted from VacFink:

    Is it outdoors? And if so for how long?

    It was cloudy this morning, so I put them out at lunchtime and came back to get them after sundown. So it might have been 7 hours.

    Quoted from VacFink:

    They seem to still be a bit yellow.

    You can't see the yellow when you hold them in the air, but you can see it when you put them on bright white paper.

    I'd say 80% of the yellow is removed.

    If it's sunny in the morning, I might put them out for another round with fresh chem.

    I'll report if any further de-yellowing occurs.

    #129 8 years ago
    Quoted from VacFink:

    two 75W UV bulbs to see how well it works controlled indoors.

    UV A or B?

    #130 8 years ago
    Quoted from rufessor:

    I too figured out that Frisket adhesive is water soluble... I had tried, a year or more ago, to use it as a stencil material to cut out graphics and float the resulting frisket stencil over a play field to spray that area... and the glue dissolves in water. However, the GerberMask stencil material from 3M appears to hold up to water- I can float that and the adhesive holds up. I do not however know what would happen if it remained in water for an extended time... But one could easily test this.
    One could try this- but I don't know if it would work, maybe someone has some and could test it. Its says it cleans up with water and thats not sounding very good but perhaps with the paste peroxide solution it would hold up.
    this is an air brush sprayable liquid masking material- its used in painting RC car bodies (and probably a bunch of other stuff).
    Its Bob Dively liquid masking film.
    amazon.com link »
    throw down a few coats and give it a try- someone here must have some to try.

    I was going to suggest this as well.

    Quoted from vid1900:

    Maybe, painter's tape.

    Still say give this a try:
    http://frogtape.com/how-frogtape-works

    It creates a seal along the edged when it gets wet (usually from latex paints.)

    #131 8 years ago
    Quoted from Gorno:

    Some of the others are also using Oxyclean. How did yours work out?

    Well, I was hoping to leave mine in the sun for about a week before posting. We have only had 3 sunny days here since I started this, but the results are not encouraging. Maybe some reduction in yellowing, but not much. My results were probably not quite as good as the ones from this link

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

    Now I haven't given up hope on this de-yellowing process though. Just needs to be refined. Higher % peroxide, more intense UV, longer exposure times, adding oxy clean? All things that would likely help.

    One last thing. A F-14 dome, sitting high on a back box, is exposed to smoke real bad in a bar too. It could be a combination of chemical changes that effect them so much. Not just the yellowing that plastics under the PF glass get. My conclusion is if you want a nice , non discolored F-14 white or clear dome, you better buy a reproduction one while they are available. Worth a shot tho

    #132 8 years ago

    I tried OxiClean + 3% H2O2 for a couple days in the sun on some old pop bumper caps and a shooter beehive from an early classic Stern. Some of the caps were brought back into "usable" condition, and the beehive looks like new. The Bally pop caps (Paragon) paint began to soften after the 2nd day, but nothing too bad.

    #133 8 years ago

    Question: Is it necessary for the UV light to shine directly on the area where the bromine is making the surface brown, or is the UV only needed to activate the reaction in the solution, and all surfaces in the solution will benefit? The answer to this question will determine if it is necessary to turn/rotate white objects during the process.

    From my beehive test, it looks like "dark" areas, like inside the beehive, also benefited.

    Mac

    #134 8 years ago
    Quoted from Sheprd:

    Is it necessary for the UV light to shine directly on the area where the bromine is making the surface brown, or is the UV only needed to activate the reaction in the solution,

    I'm wondering this myself. My test plastic from FP definitely got brighter still even after I posted the pic, and paint continued to degrade to a point for another day. It was inside and unexposed since I posted. But in the last couple days I think the reaction has ended.

    Good thing too, or we might end up "those plastics aren't missing, they've been modded to be invisible!"

    #135 8 years ago
    Quoted from goingincirclez:

    I'm wondering this myself. My test plastic from FP definitely got brighter still even after I posted the pic, and paint continued to degrade to a point for another day. It was inside and unexposed since I posted. But in the last couple days I think the reaction has ended.
    Good thing too, or we might end up "those plastics aren't missing, they've been modded to be invisible!"

    Tell this to the F-14 blank edition guy.

    #136 8 years ago

    Tried this with some old white Bally lane guides and plastic posts and didn't see a drastic result. Did 2 days in sunlight with Oxy Clean added.

    #137 8 years ago

    Sorry to report that I havent had much luck. Three jet-bumber caps with some burn on them, and very little change over a week with Hydrogen Peroxide in a plastic ziploc in the sun.
    What additives did anyone mention? Or is the burn too much to remove?

    #138 8 years ago

    The yellowing and burning are really two different problems. This leaches out the bromine that reacts with the UV that yellow's over time. The burn probably wont' come out.

    Beauty Salon peroxide may be needed. if overall yellowing isn't showing much results, its a stronger solution. it ups the 3% peroxide to 40% and only cost $5-6 bucks at a salon supply store.

    #139 8 years ago
    Quoted from L_satan:

    Sorry to report that I havent had much luck. Three jet-bumber caps with some burn on them, and very little change over a week with Hydrogen Peroxide in a plastic ziploc in the sun.
    What additives did anyone mention? Or is the burn too much to remove?

    Peroxide works okay for slight yellowing, but I had better results with salon cream or the Clorox 2 solution (see my previous posts).
    But as far as the burns, nothing is going to remove that. There's been a chemical change in the plastic.

    #140 8 years ago

    Vid did the plastics smell any better after the treatment?

    #141 8 years ago
    Quoted from VacFink:

    Vid did the plastics smell any better after the treatment?

    I did not smell them yet.

    I was going to run them one more time, but it's been raining.

    #142 8 years ago

    OK guys check this out . The process works great on the BOP Head Ball guides. I made a separate post on the Head but its was related to this post.

    https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bop-face-box-ball-guide-clearing#post-2500556

    1 week later
    #143 8 years ago

    So has anyone tried this on some plastic play field hardware (or even cabinet parts) yet?

    #144 8 years ago

    Has anyone tried this in an eprom eraser to speed up the process?

    #145 8 years ago

    Read through the thread, and I'm curious - I'm thinking this method WILL work on non-transparent plastics as well? (Not decaled/painted ones, but actually yellowed white plastic? Like drop targets?)

    Quoted from Riptor:

    Has anyone tried this in an eprom eraser to speed up the process?

    No. Only UV light erases EPROMs. The chemicals don't 'help' the UV light..

    #146 8 years ago
    Quoted from Coyote:

    Read through the thread, and I'm curious - I'm thinking this method WILL work on non-transparent plastics as well? (Not decaled/painted ones, but actually yellowed white plastic? Like drop targets?)

    Absolutely.

    #147 8 years ago
    Quoted from Coyote:

    Read through the thread, and I'm curious - I'm thinking this method WILL work on non-transparent plastics as well? (Not decaled/painted ones, but actually yellowed white plastic? Like drop targets?)

    Check my post (#104) and check out the radio. It works well on white plastics. I think what needs to be seen is if the results are the same on colored plastic.

    #148 8 years ago
    Quoted from girloveswaffles:

    Check my post (#104) and check out the radio. It works well on white plastics. I think what needs to be seen is if the results are the same on colored plastic.

    Well, I'm an idiot. I read this thread and somehow either missed your radio, or just forgot you had posted pics.

    My pieces are MUCH smaller, and not as yellowed - they had decals on them, so the decaled area is nice and white, while the exposed areas are yellowed in varying amounts. (Some areas more yellowed than others..) So I'll give it a shot.

    --Mike

    #149 8 years ago
    Quoted from Coyote:

    My pieces are MUCH smaller, and not as yellowed - they had decals on them, so the decaled area is nice and white, while the exposed .
    --Mike

    The pinball equivalent of a bad sun tan.

    Seriously thou, are any of the parts colors other than white? And post some before and after pictures for us.

    #150 8 years ago
    Quoted from girloveswaffles:

    The pinball equivalent of a bad sun tan.
    Seriously thou, are any of the parts colors other than white? And post some before and after pictures for us.

    I will - unfortunately though, they're all white. The rest of the parts I have don't need to be de-yellowed, and there's not even much plastic to begin with. (These parts are coming from a jukebox...)

    There are 219 posts in this topic. You are on page 3 of 5.

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