How to: Remove Sharpe from carts

Are you stick of someone elses name scribbled all over your cart?  NES games seem to get the most namea scribble on them, due to the large smooth open areas.  I'm sure parents didn't want their kids to lose their games at a friends house.  Reclaim your carts!!!

1. I start with Qtips and Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol (70%).  Dab the Qtip in the alcohol and remove as much of the sharpe as you can by rubbing vigorously.

2. Now you should be able to see the sharpe in just the lower parts of the texture.  Now bust out your magic eraser (avail. at walmart).  Here is where the magic takes place.  Lightly rub the remaining sharpe in a circular direction and change direction as needed.  Rubbing too hard will wear down the texture on the cart and leave a smooth spot.  Keep going till the sharpe is gone!

3.  Clean the white haze off with the alcohol and Qtips.  The white haze are the tiny bits of the magic eraser(melamine foam) that work their way into the crevices to get the sharpe.

Info on the ME http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melamine_foam

4.  Optional - If the area you cleaned look dull, I use a product call Novus 2.
It's a light plastic polish available at www.pinballlife.com and motorcyle shops.
Novus 2 also works great to clean the contacts too!  Removes the dirt, tarnish, and leaves them nice and shiny!  Games work 1st time always, in a clean system!

See the pics below for BEFORE and AFTER.

I hope this helps!

Comments

  • Thanks, I persoanlly tried to remove marker but it sounds like a bear.

    Should this be a sticky?
  • Magic Erasers are terrific. We've saved many a game/system from the bulk junk lots with this product. Maybe I should rub down those all black Castlevania i &ii carts I have...
  • This has been discussed in another thread. I'll leave this one go, but there are lots of good suggestions. All will be covered in a future article on the e-Zine for posterity's sake, so no need to sticky any particular thread.
  • I just thought this deserved a topic and I wanted to show the results.  It's quick and easy to do.  Makes it easier to have a clean collection, rather than rebuying games with marker on them.  Later I might post the method I use to preserve and restore the ZIF connector to new, without tightening the pins.  I don't like having to yank on game to get them back out :-) 
  • Thanks for the tips,I would love to see a write up on how to clean the system connectors.
  • Originally posted by: Retrodude

    Thanks for the tips,I would love to see a write up on how to clean the system connectors.


    Me too.
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