Lightbrighting yellowed plastics
Has anybody tried lightbrighting yet?
A few days ago I read about the lightbrighting method to restore yellowed plastics, it consists in simply putting the yellowed hardware under direct sunlight for hours, for as much days as needed, the effect is not as dramatic as using retrobright but the simplicity is mind-blowing, and without the risk of staining the surface badly with the peroxide.
Basically you just need to clean up the surface good, put it in the sun and you're good to go, it might not completely reverse yellowing in severe cases but there will be significant improvement.
This weekend I tried with a white PC engine controller that was moderately yellow, only left it in the sun for one day and the improvement is amazing, I could only spot a couple of areas that were much yellowed are now still a little bit yellow, I left it today in the sun again, kind of regret not taking pictures before treatment but I can report it definitively works (also worth mentioning that where I live we often get intense sunlight).
Check out this video as it explains lightbrighting with a lot of detail and examples:
A few days ago I read about the lightbrighting method to restore yellowed plastics, it consists in simply putting the yellowed hardware under direct sunlight for hours, for as much days as needed, the effect is not as dramatic as using retrobright but the simplicity is mind-blowing, and without the risk of staining the surface badly with the peroxide.
Basically you just need to clean up the surface good, put it in the sun and you're good to go, it might not completely reverse yellowing in severe cases but there will be significant improvement.
This weekend I tried with a white PC engine controller that was moderately yellow, only left it in the sun for one day and the improvement is amazing, I could only spot a couple of areas that were much yellowed are now still a little bit yellow, I left it today in the sun again, kind of regret not taking pictures before treatment but I can report it definitively works (also worth mentioning that where I live we often get intense sunlight).
Check out this video as it explains lightbrighting with a lot of detail and examples:
Comments
Wasn't this debunked and deemed unsafe for most plastics?
It definitively works but I did read a discussion where some were arguing this could made plastics very brittle, but so does retr0bright so any de-yellowing will make the plastics brittle. Retr0bright seems like the most definive/permanent solution but it's obviously a hassle and if something goes wrong it can permanently stain the plastic. I'd remove any actual electronics so to only leave the plastics under direct sunlight, and I'd leave it no more than 2-3 days.
Doesn't seem to work, at least not universally:
His technique was not good, the peroxide cream was all unevenly distributed, mostly because of the clear film.
I admit I've done exactly the same thing in the past with the same results (uneven whitening), now I know better, what I do is mix the peroxide cream with a little bit of oxyclean, I use a brush to mix it evenly until the oxy grains dissove for the most part and it becomes foamy, then I apply this as evenly as possible.
I don't get that there seems to be a lot of complaining about lightbrighting, seemingly out of fear of the excess of sunlight ruining the plastics for good, but what's a couple days of sunlight vs. a flea market situation where the stuff might have been in the sun for months?
Yesterday was the 2nd day of the PC Engine controler exposed to the sunlight, I compared to other controllers I have that were traditionally retrobrighted and I cannot tell the difference. Just in case I applied a bit of Armor All to the surface to preserve and protect it.