Subject:
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Re: possible answer to yellowed parts
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Thu, 5 Mar 2009 23:41:07 GMT
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Viewed:
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9472 times
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In lugnet.general, Jonathan Wilson wrote:
> I found this article here
> http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/
> about a process to reverse the yellowing of ABS computer parts.
> Anyone know if the same thing would work for yellowed and UV damaged LEGO?
> Anyone want to take a sacrificial UV damaged part (one thats not worth much
> and easily replaceable) and try it themselves?
YES, it works, but there are even simpler solutions.
A safe way which has been succesfully tried by many Czech and Slovak AFOLs at
www.kostky.org since 2005 (sorry, I don't recall who invented it):
- you can restore only parts meant to be white (gray or blue are not
recommended)
- you cannot restore CA or metal parts (they would be destroyed by the
chemicals)
- be careful when restoring parts with printed patterns
- !!!CAUTION!!! The chemicals are corrosive! They can damage skin, clothes,
metal tools etc. (use gloves, glasses etc.)
- chemicals used: H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide, 30%) or NaClO (sodium hypochlorite,
sold as "SAVO" in CZ/SK, I don't know the percentage)
- just sink the parts into the liquid in a plastic or glass jar with a tight lid
- fish the parts out after 1-7 days (H2O2) or 7-14 days (NaClO) or until they're
white enough
- if you leave the parts soaked too long (for, say, months) they can lose
patterns, lose flexibility or get "blisters" (see
http://www.kostky.org/forum/index.php?topic=2520.msg88513#msg88513 )
My own experience (you may try it on your own risk):
- BEFORE:
http://www.kostky.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=15589.0;attach=40991;image
(white, "ex white", tan)
- AFTER: the "ex white" bricks got a 2-week-bath in SAVO (NaClO); sorry, no
photo, because I mixed them up with white bricks and cannot tell them apart
- some other bricks remained yellowed even after a month in SAVO although they
weren't yellowed so badly!
- experiment with old gray: a very "brownish" piece, 48 hours in SAVO, now the
shade is lighter than new stone gray!
- experiment with blue: a very "greenish" piece, after 7 hours in SAVO, sadly
the blue pigment goes off quicker than the yellow shade (the result is something
between white, green and blue)
- maybe some other chemicals with active oxygen can work but I haven't tried yet
any
Play well (and avoid the chlorine smell),
Martin
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | possible answer to yellowed parts
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| I found this article here (URL) a process to reverse the yellowing of ABS computer parts. Anyone know if the same thing would work for yellowed and UV damaged LEGO? Anyone want to take a sacrificial UV damaged part (one thats not worth much and (...) (16 years ago, 2-Mar-09, to lugnet.general) !
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