Another go at RetrObright

[OldIsNew]

This is a cross post but it worked pretty well so I thought I'd put it here too.

I have a TRS-80 Model II keyboard that I recently restored. The keys had significantly yellowed - I could see they had been light grey from parts of the keys that had been shielded from light.

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I haven't RetrObrighted anything before and wanted to see what would happen with use of common 3% hydrogen peroxide and lamps instead of 10 - 14% peroxide and sunlight. I used two 60W CFL black lights and two 90W equivalent halogen flood lights. I also used OxyClean as recommended.

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Added enough peroxide to cover the keys well (about 40 oz) and 1/4 tsp OxyCXlean to a glass pan with a piece of Mylar emergency blanket underneath as a reflector, added the keys and put them under the lights for 8 hours.

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I didn't expect too much from the 3% peroxide but it ended up working well and the 3% peroxide only cost $0.85 per quart.

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[depletedvespene]

Impressive. Well done, sir!

[wobbled]

that is awesome, what a difference it made, I need to buy me a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and submerge my hhkb pro 1 cases in it This thread has given me hope!

[flowerlandfilms]

Nice result! Making the text brighter on the black keys would be nice too but who knows how the black plastic would react.

[OldIsNew]

Thanks everyone. I was very surprised to see what a difference it actually made.

Nice result! Making the text brighter on the black keys would be nice too but who knows how the black plastic would react.

I wasn't sure either, that's why I held off on doing the black caps. The text on them has yellowed and it would be nice to get it whiter again. I may try it since the grey caps are double shot and the retrobrighting doesn't seem to have affected the black plastic on them - any thoughts about giving it as shot?

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[seebart]

I wasn't sure either, that's why I held off on doing the black caps. The text on them has yellowed and it would be nice to get it whiter again.

I've been holding off on that for years. Try one keycap if you like...I have no idea if and how it might affect the black plastic. Nice work BTW.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Interesting — Key Tronic? I didn't know there were Key Tronic TRS-80 keyboards. Nicely cleaned up ready for wiki photos, I see …

This one is Key Tronic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlp1guSPzEc

This hopelessly jumpy aroundy mess (did he film it in an earthquake?) reveals itself to be Cherry solid state capacitive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCpGkdy8alA — I expected to see that even less, but your eyes will bleed attempting to watch it.

TRS-80 owners have a lot of interesting things to contribute to the wiki, I see.

[flowerlandfilms]

I've done it with rather Dark Grey and it came out fine, so I would say go for it with a test key.
Just makes sure it's evenly covered and I would say you's be fine, but they aren't my keys.

[flowerlandfilms]

Also, it's just occurred to me that if these are doubleshot, you could just retrobright the white part from inside the keycap, give it the old backwards switcheroo.

[OldIsNew]

I've done it with rather Dark Grey and it came out fine, so I would say go for it with a test key.

Also, it's just occurred to me that if these are doubleshot, you could just retrobright the white part from inside the keycap, give it the old backwards switcheroo.

Good thought, would be interesting to see if the effect goes deep enough into the plastic. I think I am going to try doing the black caps, but going to wait for the weekend when I can do it during the day and check on them frequently, rather than leave them unattended.