Retrobrighting keycaps when it's cold and dark outside

[kelvinhall05]

Hi. The keycaps on my recently acquired Zenith Z150 are the doubleshot ones and are quite yellowed. I also think the case might be slightly yellowed but I'm not certain. Anyway, I was wondering if there is a way to retrobright them when it's far too cold and dark outside. I know the 8-bit guy on YouTube does it in a pot on the stove. Can I do that? How? I obviously don't want to damage these gorgeous caps, but I also don't want to wait potentially months for it to get warm enough to do it outside. Thanks!

[kmnov2017]

In an oven but with no more than 60 degree heat.

[kelvinhall05]

In an oven but with no more than 60 degree heat.

Would I need to put UV lights inside or something? Also, celsius or farenheit? Or can I just soak them in water and peroxide?

[Findecanor]

You can do it with heat and peroxide. I've retrobrighted keycaps by heating the H₂O₂ solution in stages in the microwave until a sugar thermometer showed 70° C, Poured that over my keycaps and let sit covered. Then after a while, I poured the solution back into the heating container and repeated.
But I think that a combination of warm solution and a UV lamp would work even better. (Got a tanning bed, or etched your own circuit boards?)

Just water and peroxide and no heat won't work. Proper retrobrighting is actually not bleaching, but if you expose them for peroxide too much/too long, bleaching will occur as bright streaks that you can't remove.

[kmnov2017]

In an oven but with no more than 60 degree heat.

Would I need to put UV lights inside or something? Also, celsius or farenheit? Or can I just soak them in water and peroxide?

Celsius obviously!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nobody in their right mind uses Fahrenheit (whatever that is!!!!!!!!!!).

[andrewjoy]

Celsius obviously!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nobody in their right mind uses Fahrenheit (whatever that is!!!!!!!!!!).

People also insist on using middle endian dates!

1st of June 2020 is ether 01/06/2020 or 2020/06/01, what the hell is 06/01/2020 who came up with that insanity?

But then again , people also insist on base 10 maths when for day to day tasks base 12 is much better!

[uttindar]

Haven't tried those methods (as I don't have any urgency for retrobrighting at this time of the year) but keeping them in mind just in case:
Heating with sous-vide stick: viewtopic.php?t=19220
Plastic container + UV LED strip: https://youtu.be/AVNHC4td7MQ?t=595

[adamcobabe]

Living in London means I can't really retrobrite with the sun. Haven't seen it in weeks. I bought two reptile basking lights. UV bulbs vary greatly on the amount of UV rays they actually put out. Most don't put out much, but the reptile bulbs are one of the stronger options. They don't last forever though. They need to be replaced every so often, which is expensive.

I restored a yellowed Leading Edge DC-2014 recently. My method worked well. I used a plastic tub, lined it with aluminum foil to bounce more light around inside. The tin foil is really annoying and fiddly. I wish I had mirrors instead, because the bubbles of oxygen created from the hydrogen peroxide makes everything float. Should probably do it on the outside. You need A LOT of hydrogen peroxide to submerge the case, but submerging works much better than the paste and cling wrap method. I put the UV lamps nice and close, surrounded it with more tin foil and left it for a while. The keycaps I put into sandwich bags, filled them with peroxide, and put them on trays. I rotated the keys inside the bag to get the tops pointing up. The lights create some heat too, which is good. My apartment also has underfloor heating which I helped a little.