Good method for retrobrighting keycaps?

[itzmeluigi]

I have a few sets of Alps keycaps that i want to retrobright and ive been reading around trying to find what method would work best. From what ive read, a good way to retrobright keycaps is to submerge them into a bowl of solution with a UV light over the bowl?

I already have some 40 vol creme developer and was going to follow the method from this thread: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=36719.0

Should i add some 40 vol creme developer into a bowl mixed with water and place a UV light over the bowl?

If anyone has found a good method that they prefer for retrobrighting keycaps i would love to know.


Also what would be a good UV light that comes with a fixture? Preferably something that can be bought from Ebay or Amazon.

Thanks

[kbdfr]

My experience (scroll down for details).

[andrewjoy]

The day star is a good for UV but because someone selfishly stopped using CFCs and the hole in the ozone layer repaired itself its not as good anymore!

Oh quick tip.

Use Tinfoil UNDER the bowl, this will reflect UV better than anything else

[Mattr567]

40 vol cream developer worked great for me. From what I heard some of the keycaps might float making it a pain in the ass to submerge them all in the solution.

Cover all the sides of the keycaps in the cream and put on some plastic wrap to hold everything together then put it out in the strong sun. Worked great on my former AEKII. A UV light is much slower. A few good hours in the sun and its good as new!

[XMIT]

Make sure things stay wet or you'll get dry spots that correspond to light/dark spots.

[itzmeluigi]

Thanks all, so far what ive been told is for keycaps, using creme developer is bad for keycaps because its harder to distribute evenly to the keycaps and that liquid H2O2 is better to use for keycaps.

I need to use a UV light though because i live in a flat and the balcony doesnt have good access to the sun all the time, so i think a UV bulb will be much better.

My plan is to buy 40% liquid H2O2, put tinfoil all around the bowl, then submerge the keycaps in the liquid 40% H202 and set the UV light over the bowl. How much distance should the UV light have from the bowl and how often should i change out the liquid H2O2 in the bowl? Does this plan sound good?

[Muirium]

Do this:

workshop-f7/new-formula-for-retrobright ... etrobright

[seaworthy]

I followed the guide Muirium links to above this weekend on an AEK II. The guide produced great results. I live in mountains and it’s been cloudy so I purchased a $4 blacklight CFL bulb. 30 hours under the light and it all looks new…

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Electri ... /100553168