I blame luck (in finding white stuff) , the flash when you take a pic (that makes things look brighter) and retrobrite treatment (http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com) 😁

I'm a little obsessed with nice clean stuff too but I've found that truly clean and un-yellowed stuff is very rare, and if it is yellowed, then there's not much you can do about it. I've tried retrobrite and various other things and although you can whiten stuff, it's a lot of effort and the final result is never really worth it. It's uneven (drive bay covers often yellow more than the rest of the case for example) and wreck any LED's, etc, so sometimes it's just not an option.

Somewhere in the world there's a nice cool storehouse full of brand new in the box AT cases, and I'm gonna find it!

I've tried retrobrite and various other things and although you can whiten stuff, it's a lot of effort and the final result is never really worth it.

Yeah, the retrobrite paste should never be used on anything. I have my doubts that anyone has ever actually gotten good results with it... looking at pictures people have posted online, it appears that everyone reporting success either has very low standards or very bad eyesight. 😒

However, whitening plastics is not a lost cause, there is a modified method that is slower, but works a hell of a lot better... and it's considerably safer, less involved, and is nearly impossible to screw up.

You need:
-Clear plastic tub that can fit the part you want to whiten
-Hot water, enough to submerge the part when it's in the tub
-3% hydrogen peroxide... the cheap generic drug store kind, about 1 pint to every gallon of water
-Sodium percarbonate powder... Oxi-Clean or whatever your country's equivalent, about 1/2 cup to every gallon
-Sunny day

Put hot water in tub, mix other shit into hot water, put part in water, weight part down with something if it floats back up, then put tub out in sunlight. Walk away for a couple hours. Whenever you get around to it, come back, readjust the tub back into the best sunlight if necessary, and if there was any side of the part that was previously in shade, turn it around so that side gets sun. Walk away for a couple more hours. Usually that's enough for light to moderate yellowing. If it still looks yellow, leave it out in the sun longer... no harm will come if you let the part stay in the solution all day, nor will harm come from multiple treatments.

It doesn't hurt printing on the plastic, and doesn't affect plasticized labels unless the edges of the adhesive are already loose. Obviously it's not so kind to paper labels, what with all the water and such.

Side note: My rudimentary knowledge of chemistry would say that you shouldn't need the 3% hydrogen peroxide, since the Oxi-clean breaks down into hydrogen peroxide. But for whatever reason, the solution seems to work better with it in there, and it's cheap, so I put it in there.

Yes, I generally find for moderately yellowed plastics you can just leave it in a strong solution of Sodium Percarbonate (so a tub of water with some of that oxygen laundry cleaner like Napisan - or a generic version which I've found has a stronger amount of the active ingredient).
Leave it in there for a week and not only will it shift any dirt and grime but also will reduce the yellowing a small amount.

My experience with retrobright hasn't really been positive. its a LOT of effort to get it all setup, and I found I either got minimal results, or damaged the plastic. I had an Amiga 1000 that was badly yellowed and RetroBright made the plastic go splotchy. Try as I might I couldn't get an even coverage. At least when it was yellow it was consistently yellow, and not looking like a painter's radio.

I also tried vinyl dye which is only available in a limited number of colours. White vinyl dye doesn't match the original beige colour at all. It makes everything look like a modern Mac. If you don't prepare the surface properly or you apply to thick a coat the finish is poor as well.

I have taken a blank beige face plate to the local paint supplies shop and got them to colour match it for me, and that has had good results. If you prepare your surface properly the finish is good and its the proper colour too. I think if you really want your machines to look authentic and new, paint is the way to go.

Try photoshop. 100% guaranteed good results 😜

DonutKing wrote:

It makes everything look like a modern Mac.

It turns them into aluminium? Cool! 😜

But getting paint matched to a "good" beige is a good idea, I'll keep that in mind.

DonutKing wrote:

I have taken a blank beige face plate to the local paint supplies shop and got them to colour match it for me, and that has had good results. If you prepare your surface properly the finish is good and its the proper colour too. I think if you really want your machines to look authentic and new, paint is the way to go.

Sounds interesting, but wouldn't you see the brush marks? Or do you have a spray gun?