Retr0bright Support Thread

[Witcher1979]

@ Merlin

Some piccies, it seems the keys are the worst. Click for bigger shots.





PM sent as well

This might sound silly. But has anyone tried using some Cif on the cases? That stuff is pretty powerful

[Merlin]

Cif is too abrasive and will take off the surface finish, leaving it matt looking. Magic Erasers do the same, you might as well sandpaper the case.

[Witcher1979]

Ah I see, that sounds rather nasty.

Thanks

[ptp170]

Well, this is the result of leaving the keys in a solution for 4 days. The keys were very yellowed before hand and the result overall has been good apart from very obvious blooming on some keys.

Before hand:




And after it looked like this:





Additionally, does anyone have any tips for removing this mark on the case? I thought it was from a UV pen as there is a postcode marked PE9 1HJ on the top also. Although I can make the postcode fainter by scrubbing it with alcohol solution the black mark refuses to budge...

[ajk]

I got similar marker stripes off an A500 case with a magic eraser. It's a kind of mildly abrasive fine sponge that can get inside the texture and wipe the ink off. Just be sure to use it very gently so you don't scratch off the texture any more than you absolutely need to in order to remove the mark.

[Dagger]

This took one day. As you can see I had started to remove the keys before the picture.



The mixture was a bit to strong as it led to blooming on the grey keys.

[Merlin]

@ Dagger

You may find that applying an acrylic lacquer coat to the keys will mask the bloom. Can you see the bloom on the keys if they are wet?

[Dagger]

Some you can and some you cannot. I did'nt notice the blooming until after I rinsed the keys and started to dry them. A few of the keys are quite bad. Thing is I have a spare set of grey keys but they don't fit as this keyboard is the type without the exterior springs(which was handy when dismantling) and the holes where the keys plug in are bigger than on normal keyboards.

[Merlin]

I think that you'll be OK to lacquer the keys, then.

The solvents in the acrylic paint (usually toluene, a short chain aliphatic solvent and ethyl acetate) will etch the surface very slightly as it coalesces and starts to film form, before the solvents flash off. This should be enough to cause the bloom to fade into the background colour.

The worst keys could take a very light sanding with 1200 wet and dry sandpaper before lacquering, but be careful not to scratch too deeply or remove the letters themselves. Just aim for a flat matt surface before lacquering and they should match the others.

[Dagger]

many thanks for the tips Merlin, I will give it a try.