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After watching several videos on techniques, I started a couple of small-scale experiments to see if my setup works.

This year's Christmas decorations will shine in UV light! 😎

If you followed my A3000 restoration threads, you can easily guess which yellowed plastic I need to retrobright :amiga:
mstdn.io/@codewiz/113586277421

This cheap PC keyboard will go first to test the effectiveness of my process.

The very first step consists in a bath in dish soap and hot water. This should prevent grease and other dirt from blocking the UV light and the ozone.

While I was at it, I also threw in the PCB, just to see if my soap is safe for electronics.

Then I rinsed everything with fresh water and wiped with 70% isopropyl, which didn't seem to disturb the key engravings.

Many videos dip the plastic to be treated in concentrated hydrogen peroxide, or coat it with hair bleaching cream, which may contain other chemicals.

But 12% peroxide is kinda expensive, and I couldn't find any in nearby stores. The fastest delivery I could find wouldn't arrive in time for Santa to admire my first retrobrighted keyboard.

So I decided to try an alternative: sodium carbonate. Pure and natural since 1874... and dirt cheap at $0.10 per ounce!

I'm no chemist. Until yesterday, I didn't even realize that washing soda isn't the same of baking soda (sodium *BI*carbonate).

But I suspect what was actually needed was sodium *PER*carbonate! 😫
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_p

Wikipedia confirms that, in water, percarbonate decomposes into hydrogen peroxide. Which is why it works the same for .

But I don't have any percarbonate at home, and it won't arrive before Dec 29 either.

Moreover, how much would I need to get the equivalent of 12% peroxide? Now I regret not paying enough attention in classes! ⚗️

@codewiz FYI, Oxyclean is Sodium percarbonate - you can probably get some at Target/Walmart/Home Depot/etc

@pixel I happen to have a big bottle of OxiClean, but sodium percarbonate isn't listed among the ingredients, only "sodium laureth sulfate", "sodium bicarbonate" and "sodium formate" 🤔

Bernie

@pixel Ah, there's also a powdered variant which contains only two ingredients: disodium carbonate and sodium percarbonate, though they don't specify the quantities:
amazon.com/OxiClean-Versatile-

Before I thought all laundry detergents were more or less the same, now I know that even the same brand name can have totally different chemical compositions 🙃

www.amazon.comAmazon.com

@codewiz yeah. I used the regular original powder for retrobrightibg my Apple IIc and it came out really good. I also used UV lights (it was winter and I didn’t think the Sun would be enough)

@pixel Which UV lights did you buy? I have no idea how to measure the luminosity and the exact wavelength of my UV leds. I just picked these because they were cheap and powered via USB.

@codewiz I bought two of these. I don’t remember why those but I do remember reading a bunch about what would work and got those. It did work well though! a.co/d/8IyZDLi

a.coAmazon.com