yellow stained DUO-R

rolins · 06/09/2005, 12:37 PM

I won a pc-engine duo-r off ebay for $152. I think it was a good deal. Everything works fine except that the console and controller is very yellow. I know the duo-r is prone to get these yellow stains, but does anyone know how to remove them?

Liquid Snake · 06/09/2005, 01:38 PM

SNES console has the same problem. I don't think you can do anything about it. Avoid place your console under direct sun light.........

twor2005 · 06/09/2005, 06:29 PM

I always thought it was just sunlight that did that to plastic, but my launch SNES has the same problem. Its weird because I don't smoke (some blame that) and it was never in direct sunlight. I wonder- are all white Duo Rs like this or just some?

I picked up another SNES recently and it has no yellowing at all. Could it be moisture (or lack thereof)? Could it be impurities in the plastic in certain models/ some kind of chemical reaction with the air? The mind boggles.

GUTS · 06/09/2005, 07:57 PM

I always wondered that too, everyone assumes it's smoking or sunlight that does it since those are the usual discoloring culprets, but I've seen SNES systems that were in closets for years have the same problem in non-smoking households. I wish there was a chemist or something out there that loves SNES and could put the subject matter to rest, hah.

rolins · 06/09/2005, 08:12 PM

Well I spoke to couple of my friends at work and they said to use bleach. Take a bucket and put some mild bleach. Remove the casing of the Duo-R, then let the discolored casing soak for a few minutes.

I'm try this later tonight and see what happens. I've never done this before so I'm just a little worried that it's logo will get bleached. I can't call it a pc-engine duo-r without a logo.

I was thinking about getting the casing painted so I won't have to worry by discoloration again. A Duo-R might look cool either black, navy blue, or dark violet. What color do think is best?

dj898 · 06/09/2005, 08:41 PM

I've seen brand new PC Engine Duo black replacement case offered on Yahoo Japan few times - lost last time it was on

other than that dipping would be the cheap option...
though never tried so can't tell you how it will come out...

for painting how about applying carbon fibre look film...?
I've seen very thin and real looking HQ film for automobile application some where...

rolins · 06/09/2005, 08:56 PM

I think I know what you're talking about. I was watching MTV's "Pimp My Ride" and saw a mechanic use some kind of plastic film to cover the car instead of painting it. I bet it's expensive, probably cost more than my duo-r.

I'll take your advice and check out Yahoo Japan and see if I can find a casing replacement. But i'm still going to bleach my duo-r tonight. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Keranu · 06/09/2005, 10:05 PM

I am going to find a fix for this one day. Perhaps a perfect mixture of Oxyclean and hamburger grease...

lord_cack · 06/10/2005, 12:11 AM

Quote from: "rolins"I'll take your advice and check out Yahoo Japan and see if I can find a casing replacement. But i'm still going to bleach my duo-r tonight. I'll let you know how it turns out.

"Well it turns out that bleach, while making the Duo-R very white, also ate through the casing and began to burn through the board. I can still play chip games but the lazer for the CD player is fried."

OK, I had to do that....just seemed funny to me...if the games work, I would just stick with the yellow...it aint pretty but (unless your collecting for the collection, not the joy of having a working machine) it gets the job done....cause the plasticoating the thing just seems like alot of work just to play games....

rolins · 06/10/2005, 01:56 AM

Well i soaked the duo-r in some mild bleach for three hours. It did not remove the discoloration, but now it's a lighter shade of yellow. It looks better than before. I'll do a second attempt tommorrow and I hope the discoloration will be gone. By the way, the logo is still purple and unaffected by the bleach. Thank god.

I know it may seem a lot of work to make it pretty, but I can't help it. The discoloration is like a scab on my skin, and I feel compelled to scratch the scab off until it bleeds.

dj898 · 06/10/2005, 02:03 AM

Quote from: "lord_cack"
Quote from: "rolins"I'll take your advice and check out Yahoo Japan and see if I can find a casing replacement. But i'm still going to bleach my duo-r tonight. I'll let you know how it turns out.

"Well it turns out that bleach, while making the Duo-R very white, also ate through the casing and began to burn through the board. I can still play chip games but the lazer for the CD player is fried."

doesn't one suppose to remove the shell and only dip the plastic shell, not the whole bl**dy thing? o_O

ElSeven · 06/10/2005, 02:03 AM

there was a thread a long time ago on BT's Turbo List about yellowing pc-engine systems. Luckily all the posts have been archieved for the past ten years, i just wish i knew a good keyword to search for it.

someone came up with a great "recipe" which apparently worked great and didnt damnage the plastic.

btw: that archive is a goldmine of turbo information. Whenever i have a question about a specific game I just look there and find some great stuff.

rolins · 06/10/2005, 02:46 AM

ElSeven I found the thread your looking for. Heres the link:

http://joyce.eng.yale.edu/~bt/turbo/digest/TURBO.1997/97.TURBO.0384

Its near the very bottom. Type in the keyword "bleach" in your web browser. Seems pretty easy if not time consuming.

QuoteTake the electronics out of the soon to be white case. take the 2 halves of the case and submerse them in a a bucket of common clothes washing soap like TIDE with color safe bleach. this should very diluted. soak for and hour and remove and scrub the surface with a tooth brush.. preferabley not yours.
Then next use a product called Clorox Gel. Its a mild bleach in a non abrasive form. intended for counter tops and such. put it on the tooth brush and scrub every where but do not sped time on the LOGO. Go around it for the msot part. It wont hurt the logo but its better to be safe than sorry. I was able to remove every bit of the yellow. I could not see any sign of age.

I think i'll try this method over the weekend.

pixeljunkie · 06/10/2005, 12:04 PM

I had good luck scrubbing it down with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Mine was pretty yellow and it brightened it by at least 40%.

PCEngineFX · 06/10/2005, 03:34 PM

Hey guys, thanks for posting about this - I have a DUO-RX and a PCE and both could need some cleaning. Will probably try this when I get some time.

PCEngineHell · 06/10/2005, 03:41 PM

Use plain bleach,very little water,and 5-6 hours to soak completely.It will not harm the logo.I did this to my white pc-engine to restore it to whit eagain,and now its completely white.Just to save the idiots ou tthere,too,just soak the plastic shell,take the system apart,and take everything out,soak the shell,when done dry it out completely,and use a air can to get droplets out of it,and out of the systems cd drive lids top spinner mag clamp,otherwise youll have bleach water droplets flying around your cd-drive,and posibbly ruining it.Good luck!!!

twor2005 · 06/11/2005, 01:46 AM

Quote from: "PCEngineHell"Use plain bleach,very little water,and 5-6 hours to soak completely.It will not harm the logo.I did this to my white pc-engine to restore it to whit eagain,and now its completely white.Just to save the idiots ou tthere,too,just soak the plastic shell,take the system apart,and take everything out,soak the shell,when done dry it out completely,and use a air can to get droplets out of it,and out of the systems cd drive lids top spinner mag clamp,otherwise youll have bleach water droplets flying around your cd-drive,and posibbly ruining it.Good luck!!!

Have you ever tried this with a Super Nintendo? I'm assuming it woudn't work since its not really white to begin with, but just wondering.

esteban · 06/11/2005, 05:15 AM

Quote from: "rolins"Well i soaked the duo-r in some mild bleach for three hours. It did not remove the discoloration, but now it's a lighter shade of yellow. It looks better than before. I'll do a second attempt tommorrow and I hope the discoloration will be gone. By the way, the logo is still purple and unaffected by the bleach. Thank god.

To ensure that the bleach doesn't affect the logo, simply smear a bit of petroleum jelly (i.e. vasoline) on the logo. this should provide 100% protection to the DUO-R logo. Even after soaking, you'll be able to do the next step (scrubbing bleach gel w/ toothbrush) without having to re-apply the vasoline.

PCEngineHell · 06/11/2005, 08:47 PM

Ive never tried to bleach a Snes deck,because Ive never had a problem getting one that has not faded yet.

rolins · 06/14/2005, 01:36 AM

Well, my Duo-R is clean. Thank God. The method using Tide with bleach and Clorox gel actually got the job done. It took a few hours, mainly scrubing with a tooth brush. The discoloration on my Duo-R reminded me of scrubing off dry egg yoke off a plate. My hands ache right now but it was worth it. The discoloration is gone and I can finally go back to playing Kaze Kiri. Thanks everyone for helping.

ElSeven · 06/14/2005, 02:01 AM

QuoteWell, my Duo-R is clean. Thank God. The method using Tide with bleach and Clorox gel actually got the job done. It took a few hours, mainly scrubing with a tooth brush. The discoloration on my Duo-R reminded me of scrubing off dry egg yoke off a plate. My hands ache right now but it was worth it. The discoloration is gone and I can finally go back to playing Kaze Kiri. Thanks everyone for helping.

glad it worked out!

CrackTiger · 06/14/2005, 10:07 PM

Anyone ever actually paint a Turbo or PC Engine system?

If so, how'd it turn out?

I wonder if you could get one chrome plated?

I once talked to a guy at a collectible store I worked at who was selling gold and silver plated Pez dispensers on eBay. He just took them to someone local, I assume it was where you'd go to get things bronzed and he said it barely cost anything.

If the chrome plating would take to it, I'd definitely shell out the cash after getting a full set of mods done.

Quote from: dj898I've seen brand new PC Engine Duo black replacement case offered on Yahoo Japan few times - lost last time it was on

other than that dipping would be the cheap option...
though never tried so can't tell you how it will come out...

for painting how about applying carbon fibre look film...?
I've seen very thin and real looking HQ film for automobile application some where...

esteban · 06/15/2005, 02:13 PM

damn, a chrome-plated ANYTHING would be crazy. There is probably a special process to prepare the plastic so it can be chromed.... HOWEVER, I don't know how the tiny grooves on PCE would come out (where the ventilation slots are).

Still, if someone was able to do it with a PEZ dispenser, I'm sure it can be done.

GUTS · 06/15/2005, 04:16 PM

I used to work at a store a long time ago that had a chromed Nintendo 64. There was a company in Europe I think that would chrome video game systems for you for around $150-$200, so they just shipped one over and had it done so they could give it away in a contest. It definitely looked cool as hell, but the funniest thing was that a few months after the contest had ended the guy who won it was hard up for cash so he came back in and sold it back to the store for the price of a regular N64.

dj898 · 06/15/2005, 07:53 PM

probably gold plating would be the ultimate pimp duo. :p
there are lots of places that does gold plating to vehicle badges so I'd say it wouldn't be hard - might cost a bit since many of them are using pure 24k gold from what I heard...

mmm... gold....

CrackTiger · 06/16/2005, 11:03 PM

Quote from: "GUTS"I used to work at a store a long time ago that had a chromed Nintendo 64. There was a company in Europe I think that would chrome video game systems for you for around $150-$200, so they just shipped one over and had it done so they could give it away in a contest. It definitely looked cool as hell, but the funniest thing was that a few months after the contest had ended the guy who won it was hard up for cash so he came back in and sold it back to the store for the price of a regular N64.

I wouldn't mind paying $150 to $250 to get a Duo RX chrome plated.

The only other system I'd consider would be a PCE GT, but that'd probably be even harder to do.

Ninja Spirit · 06/27/2005, 03:52 PM

What if I just took a warm washcloth and put a little bleach on it and wiped it for a good number of minutes?

I'd hate to dismantle my Duo-R....

My controller is all yellowed up too.

pixeljunkie · 06/27/2005, 03:55 PM

Quote from: "Ninja Spirit"What if I just took a warm washcloth and put a little bleach on it and wiped it for a good number of minutes?

I'd hate to dismantle my Duo-R....

My controller is all yellowed up too.

Seriously...try the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser!

Ninja Spirit · 06/27/2005, 06:59 PM

Just several minutes ago, I made the white Duo-R controller my guinea pig for this procedure.

1. I dismantled it and put the controller's guts inside a Ziploc. I have photographic memory so it shouldn't be much trouble putting it back together. I've done SNES and Neo Geo CD pads before....

2. Spread Vaseline all over the part of the controller with the logo and design

3. Used a big bowl, ran it under the sink for warm water, took the smallest scooper that came from a bucket of powdered Oxi Clean, and filled it up with Clorox bleach, poured it in the water and stirred it.

4. Then finally, I submerged the controller's shell.

Time to grab a rocking chair and harmonica....

Leroy · 07/01/2005, 05:09 PM

Scrubbed it with a bit of Comet Gel with Bleach then let it soak in undiluted bleach for about 16 hours (sleep+work). I still think I can get it cleaner but here are some VISUAL results.

pixeljunkie · 07/01/2005, 05:12 PM

did you mask out the front at all?

Leroy · 07/01/2005, 05:13 PM

Quote from: "pixeljunkie"did you mask out the front at all?

No sir. Just dipped it in and let nature do her work.

pixeljunkie · 07/01/2005, 05:17 PM

Didn't appear to mess up the front grey area either...interesting

Leroy · 07/01/2005, 06:09 PM

Yup yup. Going to try the actual Duo this weekend.

pixeljunkie · 07/01/2005, 06:10 PM

anxious to see the pics

CrackTiger · 07/01/2005, 11:10 PM

Quote from: "Leroy"Scrubbed it with a bit of Comet Gel with Bleach then let it soak in undiluted bleach for about 16 hours (sleep+work). I still think I can get it cleaner but here are some VISUAL results.

Wow. What a difference. Even if it's not perfect its more than good enough for me. I'm going to pick up some materials and do my RX and old PCE pads.

Ninja Spirit · 07/02/2005, 10:20 AM

No luck on my end.....

Liquid Clorox and Purex didn't do it.

Let's see when you speak of undiluted bleach, which ones are you referring to?

Leroy · 07/02/2005, 02:33 PM

I'm giving another pass on the Duo Pad. The edges were still pretty yellow. Some elbow grease with the gel seems to have cleaned it up a bit. I put the pieces in bleach again and stuck them on the patio in the sun with some taped-up pennies to hold them down in the bleach. I'll probably leave them in longer than last time to see if it sucks the remaining yellow out. I'm trying to find out if I can get CDRs to work in it so I don't know if I'll get to the actual Duo today.. I'm trying to find an old drive that can write at 1x, since the minimum mine writes at is 8x and I'm guessing that's what the problem is.

Anyways, if I can at least the get Duo as white as the controller have already gotten I'll be pretty content with that. Now I just need to get my girlfriend back to Japan so she can get me some Super CDs.

Ninja Spirit, undiluted bleach means straight bleach with no water added to it. I made a mistake in my first post in that I did add a VERY small amount of water to make sure the entire controllers were submerged (I ran out of bleach). Again, very small amount.

Leroy · 07/03/2005, 03:09 PM

I'm done with the Duo Pad.. here's the first and final pics for comparison. Not as much of a difference from the second pic but there's pretty much NO more yellow in it. Duo pics to follow after the extended weekend. Anybody else who tries this (or another method) it'd be great to have some more pics!

TurboHuC6280 · 07/03/2005, 07:52 PM

Looks much better. Yellowed PC Engine controllers are gross.

Keranu · 07/03/2005, 08:56 PM

Oh man that is excellent! I'll have to do this whenever I get any kind of white console that yellows.

Keranu · 07/03/2005, 08:57 PM

By the way, I was curious to know if that the stuff you bleach ends up smelling like bleach after you do it? Not that it would necessarily bother me.

Leroy · 07/04/2005, 04:09 PM

Here we go.. sorry for the low-quality pictures but they do their purpose.

Keranu · 07/04/2005, 07:05 PM

Beatiful. Looks brand new!

Ninja Spirit · 07/05/2005, 10:04 AM

*says yyyeeeeaahhhh Lil' Jon style*. Things are looking up on my end too.

I sat the Duo-R controller in some undiluted bleach before I went to bed last night.

Just checked it again now, and now I see signs that it's doing its job.

I saw little brown pieces of sediment settling at the bottom of the bowl. The residue from the yellowing shriveled and broke loose.

More likely it'll all be done by the time I leave school later on tonight. Can't wait to see it.

Alucard · 07/05/2005, 11:38 AM

awesome

Ninja Spirit · 07/06/2005, 02:44 AM

Looks like I'ma gonna hafta extend its bleach bath for another day. The edges of the controller are still yellow, as well as around the Japanese writing on the back. Otherwise, it's looking great.

Everything Leroy did I'm doing now.

pixeljunkie · 07/06/2005, 11:58 AM

Quote from: "Leroy"Here we go.. sorry for the low-quality pictures but they do their purpose.

Very nice! did you do anything to the logo before bleaching??? Or just dunk the whole thing? [no vaseline or whatever on the logo?]

akamichi · 07/07/2005, 08:10 AM

Leroy,
awesome pics. It looks like it worked out great for you.

After seeing all the good news, I went ahead and tried cleaning my white PC Engine. I have a crappy before shot taken with my cell phone so it's hard to tell how dirty/yellow it is.

I used Clorox Gel Pen thing and a toothbrush to scrub it down. After that, I placed the pieces into a bucket filled with Clorox liquid gel bleach. Dunno if the "gel" aspect will be as effective as plain bleach, but I guess I'll find out how good it is tomorrow.

Ninja Spirit · 07/07/2005, 11:01 AM

My controller's pearly white now. There's still some degree of yellowing on the top, but I'm gonna let that go.

But now I think my system shell itself needs a bleach swim itself, even though the yellowing wasn't too bad compared to the controller before. But it was still off color.

yellow stained DUO-R

Leroy

Leroy

Leroy

Leroy

Leroy

Leroy

Alucard