Another Retr0Bright Success Story (PCE no longer yellow)

[SignOfZeta]

I know that there was already a thread for this, but it was in Console Chat, and it hasn't been posted to in months. I'm starting a new PCE specific one because the forum itself actually suggested I did.

So anyway, Retr0Bright. THIS STUFF HERE. It works pretty damned well.

Before: files.me.com/signofzeta/nirma6

After: files.me.com/signofzeta/phxt36

[NecroPhile]

Lookin' good and pearly white. 

[Turbo D]

very nice Zeta! I have been waiting for someone to show their results. I'm planning on doing this on a few of my consoles for sure.

[jboypacman]

Zeta are you going to treat my PC Engine with the Retr0Bright next time you are in town? The results look fantastic!

[SignOfZeta]

Zeta are you going to treat my PC Engine with the Retr0Bright next time you are in town? The results look fantastic!

I'll pick it up next time I see you, probably next weekend, and do the cleaning at home. Its too much of a pain to do in a hurry.

[jboypacman]

Sounds good sir i will see you then.

[esteban]

Damn, that does look a lot better.

Damn.

[Game-Tech.US]

So anyway, Retr0Bright. THIS STUFF HERE. It works pretty damned well.

Zeta, can you give us a rundown of how YOU did it? What products did you use, what uv light etc, and how long etc.

[SignOfZeta]

I wrote more about it here: wayback://thewhiteline.org in the "TWL Diary" section.

I used the "original" recipe, as it is referred to on the Retr0Bright wiki. There are four ingredients:

The hydrogen peroxide: I used Claroxide, 40vol., one 16oz bottle. The stuff at the grocery store used for topical antiseptic is useless. Way too thin. I got this from Sally Beauty Supply, which is close to my house. Don't make any "bomb" jokes when you are buying this, and if you aren't caucasian send a friend to pick it up, or homeland security might lock you up and throw away the key. This shit is a borderline controlled substance now. Also, this is the main ingredient of the mixture, and will mess your hands/eyes up good, so use rubber gloves and safety glasses when handling it.

The Oxy stuff: I used Clorox Oxy Magic: This can be found anywhere that sells laundry stuff. You need a really small amount of this stuff so just try to buy the smallest container you can get in powdered form. It won't break down very well in room temperature Retr0Bright gel, so I mixed it in with a very small amount of very hot water before adding it to the mixture This is done last, btw, and begins a reaction, so only add it to the gel you will currently be using. Unused gel (minus the Oxy) can be kept in a light-proof jar until needed.

Glycerin: I found the best way to buy this was, humorously, in the form of liquid suppositories. A company called Fleet makes four packs with 7.5ml each, which is more or less the perfect amount. Purchased from a CVS pharmacy.

Xanthan Gum: This will be the hard one for most people. Since I live in Ann Arbor, which is crawling in university labs, hospitals, health food stores, and pharmacies, I had no trouble, but if you live in South Dakota or something you might have to mail order it from someplace. When I called Whole Foods (we have two of them in town, huge ones) they were out of stock so I called a private shop run by a really skinny version of Chong and got a 2oz bag of Xanthan gum from him for $4. I used nowhere near that much of it, btw.

This makes a HUGE batch of Retr0Bright. I saved half of it in a jar (minus the Oxy) and still had a lot left over after doing an entire PCE/CDROM2 combo including the controller. I used a regular 3/4" paintbrush to apply it.

I used sunlight for the UV in the daytime, and a fluorescent UV light from Lowe's at night. At this point in the year I would have to use the UV light 24 hours now since even in the daytime the sun is pretty weak now, and will be until March.

The rest is pretty straightforward. Disassembling one of these set-ups is pretty complicated. If you are doing just a PCE, that's no problem. The CDROM2 and IFU on the other hand are a bit more complicated.

[Game-Tech.US]

I am in the middle of doing this for some of my consoles etc. I have an NES top loader in bad shape, a pce and pce cd-rom in, and an NES max controller in the middle of the process.
Before I get into the details i'll comment on ingredient and parts retrieval.

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I used the "original" recipe, as it is referred to on the Retr0Bright wiki. There are four ingredients:

I used the gel recipe, I think the "original" recipe is the liquid one with no xanthan or glycerin.

The hydrogen peroxide: I used Claroxide, 40vol., one 16oz bottle.

My woman friend had some left over 30vol that was several years old and so far its working, but I never did get the gel to foam up as seen in M3rl1n's gallery pic, age of the peroxide is my only possible reason. So I went to a beauty store and bought some new 40vol for $5. Funny story, the hottie asked me if I was dying skulls! Maybe because its halloween time or whatever, but some guy was in earlier for the same stuff for that reason! But no hassle to get a hold of really.

this is the main ingredient of the mixture, and will mess your hands/eyes up good, so use rubber gloves and safety glasses when handling it.

No kidding! I failed to pick up and gloves and the gel in ready form found its way onto my finger tips and it stung and bleached the skin!

The Oxy stuff: I used Clorox Oxy Magic: This can be found anywhere that sells laundry stuff. You need a really small amount of this stuff so just try to buy the smallest container you can get in powdered form. It won't break down very well in room temperature Retr0Bright gel, so I mixed it in with a very small amount of very hot water before adding it to the mixture This is done last, btw, and begins a reaction, so only add it to the gel you will currently be using. Unused gel (minus the Oxy) can be kept in a light-proof jar until needed.

I used the same stuff and did the exact same thing with the left over of the batch and the hot water trick.

Glycerin: I found the best way to buy this was, humorously, in the form of liquid suppositories. A company called Fleet makes four packs with 7.5ml each, which is more or less the perfect amount. Purchased from a CVS pharmacy.

I found a 4oz 118ml bottle of liquid glycerin at Fred Meyer for cheap. Used 2.5ml or 1/2 tsp for half batch making so bottle of liquid was easy to measure out and I wasn't buying suppositories.

Xanthan Gum: This will be the hard one for most people.

I called around Spokane, wa and found that Huckleberries food store had it and so did Mothers Cuppboard, got a 8oz jar for $6 at Mothers. GNC was a no go.

I used sunlight for the UV in the daytime, and a fluorescent UV light from Lowe's at night.

I found what I thought was the perfect bulb at Petco, it has its peak wavelength in the 300-350nm area, but was $40!!

The rest is pretty straightforward. Disassembling one of these set-ups is pretty complicated. If you are doing just a PCE, that's no problem. The CDROM2 and IFU on the other hand are a bit more complicated.

The only thing I read about on the wiki for concern here is that it will attack metal parts so I disassembled till it was only plastic left. If the metal is no where near a yellowed area dont worry about it and just apply the gel so its not on the metal I guess.

BTW I also had to buy a set of measuring spoons as I didn't have anything and I got a thrift store blender for $2 just for this stuff, so i'll never have to use it for food.
I'm not real satisfied with the blender action as the mix gets real thick and a ball of it just kinda bounces around on top of the blender blades after just a couple seconds, plus its hard to get it all out, but it still came out ok in the end.
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I'd like to have two or more UVB bulbs and a rotating base to cover all the shaded areas, but I just kept moving stuff around all day instead. I'd also like to use mirrors, but ended up just covering the inside of a box with aluminum foil and laying the light over top of it all. Would also be nice to have a big glass tray to put it all in so the gel doesn't leak out onto counters etc.
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Like I said earlier I didn't see the stuff foam up after applying, I thought maybe the bulb wasn't strong enough but wasn't ready to blame it completely yet, thats when I went for the 40vol, but I haven't used that batch yet and I am seeing results anyway. So keep in mind you have to be patient.
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Also get prepared before you start mixing stuff up. Have a mixing bowl and paint brush ready, clear out a large area to work in, try to find a well vented area as it does smell a bit. It will also expand on its own out of the mixing bowl.
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Pics before process, I took the pics on my toilet because the light in there is better and reproduce-able.
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I will post pics of finished pieces in a couple days.

[esteban]

aka violence, I take it that you already used retrobrite on the commode? It's a refreshing, pearly white!

[Game-Tech.US]

Ha Ha, very funny!

Anyone think we should get a sticky for this, I consider it repair work...

[Game-Tech.US]

Ok, heres pics of completed stuff. The top loader was so bad it will need more treatment, but the Max and PC Engine and PCE cd-rom came out great in about 8 hours under the light.
I turned the flash on for this pic which made the buttons more visible, they were not treated and are still yellow, so are the grey buttons. I just didn't notice them when I took it apart.
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PCE items, came out great, but theres a couple lines at the seams I want to maybe go back and hit again. Still look WAY better than before. I used up the whole first batch of retr0bright.
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Same items but with the flash on.
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Heres what the top loader looks like so far, it had more time too, like 15 hours, but I think the retr0 batch lost potency after sitting around unused all day and night and next morning till gone. So next time I will just sprinkle oxy detergent into smaller batches of retr0bright. If you look close you can see the original color where the power/reset buttons sit. The reset button was done, the power button was not yellowed to begin with, nor was the throat cover if you look at the first post pic.

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[esteban]

PCE and CD-ROM look minty fresh!

But, I have to ask: was it really worth cleaning the NES MAX pads? Don't get me wrong, they look really nice now, but it just seems like a waste of time, effort and retrobrite.

RANDOM THOUGHT: I have an old clock radio that needs the retrobrite treatment.

[SignOfZeta]

Damn, that NES is super yellow!

By "original" I mean the one they describe as "original" on the Wiki. Its the first gel solution, not the prototype, all-liquid version.

Regarding potency: Even without the Oxy hydrogen peroxide looses its potency when exposed to light. Light begins a reaction that will eventually end. This is why it comes in a brown bottle, and why its legal to poor it down the sink. I put half my batch in a light-proof jar with no Oxy in it and will use it the next time I do some stuff.

Your results are very good!

[Game-Tech.US]

But, I have to ask: was it really worth cleaning the NES MAX pads? Don't get me wrong, they look really nice now, but it just seems like a waste of time, effort and retrobrite.

No it was not worth the time, but I WAS only going to do the max to try out this whole process but the batch was so big I didn't want to waste the retr0 so I went ahead and and did all the pieces I had ready.

[Game-Tech.US]

I finally reached a point where the top loader looks ok, hard to tell a difference between the throat cover and the rest of the top. Flash is on since it helps show a differnce in color when its there.
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Started on some zapper guns I had layin around.
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Switched over to the liquid process so I could leave it for long periods of time and not owrry about it drying out. Notice the bubbles forming on the surface, at least it looks like something is happening.
Also found the pasrts want to float up so the hangers hold em down.

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[Arkhan Asylum]

my method is less work and pissed off a few people when I said it was better.  You don't have to play bathroom chemist.  The noise died down when some other people tried and agreed.

I went to the pet store and bought 2 jugs Urine Rescue, its stronger than 40 vol. peroxide.  prior to this I used 40vol from Sallys too.    Both work, with the only upside to the Urine Rescue being you can dilute it down to 40vol strength with water, thus giving you more bang for your buck.

Anyway, you line the bottom of a fish tank with foil and lay your stuff in it. 

then you dump your peroxide of choice in until you submerge the stuff completely.  If you don't take up the entire tank, displace the peroxide with something good.  I used a coffee can full of rocks.   I have also used bricks wrapped in foil.  Dont use anything dirty or the peroxide will fizz and clean it, and cloud the stuff up.

Then you just sit it on your porch in the sunlight.   4-5 hours later you get nice results.  If its going to rain that day, you might want to wait, or put a cover over the top.  a CLEAR cover.   I just use another fish tank on those kind of days

You don't have to mix goop together, work with messy paste, or any of that.   Best part is the peroxide is reusable this way.   I did a marathon bleaching of 2 computers, some disk drives, an NES, and some other crap.

The peroxides been in the garage for a few months now. It might still be good!

Note : If its not sunny out (Winter!) you CAN just stick a UV lamp over it just the same.  Actual sunlight will always yield better results though.





done via the liquid doom approach

[NecroPhile]

my method is less work and pissed off a few people when I said it was better.

Holy shit!  It worked so good, you bleached the whole outdoors. 

P.S. - Is the skull from an employee of a certain disc replicator?

[Game-Tech.US]

I went to the pet store and bought 2 jugs Urine Rescue, its stronger than 40 vol. peroxide.  prior to this I used 40vol from Sallys too.    Both work, with the only upside to the Urine Rescue being you can dilute it down to 40vol strength with water, thus giving you more bang for your buck.

Great! Thanks for the info! Do you know exactly what volume of urine to water to get 40vol?
I too am not convinced the paste is worth doing and want to do sun over the $40 uvb bulb I got just cuz it doesn't work fast enough for me...

That green tub of zapper guns has the worst one still soaking in it, been like 2 full days and not totally restored, not that I care too much about the gun, its just I want to see some real results on lots of different pieces.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Urine rescue is 40%.

40vol cleaner is 15%

so you can go half and half basically.

i wish i saved pics of the disk drive i bleached and sold.  It was so yellowed that it LOOKED like it was supposed to be that color originally.

I restored it to :



It took about 4 hours in the sunlight

[Game-Tech.US]

The peroxides been in the garage for a few months now. It might still be good!

I've read the peroxide degrades in light so it may have lost its potency, but worth a shot to reuse it.

[Arkhan Asylum]

The peroxides been in the garage for a few months now. It might still be good!

I've read the peroxide degrades in light so it may have lost its potency, but worth a shot to reuse it.

i stored it in a dark purple rubbermade bin.

i actually went out and poked it today.  I felt the burn!

its still good!

[SignOfZeta]

Urine rescue is 40%.

40vol cleaner is 15%

so you can go half and half basically.

i wish i saved pics of the disk drive i bleached and sold.  It was so yellowed that it LOOKED like it was supposed to be that color originally.

I restored it to: /IMG_0835.jpg

It took about 4 hours in the sunlight

So what's with the faded logos on these drives? Were they like that before the treatment, or was this photo taken in the early 70s? Did the solution do this, or is it just the lighting/jpeg compression?

[Arkhan Asylum]

the silvery ones are from the flash being reflecty

the rainbow ones were faded prior to treatment.  The guy i had got them from had them sitting in a window 

[blueraven]

I have a PS1 owned by a turbo-smoker (its brown. I'm not kidding.) and I was debating throwing it out, but teh retr0bright might be the better option. It smells like a subway ashtray 

[Merlin]

Hello everyone. I am Merlin, the alchemist who wrote the Retr0bright Wiki. After seeing Sign0fZeta's work, I thought I'd pop over here and see if you had any questions you wanted answered.

*Puts flame-proof suit on*

[blueraven]

Just finished a major (3-day) retr0bright session, Thanks for the Wiki Merlin, photos posted in the next reply...

Hello everyone. I am Merlin, the alchemist who wrote the Retr0bright Wiki. After seeing Sign0fZeta's work, I thought I'd pop over here and see if you had any questions you wanted answered.

*Puts flame-proof suit on*

[blueraven]

... It started out with this broken CDROM2 that I got on eBay a few weeks back.



It came with a parts unit, so I was able to assemble one complete unit after tearing them both apart. My White (brown) PCE was also craving attention as both looked pretty worse for the ware when plugged into my IFU-30. I disassembled the PCE, and cleaned the shells with Dr. Bronner's castille soap to remove all of the extra dirt, grime, and tar.





My controllers and tap were also in pretty sad visual shape, lots of yellowing, sticky buttons, and soda-pop residue (what else could it be?), so I disassembled them and cleaned the casings.

The Box was next, from an old Dell printer that stopped working last year, I lined it with Tin Foil and started to mix the ingredients. Everything was found at Rite-Aid with the Exception of Xanthan Gum, which I got in bulk at the Natural Foods Co-op. No blender so I stirred it by hand; this is before the oxy was added and all of the gum had dissolved completely.



I put the two boxes out in the Sun at around 9:30AM, (clear forecast this week), and waited about 11 hours to take them inside. A few spot checks here & there to make sure the parts weren't getting too hot.

The results    totally blew me out of the water.



The PCE was done on the first session, and came out shock-white and smelled like brand new system. 2 of the controllers were finished on the first run, the other two were re-applied and finished up with the tap during the second session. The CDROM2 took a mammoth 3 SESSIONS to take all of the yellowing completely away from it. But lo and behold!



All thanks to the cleaning power of Peroxide. Thanks Retr0bright!! 

[chop5]

wow blue looks like new 

[NecroPhile]

Dang, those turned out nice.  Well done, blue. 

..... and soda-pop residue (what else could it be?).....

The previous owner spent lots of time 'playing' Strip Fighter II, Lady Sword, and Steam Hearts, so you probably don't want to know.

[henrycsc]

wow blue!  incredible restoration!

[henrycsc]

Ok guys... this is phase one of my experiment... nasty hucard sleeves.  I wanted to do a trial run first to make sure they didn't get damaged by the process.  I couldn't find the 6% or 12% hydrogen peroxide locally, so I just used 3% and the generic oxy (but I wanted a soupy bath), so I skipped the glycerine and xanthan....

Got a bunch of sleeves from Japan (will post pics of the pile when I do them) but here's the test...

Before treatment (photo doesn't do it justice... sleeves were sticky, grimy)

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I placed the peroxide/oxy mixture in an old jar and stirred it until the oxy was dissolved, then placed the sleeves in.  The sleeves are so light that they kept floating due to the bubbles that form, so it would help to find something to weigh them down with.  I have some ideas and will post what I find.  Here's the soak bath... I ended up moving them outside later in the morning.

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After about 8 hours in the sun and a simple rinse with the garden hose... here's the result... I put them next to untreated sleeves to give you an idea of the change...

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Not nearly as impressive as everyone else's work, but really the hardest thing I did was drive to 4 drugstores and not find the higher strength peroxide.  This was with 3%!

I will post another update once I've done a 2nd soak and completed the whole batch.

[blueraven]

Dang, those turned out nice.  Well done, blue. 

..... and soda-pop residue (what else could it be?).....

The previous owner spent lots of time 'playing' Strip Fighter II, Lady Sword, and Steam Hearts, so you probably don't want to know.

You're right. Thanks for the encouragement guys.

Not nearly as impressive as everyone else's work, but really the hardest thing I did was drive to 4 drugstores and not find the higher strength peroxide.  This was with 3%!

I will post another update once I've done a 2nd soak and completed the whole batch.

I wouldn't say that, it was a kick@$$ Job henry! The results worked very well and now we know that teh huey sleeves can be restored with the same process. Thanks for your contribution!

[Arkhan Asylum]

nice results.  HOw did you enjoy working with that paste?

[henrycsc]

OK, here's my update on the hucard sleeves and jewel cases.  What a chore... 500+ sleeves and about 20 jewel cases.

Lesson #1 - If you do a lot, you will need a lot of ingredients.  I used over 2 gallons of peroxide.  I did find some stuff in a hair supply place... Sally's I think it was called.  But for the 2nd soak I just used ordinary 3% peroxide from the drug store - 5 big bottles = $5 and a few tablespoons full of generic Oxy Clean.

Lesson #2 - Use a glass container.  I think plastic takes part of the cleaning process - these photos were of my first round soak, many needed a 2nd bath.  I used an old fishtank to soak the 2nd bath.. much better job.

Lesson #3 - Hucard sleeves and jewel case inserts float when they have a bunch of bubbles on them.  You need to use something to weigh them down so they stay fully submerged.  Day 1, I just placed one tray on top of the other - see photos.  Day 2, I used a piece of glass on top of the hucards.

Lesson #4 - Rinsing wasn't too bad.  I placed the hucards in old potato sacks (mesh bags, whatever you have) then I just ran them in the washing machine on gentle with no detergent.

Lesson #5 - Doing a bunch at one time is a pain in the butt.  Biggest problem is drying them.  The sleeves want to stick together when they are wet (they stick closed too).  Not a big deal for 10 - 20, but with 500, hand drying takes a lot of time!  I didn't want them to get moldy because I didn't finish the job.

Here is the link to all the photos:

s1032.photobucket.com/albums/a409/henrycsc70/retr0bright

These were the nastiest (note that the retr0bright didn't take any of the marker off, only the grime)
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Soak bath:
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Rinsing 8 hours later:
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Drying... 327 hours later.... 
Here is the nastiest batch again... these puppies are clean except for the silly writing on them...   Anybody care to translate the one for me?
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... it probably says "You dumb American. You buy dirty hucard sleeve... Special RAER edition!"

Stacks and stacks of clean huey sleeves.
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Now I can put them back on my games to keep them cozy! 

Here are the cleaned jewel case inserts:
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[NecroPhile]

Nicely done, Henry. 

[SignOfZeta]

Awesome!

So the next step is de-yellowing an actual HuCard, or has anyone done that yet?

For the record, if you use this process on something more large and expensive (a yellow Famicom or something) you will really want to get the thing as close to %100 conventionally clean (ie: with soap and scrubbing) before you Retr0Bright it. The RB process may clean that other stuff off by accident, but its only real function is to reverse the yellowing. If you RB something that still has normal filth all over it, the plastic under it won't have good exposure to UV so you might end up with the video game equivalent to writing "I love sausage" on a guy in suntan lotion when at the beach.

[SuperPlay]

Great idea of using this process on hucard sleeves henrycsc :-) I may give this a go as I also have a number of grubby sleeves.

[henrycsc]

So the next step is de-yellowing an actual HuCard, or has anyone done that yet?

I woud suggest only trying it on really cheap cards, and then only with the gel that's been carefully applied...  Not sure it's worth the risk on anything rare...

Great idea of using this process on hucard sleeves henrycsc :-) I may give this a go as I also have a number of grubby sleeves.

Good luck with it SuperPlay... If you have an old fishtank, that worked better than the plastic bins... you might even be able to find a cheap one at a flea market.

By the way... the tootbrush was one of those vibrating kind... I just placed it in the bath to agitate it a bit.... figured keeping the fluid moving would help it along....  I didn't do a control group to really compare if it worked or not.

[NecroPhile]

Any spares you'd like to sell to a good home?  O:)

[henrycsc]

Necro, I got the extras to make up for the ones I was missing.  I think most of my trade games will now have clean sleeves too.  I will have to go through everything to see if I actually have any extras.

Any spares you'd like to sell to a good home?  O:)

[blueraven]

nice results.  HOw did you enjoy working with that paste?

Thanks, Ark. I really didn't mind, It helped stretch the peroxide out over the course of three sessions, and the added step of the Xanthan gum wasn't that much of a pain. It's just a thickening agent.

I can see where playing "bathroom chemist" as you put it could be a pain in the @$$, but once the mix is made, its actually kinda easy to work with, and in a foil-lined box you can really take advantage of a sunny day, the foil will help deflect the heat from the console as well. If you cut the batch in 1/4, you can stretch the peroxide to do, say, a controller and a tap. I don't mind working with the "foaming gel" or paste as you put it. 

[Frank_fjs]

Just finished a major (3-day) retr0bright session

Your photos look great! Did you use the original recipe as per the wiki or something different? Any tips?

[Duo_R]

I got brand new spares, any manuals you can trade me?

   

Any spares you'd like to sell to a good home?  O:)

[blueraven]

Just finished a major (3-day) retr0bright session

Your photos look great! Did you use the original recipe as per the wiki or something different? Any tips?

Thanks!  I used the Xanthan gum recipe, and re-applied the gel about 3 times, leaving the foil box in the sun. As long as you have the peroxide and Oxy, you have the active ingredients for success. Make sure to thoroughly clean and dry your system with Dr. Bronners castille soap to make sure you have removed all of the oil and dirt deposits from the system before cleaning, otherwise it may come out splotchy.

Good Luck, send me a PM if you have any problems!

[henrycsc]

Blueraven,

Dr. Bronners castille soap

Where can you get this soap?  Is there a substitute?

[henrycsc]

OK, I found the Dr Bronner's  $12/32 oz - awesome stuff it is!

I also found some 35% peroxide at a local janitorial supply place $20/gal.  This is very strong stuff if you find it, so be careful with it.  The guy that got it out of the 55 gallon drum "suited up" to get it, and he handles chemicals all the time.

This morning, I did my first hardware session of Retr0Bright!   I started too early & forgot to take before pics.  LOL  Anyhow, had a system that was very similar to my "before" so I put it in the photos for reference.

I did a bunch of sleeves, 1 PC Engine, & 2 Multi Taps in a 10 gallon aquarium with about 2 gallons of 8% H2O2 and Oxyclean only.

I also did a CD Rom 2 using a paste made of Cooked Corn Starch Gel + 35% H2O2 + Oxyclean using blender method
(Cornstarch gel = boil water, add cornstarch while stirring.  Keep adding until you get a thick pudding like consistency.  Let cool before using for Retr0Bright.)

I had everything in the full sun from sunup to sundown (temps varied from 30s to 60s).  The gel mixture did try up on the CDRom by about 2PM, and I ended up chucking it into the bath with the other stuff so it wouldn't cake up.  The results of the liquid appear better than my version of the gel, although the gel did get some serious foaming.

I would also add that if you do a bunch of huey sleeves like I did again, you need to check them periodically because the bubbles will cause them to float whatever you are holding them down with.  I probably had to resubmerge 4 times during the day.

Here are the results:

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The CD Rom 2 Case was cracked when I got it... now its clean and cracked.
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[blueraven]

Looks good henry!

So after using the paste, gel and liquid method which do you prefer?

[henrycsc]

For the item's ive done, I think the liquid method works great.  But you need more volume of peroxide to accomplish it than you would gel, also, using a glass container is important so you don't waste the strenth of the solution brightening a plastic container.

This is what I would suggest:

Liquid is great for:
- Small, flat items that can fit within about an inch from the bottom of whatever container you are using, without much wasted space (Great for controllers and taps)
- Items that you're not concerned about paper labels like serial #s etc to come off.
- Items that you want to clean inside and out and that have lots of tight spaces that are hard to get the gel into (like the grooves on the PCE)

Gel would be better for:
- Odd shaped or large pieces
- Large batches of items where you need tons of space to treat everything
- Items where you want to preserve the serial number tags (someone suggested taping the area off first, but I have not tried this for either method - I would suggest trying this method with a different item first)

Love your signature Blueraven.   That must have been an ASDFSOME day for Tats.