Comment by nebula8804 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nebula8804 | Hacker News Reader

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I found the video talk: https://youtu.be/VuCzXJarnEI?t=13989

Pretty disappointing. I thought I'd learn some new tricks in refurbishing old computer equipment. I am an old computer hoarder and I spend way too much time refurbishing old components(replacing caps, complete disassembly and cleaning of case and hardware, replacement with SSDs, maxxing out ram, etc.)

I have had a lot of trouble finding a way to do deep cleaning of plastics and refurbishing a case to like new status. I wanna learn how the pros do it. These plastics become yellowed, become brittle but the worst thing I am finding is just gouges in the plastic that I cannot smooth out or things such as stains that can't seem to get removed.

In terms of cleaning components, I first tried deoxit but it leaves a film that I don't like. Now I am resorting to soaking a board in 99% alcohol and using a brush to remove all the gunk off it and then using an air gun to blow away all the alcohol. Its the best way to leave boards looking like new but I am concerned with introducing liquids to solder joints and connectors and increasing their corrosion levels.

Anyone got any advice or resources I could use to improve my skills?

I also do refurbishing, I’ve never found IPA to damage boards (evaporates fast without any residue.)

You can deyellow with retrobright, but the downside is that it makes plastic more brittle. If the plastic is already brittle, there’s not many options that don’t involve melting/warping the plastic. For some stains you can get them out with a magic eraser, it’s essentially a high grit sponge.

Agreed about deoxit, it’s still good for contacts though (cartridges and such.)

>I also do refurbishing, I’ve never found IPA to damage boards (evaporates fast without any residue.)

Do you brush dust off? If I dont use a brush with the IPA, it leaves behind the dust residue in clumps. Also more worryingly, it seems to leave contacts less shiny than before which is what concerns me.

>You can deyellow with retrobright, but the downside is that it makes plastic more brittle.

Yeah I have a pile of plastics I've been collecting that I wish to try with retrobrite but I haven't made the jump yet. I plan to try the 'vapor' method to be as gentle as possible on the plastic.

>For some stains you can get them out with a magic eraser, it’s essentially a high grit sponge.

In my experience magic eraser does remove stains but also smooths the plastic and removes the small bumps and bruises you naturally have on a lot of plastic pieces from the 90s. That roughness I am talking about is from the metal mold. Also magic eraser is terrible for clear plastics. How do you deal with that?

>Agreed about deoxit, it’s still good for contacts though (cartridges and such.)

Yes but the spray version gets everywhere. There are different versions of deoxit. I tired D-series and this stuff just does not fully evaporate from the board. I'm looking to try G series in the hopes that it does not leave a mess that I have to later clean.

I do brush the dust off or blow it off before, one method for not pushing everything around when cleaning with IPA is to use extra IPA and clean in the sink, so that the dust/dirt/flux runs off with the IPA.

I would make sure you’re not pushing around residue if it leaves contacts duller, 99% IPA shouldn’t leave it’s own residue (unless the dullness is from scratching the pads with the cleaning.)

Vapor method works well enough, but requiring sunny days is a bit of a bummer. I use it sometimes, but submersing in a UV box works pretty well without being too rough.

I honestly don’t run into that with magic eraser, you’re keeping the eraser wet right? I might just be pretty gentle with it, but I’m pretty sensitive to this stuff and haven’t noticed any damage.

Yep go for the direct application stuff, I forget exactly which series it is but is easier to apply. One thing I’ve copied from the YouTuber TronicsFix is applying the deoxit to a small square of magic eraser and using that to clean the contacts.

> Also magic eraser is terrible for clear plastics. How do you deal with that?

No personal experience, but I suggest you investigate how people polish car headlights. Non-abrasive toothpaste is one common choice. Or if you want to go a bit more professional, try a plastic polishing kit or a range of progressively finer sandpapers (the coarsest paper removes the scratches, then each paper removes the scratches the previous one introduced, until you just can't see them any more. You can buy sandpaper up to 60k grit, but I doubt you'll need to go above 15k grit).

Try this: https://vuplex.co/

Liquid plastic polish and patience has always worked for clear plastic for me...for anything other than deep gouges.

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