Cleaning smoke stains from plastic

[Nitrosport]

Hello

I just came accross a Duo-R today and picked it up. The console is fine but the controller is yellowed from smoke stains. Does anyone have a method for cleaning this or just making it slightly better?

Ray

[rbudrick]

There's been about 7 threads onthis before, and the colorization is caused by oxidization, not smoke. If it were smoke it would be sticky and wash off.

It doesn't work on NESes or SNESes, but I hear you can soak a Duo casing in bleach nd scrub and it will come out (you may lose some top layer of plastic and scratch the thing up), as it doesn't penetrate as deep like in other systems. Be warned it will eventually yellow again. Also, there's no guarantees with this, ok?

-Rob

[Cornelius]

For heavy duty cleaning if I can get it down to just the plastic, I throw it in the dishwasher. The only thing special about it is that I make sure it is on the top shelf and can't fall down, other than that it goes right in with the dishes and regular detergent. I've been amazed by the results of doing this, but a lot of the advantage is to get cracks and crevices that aren't as big a problem on controllers. So, you might just want to try dish soap and water. I like to use paper towels or a white rag so I can see that I'm making progress.

[Cornelius]

There's been about 7 threads onthis before, and the colorization is caused by oxidization, not smoke. If it were smoke it would be sticky and wash off.

It doesn't work on NESes or SNESes, but I hear you can soak a Duo casing in bleach nd scrub and it will come out (you may lose some top layer of plastic and scratch the thing up), as it doesn't penetrate as deep like in other systems. Be warned it will eventually yellow again. Also, there's no guarantees with this, ok?

-Rob

Uh, yeah, what he said, unless you are sure it is smoke stains, which should be pretty obvious (by smell, if not by pattern).

[Nitrosport]

I know about the yellowing issue due to oxidation but this is different which is why I asked. I'm sure it's from smoke because it smelled bad like cigarettes. I've cleaned it with soap and water and got most of the coloring off and the smell. I may try the bleach method though to see if I can get that last bit of stubborn yellow off.

Thanks for the replies

Ray

[Fuyukaze]

You could try rubbing alcohol. At the very least it should help get rid of any of the smell.

[Cloud121]

Will bleach work for my NES Dog bone and 3DO buttons? I'd assume just soaking them in bleach won't do the trick right?