The DREADED stickers, markers!! Dirty Pins!

[Oldskool]

UGH! I've been collecting games practically my whole life, and one thing that REALLY gets me is when people deface a game. Stickers, fingernail polish, markers, whatever they can do to make it U.G.L.Y. Over the years I have figured out ways to make them look new again. I am going to share with you some of the things I do to bring them back into their "original" state as best as possible. Sort of a "cart tune-up" if you will.

First and foremost, if a game doesn't work, then what's the point. First thing I do to EVERY cart, is take it apart, and clean the pins off as best as possible. What *I* do (and everyone has different takes on this), is dab a small amount of tooth paste on the pins, and THOROUGHLY rub the contacts with my fingers. You will notice that the paste eventually starts to turn, grey - black.. this is good. After a good rub down, I wet a tooth brush and gently brush the residue off until most of it is gone, while keeping any water away from the IC chips of course. Once all the tooth paste is off, I take a cotton cloth and polish the pins clean. I have SAVED many a game by doing this (especially NES games). If after this it still looks bad, repeat until it looks good.

Next, the stickers. Oh God, the stickers. Some stickers you can be very lucky and peel them right off (if they have not been on there too long), if it seems like it's not gonna happen, STOP. Pull out the hair dryer, and warm up the sticker, slowly peel it back while you continue to blow hot air on it. This has worked for me SEVERAL times, and is highly recommended! If done properly it should even take the sticker residue off with the sticker. If not:

The residue, holy hell - the residue! If the sticker was successfully removed without a gob of residue left behind, usually there will be an outline where the sticker WAS. You'll have to remove that. Sometimes the sticker just leaves residue EVERYWHERE. DO NOT leave it on the cart, it will accumulate dust, debris, whatever can attach itself to it, and will look like ASS in no time. The trick? Goof-Off. Apply a small amount to a cotton cloth and rub until it's gone. Not everyone has Goof-Off, so if you don't you can take a VERY HOT WET RAG and use a bit of elbow grease. The HOT water will eventually cut through it. Sometimes, you will find stickers that have metal strips in them, those can be a royal PITA. I've found, that usually if you heat them up with a hair dryer (much longer than just the sticker), EVENTUALLY you'll be able to peel it off.

Finally, once all the stickers/residue has been removed from the cart, take your hot rag and give it all a final wipe-down. I have found that wiping the label down does not cause any problems as long as the rag is not sopping wet. After you've wiped it down, polish off the cart with a cotton towel.

Finally, re-assemble the cartridge. Now you have a clean, sticker free, clean pinned cartridge ready for the next person to put stickers on it.

Problem UNSOLVED. Permanent marker. I have over the years tried to figure out a way to remove it, without destroying the texture/surface of the cart. Usually, if it has marker, I leave it. Because I don't know what to do about that.

Does ANYONE have a way to remove permanent marker???


NOTE: This is just how *I* do things, you may do things a different way. Please share with us in defeating this plague.

[vivaeljason]

As someone who is getting ready to open all of the SNES carts he has thus far accumulated (and may be preparing to open up TWO SNES's), thank you. This post is going to come in VERY handy as I'm sure that I'll be getting a whole lot of carts with stickers and loads of other crap.

Wish I could offer advice about the markers, though. I'd say that there's a reason they're called "permanent," but I'd bet that something would work.

EDIT: According to things I've seen online, the best solution for markers on just about anything is toothpaste with baking soda. I don't know if that would actually work on a cartridge case (and I'm sure it would damage a label sticker), but if you've got a double, it might be worth a try.

DOUBLE EDIT: A random youtube search of "permanent marker removal" yielded this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFfSY2tXBNc

[Oldskool]

Good luck. Make sure you have the game bit to open up the cartridges for cleaning. SNES cart pins are usually OK. As far as opening up your SNES, it's not too hard at all. The SNES has quite a few little parts though. My reset button was sticky on mine, and it had soda dripping down into the cart slot (luckily not into the pins). After a good cleaning though it looks/works like new. And it's not yellow thank God! (that's a whole other topic - hello retro bright)

EDIT: Interesting. Tooth Paste seems to be a very effective cleaner. I have never heard of anyone using it on a cart before, I just figured I'd give it a shot and see if it worked (on the pins), seems to work well! (Way better than a pencil erasure/alcohol on a q-tip). Speaking of Tooth Paste, I have used it to repair scratched CD's as well. I had a copy of night trap once that was scratched to hell, wouldn't work. I fixed that sucker! Now they have CD repair kits however, so tooth-paste is not needed.

[Oldskool]

Hmm, lots of people on youtube mentioning to use a magic eraser on the marker. I might give that a shot. The electric toothbrush seems to work good too.

Also, I've heard of people putting circuit boards in the dishwasher (without soap), and them coming out spotless, not sure if this works well or not, and not really willing to try it. Has anyone else tried this? Supposed to help a lot with corrosion/leaking capacitors, etc. etc.

[Cornelius]

Hmm, lots of people on youtube mentioning to use a magic eraser on the marker. I might give that a shot. The electric toothbrush seems to work good too.

Also, I've heard of people putting circuit boards in the dishwasher (without soap), and them coming out spotless, not sure if this works well or not, and not really willing to try it. Has anyone else tried this? Supposed to help a lot with corrosion/leaking capacitors, etc. etc.

A magic eraser on an NES cart is not a great idea, IMO. They are just very fine abrasives, and while you can get the marker off, you will be able to see a difference in the remaining texture. The color is a bit different after as well, but that might just be because of the texture being worn down.

Yes, you can dishwash circuit boards, although I'd think it is not a good idea with a battery backup. I haven't done it myself, but it is essentially the same as on of the later steps in board manufacturing.

edit: these methods have been hashed and re-hashed in the 'Tech and Resto' subforum (very bottom of the page), so it would be a good idea for anyone considering cart restoration to do some searches in that forum. Also, the toothpaste method to clean contacts seems labor intensive. I use a high quality metal polish and it work great for me, and sounds like a lot less work based on your description.

[betamax001]

I hate how playntrade decides to put a big ol sticker RIGHT on the the label! I mean Seriously?

[Shadow Kisuragi]

You must have a bad PnT - every PnT here puts the stickers away from the labels, since removal of the stickers would damage the label. They also only tape the label to cardboard boxes to prevent damage.

Maybe you should discuss it with the store manager?

I need to go through my cartridges and clean them up. I would suggest following the methods in the Tech and Restoration forum as mentioned previously, as they've been proven to work time and again.

[Tupin]

The only stickers that I would have to deal with was if I were to buy a former rental. Most stores I go to have these stickers that like separate into three parts and leave no residue. Any problem sticker I use Goo Gone on.

If there's marker on say the back of the cartridge and it's just a name of someone who owned it, I keep it. I think it gives the cartridge character.

[Slash]

I have had success getting permanent marker off using a dry-erase marker. Simply write with the dry erase over the existing marker, then wipe off. It may take a few passes to get it completely off.

Don't use the magic eraser, like Cornelius said, it damages the texture of most game-related plastics I've tried.

[betamax001]

You must have a bad PnT - every PnT here puts the stickers away from the labels, since removal of the stickers would damage the label. They also only tape the label to cardboard boxes to prevent damage.

Maybe you should discuss it with the store manager?

Yeah, i'll tell them next time i'm there. They probably wont change the stuff they have (unless they are that cool) but for future games they get.

[ImBob]

My old job I had access to methanol. That takes permanent marker right off without even needing to wipe.

[BetaWolf47]

This thread is really informative. I've just been using traditional methods myself. I've got dozens of Gamecube games with sticky residue... gyah!

What's the best way to do the old "toothpaste on a CD" trick? I tried applying it with a paper towel, but the texture from the paper towel loaded the CD with shallow, light, smeary scratches. And it still doesn't work any better than before.

[kgenthe]

Hairspray works well for permanent markers.

Magic Erasers can work well, but as others have said, it's an abrasive. I actually had great success cleaning NES shells withs baked on dirt. Since it's a big flat surface, it's easy to get a consistent finish and bring the original plastic color back. But for small areas, it will rub some texture off.

Lastly, I use Goo Gone for sticky rental stickers.

[Oldskool]

This thread is really informative. I've just been using traditional methods myself. I've got dozens of Gamecube games with sticky residue... gyah!

What's the best way to do the old "toothpaste on a CD" trick? I tried applying it with a paper towel, but the texture from the paper towel loaded the CD with shallow, light, smeary scratches. And it still doesn't work any better than before.

When I would do it, I would use my fingers. It seems that the longer you rub, the more your fingers/cd heats up, and the better it works. When rubbing I never go with the grain of the cd, rub from the center-out, back and forth. It will look very hazy but usually as long as the scratch is not TOO deep, it will fix it. It's too bad the CD will look like crap and won't have any resale value, but if it's scratched anyways that doesn't really matter. Also, I've found the grittier the tooth paste, the better. The whitening tooth paste seems to work best.

Finally, after rubbing the CD down, just rinse it off with some luke warm water and pat dry with a cotton towel. Like mentioned though, this used to be the only way back in the day. Now they have disc doctors and other devices that are made to do this - and they resurface the disc as well.

I guess I didn't notice the resto section, I am still fairly new here, if anyone needs to move this go right ahead.

[jb143]

I don't think I have ever NOT been able to remove permanent marker with regular rubbing alchohol. Doesn't even have to be strong stuff and it comes right off. Works on contacts too almost 95% of the time. When it doesn't, then it's time to take it apart and try something else.

I'm with Cornelius on this one. Does no one ever vist "Technical and Restoration Society"? I know it's on the bottom of the page and all but it seems like there's a varation of this topic there every week or so.


Edit-

Yes, you can dishwash circuit boards, although I'd think it is not a good idea with a battery backup. I haven't done it myself, but it is essentially the same as on of the later steps in board manufacturing.

I can indeed confirm that a later step in board manufacturing is to run it though a dishwasher. We use a standard dishwasher to remove solder flux from the boards. We don't then use it to wash dishes that we'll eat off of though, so I can't comment on if that's a good idea or not.

[understatement]

Also, I've heard of people putting circuit boards in the dishwasher (without soap), and them coming out spotless, not sure if this works well or not, and not really willing to try it. Has anyone else tried this? Supposed to help a lot with corrosion/leaking capacitors, etc. etc.

Why yes, I have it works like a charm as long as it doesn't have a button on the board it can be put in the dishwasher. If water gets under a button it's hard to get out or dry and might make the button stop functioning but for a board with a button you can use the sink to direct the water with the faucet then make sure you let it air dry for at lest 10 hours (It’s tempting to use a hand dryer to speed up things but don’t do this as you might zap your device with all the static electricity that the blowing of air causes) then use an alcohol-based cleaner and clean the components.

Yes, you can dishwash circuit boards, although I'd think it is not a good idea with a battery backup. I haven't done it myself, but it is essentially the same as on of the later steps in board manufacturing.

You can desolder the battery then resolder it after the wash.

As long were on this topic you can also reflow a board by putting in the oven for about 10 or so minutes.

Edit- it's 10 minutes not sec.

[Oldskool]

Never heard of sticking a board in the oven. I guess that would be quicker than reflowing all the solder points. Have you tried that? Did it fix anything?

[badinsults]

I would never use something like toothpaste on contacts. There is too much of a chance of residue left behind, and the fact that you have to use a liquid to remove it all.

I was working in an electronics shop earlier this year, and we used soft white erasers to clean the contacts on boards. It works great, and doesn't leave any chance for screwing things up.

[understatement]

Never heard of sticking a board in the oven. I guess that would be quicker than reflowing all the solder points. Have you tried that? Did it fix anything?

No, I have not tried it yet but this guy did. If I get time this weekend I will try it with a Sega cd 2 that wont boot that I have tried all the common fixes on if it workes I'll post it in my Dead game! thread.

[Oldskool]

I would never use something like toothpaste on contacts. There is too much of a chance of residue left behind, and the fact that you have to use a liquid to remove it all.

I was working in an electronics shop earlier this year, and we used soft white erasers to clean the contacts on boards. It works great, and doesn't leave any chance for screwing things up.

No problems so far, been doing it for many years. Fixed way more games than it hurting them, if any. I'm sure there are other methods that work better, but I don't have access to any of that stuff, tooth paste is always around. Note however, that if the game is REALLY bad (green stuff/corrosion), it doesn't get it perfect, but get's it good enough for the game to load up at least.