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Thread: Is there anyway to clean the yellow off an NES?

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    Default Is there anyway to clean the yellow off an NES?

    I'm about to try bidding on an NES ROB set on Ebay pretty soon, everything looks great accept for some slight yellowing on Rob and the NES door. Anyway, I'm just wondering is there anyway to remove this with out hurting the system so it will look like new?

    Sorry if I'm asking in the wrong place, but I need to know this quick!

    Thanks in advance!

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    drowning in medals Ed Oscuro's Avatar
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    Default Re: Is there anyway to clean the yellow off an NES?

    Ah yes, another of our Evergreens - not the NES, the topic

    The yellowing is due to cheap plastic. I take it old PCs have the same problem but you really can't do anything permanent - if you strip off an outer layer, the next layer will then yellow and you've damaged an item for no real reason. Sort of like me being a kid and rubbing on a Walking Liberty half dollar with a pencil eraser, you know, bad

    I believe it's been confirmed here that this yellowing occurs with or without sunlight - i.e. the inside of the shell yellows, so I'm guessing it's a sort of oxidization process.

    We have had topics about this in the past; don't have a link handy at the moment though. Restoration or Classic Discussions forum, maybe?

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    Nope. The systems were made with rather cheap plastic that changed color well it aged. So that is just aging plastic that you see.
    I may be wrong but this is what I have been told.
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    I don't think it's possible (unless you paint it)

    If the ROB was expose to the sun or to another thing, the "atomic particles of the plastic" (if i can said that) was change directly in is structure.
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    Once it's gone yellow, you can't go back (and so on).

    Also affects some SNESes, Super Famis, and at least some Super Famicom carts (back shells of my Super R-Type and Final Fantasy IV Easy Type).

    What's odd is it appears that despite the fact this problem persisted in products throughout various regions for years afterward, there are NESes that don't yellow - like the one I bought at Goodwill; it looks brand new (yay!) - perhaps they have had multiple plastic vendors and had to sort out bad lots multiple times.

    So, be thankful eBay gives pictures and stay away from that unit unless you don't mind the color :)

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    Oh man, that sucks(I guess I see why it was so cheap now). Thanks for the warning, since the auction is still on for about an hour I guess I will try and find some other topics about this subject(just to see what they have to say about it).

    Thanks again

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    Quote Originally Posted by sniperCCJVQ
    If the ROB was expose to the sun or to another thing, the "atomic particles of the plastic" (if i can said that) was change directly in is structure.
    Is there some sort of feature about forums that lets people read just the first post and no others?

    I'm pretty, er, very much sure I'm not wrong about it NOT being sunlight - you can look on the inside of a bad shell (like the inside of one of said carts) and it's yellowed, so right there's your answer. It's not light, or else we'd see half yellowed units and the like (though - has anybody seen one of these?)

    It's either the plastic actually having a reaction internally - which would be easy enough to find out if somebody wants to saw through a shell of a cheap cart or busted SNES, of course that supposes the yellowing problem has the same cause for all yellowed Nintendo products but I think that's a relatively safe bet - or it's having a reaction with the elements. My guess would be oxygen, but suddenly I'm wondering if there isn't some reactive element/impurity in the plastic itself that's doing it.

    What's more, you could tell if it's the air or internal if there was a sticker somewhere on the yellowed part that had been there since you bought it or before it yellowed completely, and lifted it enough to see what it looked like underneath. If the amount of yellowing is different, it would be air.

    Has anybody seen a NES/SNES/cart with odd yellowing patterns?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ed Oscuro
    Is there some sort of feature about forums that lets people read just the first post and no others?
    Yeah

    I guess i was too quick on the trigger to do a reply. But your explanation was exactly what i was thinking anyway.
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    Quote Originally Posted by sniperCCJVQ
    Quote Originally Posted by Ed Oscuro
    Is there some sort of feature about forums that lets people read just the first post and no others? LOL
    Yeah :D

    I guess i was too quick on the trigger to do a reply. But your explanation was exactly what i was thinking anyway.
    I'm not 100% certain about stuff myself (obviously! ha) but I feel that if we don't read what's going on we certainly won't get anywhere. Anyhow, thanks for not taking offense to that (was banking on Mr. Smiley to help me out).

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    I've seen half-yellowed units, and I personally own a half-yellowed Super Famicom cart.

    I'm still convinced that heat plays a factor (hence why direct sunlight would make it more likely to happen), which is why I believe all of my systems, in Washington's mild weather and under my TV table in the shade, never got discolored in the slightest.

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    Perfect topic for the Restoration Society.

    >> shuffle <<

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    Quote Originally Posted by Aussie2B
    I've seen half-yellowed units, and I personally own a half-yellowed Super Famicom cart.
    You mean one shell out of two is totally discolored, right? I mean *one* shell having "stripes" - doesn't happen. If you mean you've seen that happen, I'd be interested to hear it for sure.

    I'm still convinced that heat plays a factor (hence why direct sunlight would make it more likely to happen), which is why I believe all of my systems, in Washington's mild weather and under my TV table in the shade, never got discolored in the slightest.
    That's an interesting theory. I don't care to test it out, personally, but how hot has your NES ever gotten? I've seen enough cartridges and units half yellowed that I'm pretty sure a good deal of them can't have been in direct sunlight.

    If you need heat from direct sunlight (which can get pretty hot), then at least half the yellowed NESes out there have absolutely no business being yellowed.

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    Not heat, but ultraviolet light (on older computers at least) according to this page:

    The yellowing process is caused by ultra-violet light and computers near windows with UV-coatings definitely fared better than those next to plain windows. If the case is a little yellowed and it is yellowed evenly, it usually isn't noticeable. However if the case had something covering up part of it for any length of time, for instance a Post It Note, it will have a very visible "tan line" and there's nothing to be done about it.
    Still wondering about there being unevenly "tanned" NESes out there, though. I can't really imagine that the back of a Super Famicom cart saw much sunlight, either. :o

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    I always thought it was odd how many SNES's seemed to have seperate panels that yellowed differently. You would think that the type of plastic would dictate this kind of behaviour, but I don't see much point in using two different types of plastic of the same color and consistency in the same product. Perhaps the plastics that are yellowing happened to be subject to some sort of contamination or poor processing or something of the sort. If that is the case though, then it would seem that the different panels of the SNES were made from completely seperate batches of plastics (or perhaps even in different factories), which also seems odd to me.

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    Here's what I did with wirewool and one my NES's:

    http://www.students.tut.fi/~tiainen2/nes.html

    "I never should the games I sold and I have replaced them but they are not the game just a hollow shell of the same game." -RugalSizzler

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ed Oscuro
    I'm not 100% certain about stuff myself (obviously! ha) but I feel that if we don't read what's going on we certainly won't get anywhere. Anyhow, thanks for not taking offense to that (was banking on Mr. Smiley to help me out).
    No offense against you Ed, you was right even if it's not my style to do this. I always read the other replies, i guess i was to enthusiastic. OK, back to the topic.
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    As far as I'm aware it really is as simple as cheap plastic ageing badly and because it's cheap some plastic ages different to other bits because it's inconsistently made. It's like buying clothes from a cheap clothes shop - sometimes they fall apart, sometimes they don't even though they've went through the same machines and are the same materials (does that make sense!?).

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    @ sniper: Thanks man :D

    Yeah, Pedro, it does make sense! I was looking at the FFIV Easy Type cart I mentioned and it's yellowed rather unevenly. There's some yellowing on the inside lip, but only apparently on one half and then not a lot, some more in the middle of the outside (the back half of the shell is the only part yellowed) and raised bits (text) seem to get grey.

    Bought another Performa (637cd, now I'm covered on the 68K and PowerPC side for Performas) and the case was a bit yellowed in spots; not terribly, but noticeably compared to the Performa 6290cd's case.

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    I always thought cigarette smoke had some sort of effect here too... Perhaps just a contributing factor or something.

    --Zero

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    I think cig smoke is a different type of "yellowing", as I've seen it yellow stuff other than cheap plastic (I'm no scientist though... ).

    I have to admit that I originally thought yellowing of certain consoles was a sign of just someone who didn't keep their stuff clean. Now I know.

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