exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

I saw this video reviewing many retrobright solutions...





Where he used a ozone generator with some limited success. He basically says the classic method of retro bright using peroxide is the best method. I am not disputing this, as it obviously works, but I think in a lot of cases the original plastic colour is not white to start with. While he says it worked were did not work as well as peroxides, I am not so sure as we do not actually want to bleach the colour totally out which peroxides seems to do. So they could may well be possible the ozone solution is actually closer to the original colour. This is what I wanted to investigate.

Some may know I did some experiments with peroxides a year or two ago, though I gave up when I brought a large container of liquid where I left the mouse in the sun the basically two days and it hardly did anything. The peroxides creams seem to work the best but as people know, it is messy and you need a bit of practice to get it all correct. But again, I think this actually takes the colour out of the plastic as well.

So I got myself a ozone generator... Which thankfully just arrived.. As it is a little bit sunny today..

I also found myself test subject...

The colour of the cable is more of the proper colour.. The bottom of the mice looks original colour, but obviously the top and the sides are discoloured.. So it would make a good test..


So I flattened the back to remove all the air, then pumps the bag full of ozone, and inserted the top half of the mouse, then left the ozone generator running for 30 seconds more then I sealed the bag and left it in the sun..

Hopefully the sun will last a couple of hours today.. But I doubt it..

So we shall see this does anything at all.... To be continued....

I'd be intrigued to see the results. If we get any sun that is.....

Another interested person here.

How much was the ozone generator out of interest? and could you then use a UV tube to speed up the process, rather than leave it outside?

Forgottenmyname wrote: ↑Thu Apr 26, 2018 3:57 pm How much was the ozone generator out of interest? and could you then use a UV tube to speed up the process, rather than leave it outside?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B073G8RPH9

Forgottenmyname wrote: ↑Thu Apr 26, 2018 3:57 pm could you then use a UV tube to speed up the process, rather than leave it outside?

No clue

exxos wrote: ↑Thu Apr 26, 2018 3:03 pm So I flattened the back to remove all the air, then pumps the bag full of ozone, and inserted the top half of the mouse, then left the ozone generator running for 30 seconds more then I sealed the bag and left it in the sun..

Hopefully the sun will last a couple of hours today.. But I doubt it..

So we shall see this does anything at all.... To be continued....

Surely it would be better to continuously pass new ozone through the bag rather than sealing it as the ozone would deplete quite quickly?

So this has been in direct sunlight for around three hours now..

Image below shows a side part of the mouse being the original and the button (top) part of the mouse being exposed to ozone.. The camera is not really showing the correct colours, the mouse is extremely yellow, and see the contrast in comparison to the lead wire.

So comparing for long after, I really do not see anything has happened at all


The only other thing I could think to try, is to submerge it in water along with the ozone generator to see that would have any effect.. But not really possible today with sunlight, it is giving out rain again so I not built to try another sunlight test for a while...

stephen_usher wrote: ↑Thu Apr 26, 2018 6:38 pm Surely it would be better to continuously pass new ozone through the bag rather than sealing it as the ozone would deplete quite quickly?

I followed what the guy in the video did to get results.. I had a lot larger back than he used full of ozone ..I did replace the ozone couple of times anyway.

Onto the next pointless tests..

I've sealed the mouse button itself in a bag of ozone, and I will just leave it like that for a few days to see the does anything at all.. Though unlikely to get much sunlight..

I thought the other button in some water and now running ozone on it.. I doubt it will do anything either.. Nothing better to do

I suppose I could try heated water in my ultrasonic cleaner along with ozone gas to see that does anything, but I can only really leave it running for half an hour or so.


Having nostalgic memories of my Tesla coil at the moment

Apparently you can create ozone with a UV tube after googling about my earlier question, so I popped a mouse into my DIY shoe box eprom eraser and didn't notice any difference either, LOL.

This science lark is contagious.

Forgottenmyname wrote: ↑Thu Apr 26, 2018 7:58 pm Apparently you can create ozone with a UV tube after googling about my earlier question, so I popped a mouse into my DIY shoe box eprom eraser and didn't notice any difference either, LOL.

This science lark is contagious.