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For some time now, I've read stories and seen videos touting the amazing process known as Retrobrite. It seemed a bit complicated for me, but I learned of a different and much simpler way involving some "Developing Cream 40" from Sally Beauty supply and a blacklight. I just bought some partner phones from a member of this forum and they were pretty yellowed. I thought I'd give the retrobrite process a try. Here is my results. I promise there is no trickery and the two phones are the same phones in both pictures. Before: After:
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"Developing Cream 40" from Sally Beauty Hmmm, amazing. Is the intended purpose to make old hags look 18 again? If it works on them as well as it works on those phones... -Hal
CALIFORNIA PROPOSITION 65 WARNING: Some comments made by me are known to the State of California to cause irreversible brain damage and serious mental disorders leading to confinement.
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Did Avaya modify the color of the buttons at some point? The phone on the left has gray colored buttons, while the phone on the right has all white (except for Hold of course).
On my white Euro IIs, the programmable buttons are white and the fixed feature ones are gray.
I Love FEATURE 00
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The black phones use darker colored buttons than the white phones. My guess is the one with the darker buttons had a cheapie refurb at some point in it's life. I did not treat the buttons, as it seemed overly cumbersome and button sets are cheap enough from refurb suppliers. I think the cream's intended purpose has to do with bleaching and dyeing hair. It's main ingredient is peroxide.
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The process did NOT work on the desi plastic, however. I had to replace those with some new ones I had on hand. The process is mainly limited to ABS plastic, which covers a wide variety of things; game consoles, old computers, vintage electronics, etc. This includes old telephones from Ma-bell. I have my white card dialer apart and under the UV lamp right now bleaching. The process is safe for colored plastics, like the blue and pink sets from WECO that turn nasty colors when they fade. I will test this on mine before I advocate doing it to your priceless pink 500PU set.
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Wow, that's quite the difference. And easy and safe to do.
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The only safety concerns are your skin and eyes. That cream is pretty potent stuff. I haven't been able to find anything official, but anecdotal sources say its in the range of 15-20% peroxide. You definitely don't want to get it in your eyes, and it will burn your skin if you don't wash it off within a few minutes. It is a mostly safe procedure. You pretty much just paint on the cream with a brush and wrap the object in Saran Wrap to keep it from drying out. I also paint the inside of the Saran Wrap with the stuff so it stays extra gooey. Then plop it out in the sunshine or under the blacklight for awhile. Sunlight is far faster, but less predictable. 8 hours of sunlight is about the same as 24-28 hours under the blacklight. I imagine an unfiltered UV lamp might work faster, but those can be dangerous if used improperly. It's only time, and it's not like I can't go off and do something else while it cooks. 8 hours of sunlight is about all it takes to get the desired results. If it gets streaky or isn't quite done, you can just do it again. It's pretty hard to mess up.
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The original formula for Retr0brite is strong peroxide, a tablespoon of oxyclean, an ounce of glycerin and some xanthan gum to make a paste. It also has a limited shelf life once mixed. Supposedly the oxyclean makes it work faster and can be added to the developer cream I was using for a similar result, but it's the oxyclean that makes its shelf life so short. (Mere hours at best) The stuff is also tough to get mixed to the right consistency and the high potency hydrogen peroxide is tough to find. The 3% stuff you find at the drug store won't cut it. It needs to be 10% minimum. The stuff from Sally Beauty is ready made, the right consistency, and dirt cheap.
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I thought I'd share my results of using this process on my WECO card dialer. The phone had a factory refurb in '83 and was probably modularized at that point. When I got the phone someone had removed the modular jacks and cords and put spade tipped cords on it, but left the big square holes. I took the liberty of putting the modular jacks back on it and using a new modular handset cord, since I didn't have to cut anything and the holes were already there anyway. Before: After:
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